SPRAYS ARE PANNING OUT

RICHARD TURCSIK

Sales of cooking oil sprays are beginning to shine as consumers seeking to reduce their intake of unhealthy fats and cholesterol turn to them as alternatives to pouring oils.

Although sprays are not ready to overtake the larger cooking oil business, many retailers interviewed by SN reported that sales are strong or

increasing. Manufacturer promotions, prepriced units and shipper displays help stimulate sales, they said.

Consumers like the convenience of sprays, and while they have relatively high retails -- with some more than $3 -- each can contains several hundred applications, thus costing only pennies per use.

Retailers like the cooking oil sprays, too. They offer margins equal to or greater than other oils, have high retails and take up little shelf space. Another bright spot is they do not appear to be cannibalizing sales of traditional oils.

"Our sales of the cooking oil sprays just keep going up and up and up," said Pat Redmond, merchandiser-buyer at Rosauers Supermarkets, Spokane, Wash. "We merchandise them on top of the oils, and find that the sprays offer better margins because there isn't that competitiveness.

"The sprays are in the same boat as the canola and olive oils, which are classified as being more healthy than regular cooking oils. I think all three of those have enjoyed a substantial increase in sales," he said.

"The sprays are not taking sales away from the other oil categories, because the people turning to them are restricted [in their diet], and a lot of them are in a position like myself where they can't use the regular oils. The sprays are their only alternative," Redmond said.

Sprays also aren't hurting bottled cooking oil sales at Big Y Foods, Springfield, Mass. "Regular cooking oil prices fluctuate much more than the sprays, and when those prices increase, consumers may make another choice and pick the sprays. The sprays also offer a convenience to the customer," said John Corcoran, category manager.

Where sprays might be robbing sales from is butter and margarine. "Our sales of our regular oils are constant, and we are experiencing growth with the sprays," said Emily G. Holdstein, senior vice president at Wonder Market Cos., Worcester, Mass. "If anything, they may be replacing butter or margarine in cooking. So we believe it is the consumer who cooks with butter or margarine who went to these sprays."

According to Information Resources Inc., Chicago, supermarket sales of microwave browning and pan sprays for the 52 weeks ended Nov. 7, 1993 reached $116.9 million, an increase of 5.7% over the previous 52 weeks.

The sprays coat frying pans and baking dishes with a thin film of oil, eliminating the need for unhealthy butter, margarine, oils and shortenings.

Buyers said the cooking oil sprays are especially popular with consumers who have dietary concerns relating to health.

"We've seen a little bit of an increase in sales of the cooking oil sprays, primarily among the health-conscious people," said Corcoran of Big Y.

"We carry Pam. We find it attracts the health- and diet-conscious consumers, and our shoppers are pretty much ahead of everybody in that area," said the buyer for one leading New York-area chain, who did not wish to be identified.

Redmond of Rosauers has firsthand experience of the benefits the sprays can provide.

"I happen to be a fairly recent heart attack victim, and I can tell you that people in circumstances such as myself really turn to the sprays. At home we do no cooking with oils at all anymore. We use sprays, and we find that this is what is being touted in rehabilitation classes, health food centers and everything else. The oils are the bad guys," he explained.

Redmond said the category is

being helped by "improved nutrition education and the trend of people turning to healthy foods. I have children in their 20s and they don't use anything but the sprays because they don't want to get into the situation that I am in," he said.

"We don't have a definitive answer on which consumers the oils attract, but we attribute it to an increase in health consciousness," said Holdstein of Wonder Markets.

Holdstein said the sprays yield margins close to 30%, vs. margins of 20% to 23% for traditional cooking oils.

"Our sales of cooking oil sprays are up 10% to 15% due to health concerns, and most importantly, manufacturers' activity year-round, as opposed to just the winter months. They are actively promoting the product's use during the summer months for use on grills, etc.," she said.

"We are promoting the category more frequently to aid its growth, and now devote a 4-foot shelf in the cooking oil section strictly to the sprays, which is double the 2 feet we used to offer. We advertise the spray oils at least twice a month, and just about all demonstrators use spray oils, mainly for their convenience," Holdstein explained.

Hughes Family Markets, Irwindale, Calif., also uses the cooking oil sprays in in-store demonstrations to promote their usage, according to Harland Polk, senior vice president.

"Our case movement is up by about 10%. We find that all types of consumers are attracted to the cooking oil sprays," Polk said.

"We are addressing the growth in the category by using red tags, bonus packs and ads to promote them. We advertise them a couple of times a quarter and find that they offer us higher margins than traditional oils," he said, adding that the sprays are merchandised on the top shelf in the bottled oil section. "While we don't do in-store demonstrations in our stores, we do use and recommend the sprays in a lot of recipes that we offer in our monthly newsletter. The sprays are used in a lot of recipes that are created by commodity groups and manufacturers," said the buyer for the New York-area chain.

Redmond of Rosauers said his chain carries Pam, Mazola, Weight Watchers and Baker's Joy, and finds that sales are growing without the need for heavy advertising: "The sprays are not really promoted much. I don't think that a big hot ad on Pam is going to jerk anybody off their couch to run down and buy it. We use shippers and temporary price reductions and that increases the sales on them substantially. Also, you get a lot in a can, and they last a long time."

Corcoran of Big Y said, "We will occasionally do a temporary price reduction on them, but we really don't do a lot of advertising with them because there is not a lot of advertising support from the manufacturers, at least on the retail side. They may support it more on the consumer side."

At Big Y the sprays are merchandised in a regular section next to the traditional cooking oils. Big Y carries Pam, Wesson and Mazola, Corcoran said.

"We advertise the cooking oil sprays probably one or two times during the year," said Mark Polsky, senior vice president at Magruder Inc., Rockville, Md. "You don't really get too much of a sales increase when you advertise. The best thing to do -- and Pam is usually the one who has it -- is to use shippers that are displayed in the aisle. That picks up the sales." Jeff Lipes, buyer-merchandiser at Eagle Food Centers, Milan, Ill., said, "We find that prepriced cans really spark movement, and the manufacturers come out with them periodically. That really helps sales. They don't spend a lot of money on advertising, at least in-house, although they use a lot of freestanding inserts on the consumer level."

Lipes said while sales of the sprays have been flat at Eagle, he has noticed an influx of spray products in healthier formulations, including olive oil, most from smaller manufacturers.