A BREATH OF FRESH AIR

MARK HAMSTRA

Shampoo brands are leaking onto the toothpaste shelves and mouthwash has taken new form to freshen up the front end.

Some of the changes in oral care have retailers wondering what category products belong in and how they should be merchandised. In particular, Listerine Pocket Paks, introduced in the United States in October by Pfizer Consumer Healthcare, Morris Plains, N.J., have been a strong-selling product that retailers said could be either a breath freshener or an oral care product.

The Pocket Paks boast the portability of breath mints and the germ-killing properties of mouthwash.

"Customers love the product, and in fact there have been several out-of-stocks," said Linda Schmidt, category manager, health and beauty care, Big Y Foods, Springfield, Mass.

Its qualities have been earning the product dual placement in supermarkets, both at the front end and in the mouthwash area, and retailers have taken a variety of approaches to marketing the items.

Kroger, Cincinnati, touted Pocket Paks on the home pages of its chains' Web sites for several weeks under the "What's New" section.

Meanwhile, at Coborn's, St. Cloud, Minn., the chain did some in-store demonstration of Pocket Paks in November that helped drive sales, according to Al Hubers, health and beauty care buyer at the regional chain.

"They've been doing real well," he said. "I thought the price might drive people away, but it seems like people are still buying them."

Hubers said he considers the product to be an oral hygiene item and not a breath freshener. He's merchandising Pocket Paks in oral care and in the lip balm area.

Terri DiBenedetto, health and beauty care category specialist, Associated Grocers, Baton Rouge, La., took just the opposite view.

"To me it's a breath freshener," she said.

She said the 230 stores that Associated serves have been selling out their displays quickly.

She suggested that profits on the items are going to be generated through volume rather than margins.

"You can't put too great a margin on a product like that," she said. "It's too popular. Everybody's carrying it. We're just trying to stay competitive."

At Big Y, the stores carry the Pocket Paks in the mouthwash section. However, Schmidt said she is considering merchandising it in other areas of the store.

Polly Deane, spokeswoman, Supervalu, Minneapolis, said the Pocket Paks are part of the oral care planogram at that company's stores, where the item has been "a strong seller."

She said Supervalu has not yet come out with a store-brand version of the Pocket Paks, but, she said, "we believe there are significant opportunities for the development of a store-brand item in the future."

Tony Harrington, senior product manager, health and beauty care, Topco Associates, Skokie, Ill., pointed out that some traditional oral care products, such as mouthwash, sell well when they bear a store-brand label. However, other store-brand oral care products tend to be modest performers.

DiBenedetto and Harrington indicated that it might be difficult to duplicate the Pocket Paks as a store brand because of the technology involved in producing the product.

Walgreens came out with a store-brand breath freshener on a dissolving film last year. Another product, Myntz! Instastripz, also offers breath freshening on a dissolving film.

According to ACNielsen, Schaumberg, Ill., sales of those two products and Pocket Paks combined for $41.3 million in sales last year in food, drug and mass outlets (excluding Wal-Mart), with supermarkets capturing about 28.3%.

Total sales for the oral hygiene category were $3.2 billion, about half of which was attributable to supermarkets.

Other brands also are leveraging their reputations into oral care. Value-priced shampoo and personal care product powerhouse, Suave, from Unilever Home & Personal Care, Chicago, recently began testing toothpaste in various markets.

Suave is testing three different varieties of toothpaste, one with whitening benefits, another with cavity-protection benefits and another that has multiple benefits, according to Michelle Holland, spokeswoman, Unilever. The retail price is "under $2" for an 8-ounce tube, she said.

"Suave has a great reputation for providing strong value," said Jon Hauptman, vice president, Bishop Consulting, Barrington, Ill. "They want to transfer that value into the oral care category."

Other brand-bending changes in the oral-care category include the introduction of tooth-whitening chewing gum, among the latest of which is a partnership between Wrigley and Crest.

Such products expand consumption by creating sub-categories within oral care, analysts said.

In the case of Listerine Pocket Paks, "they are going to attract purchases from people who are already buying breath mints," Hauptman speculated.

He added that he expects the product to be merchandised at the checkout lanes.

Listerine is asking for displays in both the front end and in oral care.

"We really look at it as a new category," said Megan Marshall, spokeswoman, Pfizer Consumer Healthcare. "It's portable oral care."

Mel Korn, president and chief executive, Saatchi & Saatchi Collaborative Advertising, New York, said retailers always welcome products that expand a category.

"If you can help the retailer build a category or categories, you become their dearest friend," he said. "When you cannibalize and add another sku, that doesn't really build anything."