SUN SPORTS 2004-02-16 (1)

LIZA CASABONA

Retailers across the country are gearing up for the start of the sun care season.

While consumers are caught in the throes of a rough winter -- feeling like beach games and canoe trips may never come -- supermarkets are counting on heavy-duty "sports" sunblocks to build warm weather sales.

Many retailers and other experts polled by SN said that the meatier sport sunblocks -- waterproof, sweatproof and with higher sun protection factors -- are coming to the forefront of the category, leaving less potent options in the dust. These products also offer retailers another contact point with health-minded consumers.

Sport-formulated, waterproof products are selling best for W. Lee Flowers, Lake City, S.C., said Susan Spring, health and beauty care buyer for the wholesaler.

"Sport products are doing well because they have an SPF of 30 to 50. People are getting away from the oils. It used to be that the tanning oils were the top seller, but now customers want the sunblock," she said.

W. Lee Flowers will start increasing its sun care selection in March, and will leave the expanded offering on the shelf through September, she said. While some products are carried in a small section year-round, the category expansion is timed for spring break and the summer beach season, Spring said. Not surprisingly, the wholesaler's strongest sun care sales come from stores near the beach, she said.

Sport-oriented sun care use isn't just centered around the beach, however. Lueken Food Stores, Bemidji, Minn., sees sun care sales start in mid-May when the store marks the opening of fishing season.

"People get outside more because they're going out on the water," said Dave Olsen, department manager for general merchandise. He carries the Sea & Ski brands and said waterproof products perform well also because there are a lot of lakes in the area. Consumers look for products that suit their activities, and meet their active sun care needs, while offering the highest levels of protection, Olsen added.

The tendency toward greater protection has been increasing for several years now and shows no signs of abating, said Jeff Manning, managing partner, F&M Merchant Group, Lewisville, Texas..

"The trend in the category has been going to more and more protection. It's a great, growing category; with so much concern about UV rays and the sun's damage, it just continues to grow," he said.

Increased consumer awareness of both the health risks and the potential health benefits of sun exposure could account for a movement toward sportier, higher-performing products. And retailers could use these products to even more advantage, said Diane Garber, president, In Sight Communications, Buffalo Grove, Ill.

"The sport products are a really positive breakthrough; the performance is there. That's the way people should be operating in the sun, not just sunning themselves," she said. Whole-health-oriented retailers could be missing a great opportunity in this segment of the category, she added. She advocates that retailers include shelf-talkers to educate consumers about sun care protection and the products available to them. Some manufacturers have funded studies, but informational material at the point of purchase is not appearing on a widespread basis.

Spring cites the education consumers get from television and other external sources as helping drive the move toward more protection-oriented sunblocks. She hasn't seen any in-store education from manufacturers, so hasn't been able to offer it to her retail customers.

Consumers, however, are getting savvier about the effects of the sun and retailers all over the country continue to report a shift to products with a higher protection level, even in northern climates. In regions where the sun could once have been considered less of a health risk, consumers are still showing high levels of awareness as they turn to higher SPFs.

"We're selling less than we were of the lower SPFs -- that's a given. It shows that even up here, people are really more concerned about their skin. The higher SPFs are the big sellers," said Kim Baker, GM/HBC category manager, Brown & Cole Stores, Bellingham, Wash.

That health component could potentially bring the category forward to catch up with the leading edges of HBC, whole health and wellness, and provide additional selling points for sun-oriented products that are traditionally considered a summer-only segment.

"Sun care is actually, in its way, a component of whole health in that sun protection is vitally important to health. It's also one of the more important seasonal categories," said Roy White, vice president, education, General Merchandise Distributors Council Educational Foundation, New York.

Many retailers have yet to start marketing sun care as a year-round health product, but the category still reigns as a strong impulse driven seasonal and convenience category. Olsen said his location in a cold climate dictates his product mix .

"We're in a region where sun care is a summertime item, and that's basically it for us," he said. Lueken carries a small selection through the rest of the year, which is broadened to a four-foot endcap merchandised with sun care in the spring.

This seasonal approach may eventually fall by the wayside if current trends continue. Typically, Manning said, retailers put out a nice, big display of sun products during their peak outdoor season and generally don't extend beyond a small section for the rest of the year. They could be missing a big opportunity.

"Media will continue to hype skin damage, the ozone layer and how we all need more protection. All the studies point that way, so this has got to be a continued growth category. More chains, no matter where they operate, could probably do a much better job carrying a better selection year-round," Manning said.

There's been improvement on this front, he added. Twenty years ago, no one carried the items as regular stock at all, he said, but now few do more than merchandise the items for impulse purchase when they could become a planned purchase.

One barrier in recent years to turning sun care into a year-round category has been strong price competition from the mass merchandisers.

For example, Dusty Peters, GM specialist, IGA Foodliner, Decatur, Texas, said she gives very little attention to sun care, only carrying the major brands as a year-round convenience. She pays little attention to it beyond that, citing fierce competition from her neighbor, a Wal-Mart Supercenter.

"They can get [these products] at Wal-Mart cheaper than I can buy them for. That's the bottom line," she pointed out. "Quite honestly, I don't know how I sell anything in the drug aisle."

But there are some conflicting pricing trends that may allow room for supermarket retailers to increase their category share. Manning pointed out that at either end of the spectrum there seems to be growth potential.

"The two spectrums with the most growth are the real high end, the Neutrogenas and others, and then the private-label low end," he said.

Retailers, responding to these trends, have tried to carry a mix of products. Peters said she carries a selection of the "el cheapo" brands as well as the big category performers. Baker said she carries a hybrid set of products that follows IRI trends with a mix of private label.

Data from Information Resources Inc., Chicago, for the 52-week period ending Dec. 28 shows private-label sun care products moving into the No. 3 spot on the list of top brands with a 6.7% increase in dollar sales share over the previous year, behind only category leaders Banana Boat and Coppertone. Most products in the categories have seen sales declines in the food channel; overall, the suntan products category is down 3.5% in sales over the previous year.

Sunblockers for the Young

Children's sunblock could be a ray of hope for retailers who want to keep consumers coming back to the sun care category, industry sources said.

A "do as I say, not as I have done" attitude has started to emerge among aging boomers, many of whom were slaves to the sun in their youth, said Diane Garber, president, In Sight Communications, Buffalo Grove, Ill. Yet with greater awareness, they have become increasingly concerned with the health risks associated with prolonged sun exposure for their children, she said.

"There's a lot of attention to skin care starting at a younger age. Maybe the parents aren't perfect at protecting their own skin, but there is a real impetus to watch out for their kids." Garber recommends that retailers arm themselves well with a good kids' sun care section in their stores.

Savvy retailers are already looking to those products for the good merchandising opportunities they offer.

"During grocery store busy times, we have off-the-end promotions of sunblock, power panels [and] floor displays that we would put up at a busy checkstand," said Kim Baker, GM/HBC category manager, Brown & Cole Stores, Bellingham, Wash. "Waterbabies does well during the Fourth of July or Memorial Day weekend when we tend to have heavier customer traffic. Then we go with an even more impulsive display than the endcap," she said.

The potential to attract households with kids should be alluring for retailers, Garber said. Sophisticated boomers looking for the best sun care formulation will spend on premium products; teenagers are often drawn to the "cheap and deep" category of coverage; and it is all wrapped around products for young children.

"Products for very young children should never be an out-of-stock item during peak season," she said.