ULTRAS DIAPER CHANGE IS A SUCCESS AT RALPHS

LISA SAXTON

COMPTON, Calif. -- A new, private-label diaper has met with impressive success at Ralphs Grocery Co. here.

Introduced last month, Ralphs Ultras premium diapers were kicked off with a splashy, full-page advertisement introducing the new product.

"This is a restaging of our private-label diaper program," explained Graham Lee, vice president of grocery at Ralphs, who said the chain recognized that its private-label diaper program was lagging. "The category continued to change technically and it was a real challenge for private label to keep up with the brands."

Lee said Ralphs has accomplished this task. "The packaging was redesigned and the product shapes were made comparable to the leading brand in the marketplace," he said. "So we're offering a premium product at a value to renew interest in the category."

The colorful ad announced "national brand quality, guaranteed!" at $5.99, a savings of $3 for his and her stages one through five diapers. The ad also featured a dollar-off coupon. The chain offered double money back if a customer wasn't satisfied.

Lee said the new diapers had actually been on shelves for a number of weeks before the ad broke, but the impact of the promotion on sales was significant.

"We were tremendously impressed with the ad's penetration," said Lee. "That week private-label diapers accounted for 30% of our diaper sales, which is almost three times what we had been experiencing. And 55% of the sales came from the ad's coupon that week."