A KILLER CATEGORY

RICHARD TURCSIK

Bug season has begun and supermarket insecticide sales are buzzing along. New formulations, shipper displays and increased advertising are prompting more shoppers to stop dead in their tracks when they pass the insecticide department, retailers are reporting.

Competitive pricing and impulse buying have left insecticides as one of the few categories where shoppers have remained loyal to supermarkets instead of being drawn into the webs of other stores.

"The mass merchants have hurt us in other categories, but not in the insecticides," said Joe Donatello, grocery and dairy specialist at Insalaco Markets, Pittston, Pa.

"We're able to offer a good price on it, and insecticides are often an impulse item seen by the shoppers when they walk in. The displays help the impulse sales," he said, summing up the views expressed by most retailers interviewed by SN.

"Our insecticide sales have been steadily increasing," said Bob Morrison, category manager at Randalls Food Markets, Houston.

"A lot of the sales depend on the weather. If we get the right combination of heat and rain, you're going to have a good year. If you get too much heat and not enough rain, it's pretty slow," he said.

Ron Amstutz, grocery buyer at Buehler Food Markets, Wooster, Ohio, agreed.

"We are pretty much maintaining our sales. It seems to be the weather that affects those items more than anything else. If you have a good, wet spring and early summer, then you're all set, at least for sales of bug spray," he said.

Jerry Voelker, grocery merchandiser at Supervalu's Pittsburgh division, New Stanton, Pa., said while weather is the key determiner of sales, a seasonal approach to the category is necessary.

"We'll do a projection and sit down and forecast what we'll need for the year. Then we'll prebook the stores," he said.

"We support the category basically around its seasonality. The peak of the flea season is early spring and late summer, so we emphasize the flea prevention and flea killers twice a year. The Yard Guard and citronella candles are advertised around the holidays because people have a lot of outdoor activity." "Each year we do a little bit better with insecticides, and we did an outstanding business last year," reported Dick Salmon, senior vice president at Melmarkets Inc., Garden City, N.Y. Retail prices, he added, have risen over the years, with many pesticides now selling for $4.99 to $6.99, and even up to $8.99.

Morrison of Randalls said supermarkets don't have to match mass merchants on price, but they should be competitive.

"As long as you are in the ballpark and you have the traffic to be competitive, the customer knows that and they would just as soon buy it there than make an extra trip. We try to stay competitive, and if we are competitive in the category, our customer is happy," he said.

"We had an increase last year in our overall insecticide business, which is great because some others did not. We did all right," said Charlie Lane, buyer at Minyard Food Stores, Coppell, Texas.

Figures provided by consumer products tracking organizations show insecticides are indeed a growing area in supermarkets.

According to Information Resources Inc., Chicago, for the 52-week period ended Jan. 1, insect and rodent control devices had supermarket sales of $82.4 million, an increase of 10.4%. Figures provided by A.C. Nielsen, Schaumburg, Ill., show many insecticides had double-digit supermarket sales growth for the 52-week period ended Dec. 10, with ant traps, flea and tick liquids, and flying insect killers all posting volume gains of more than 20%.

In normally sunny California, the record rains this past winter may have destroyed fruit and vegetables, but scientists are predicting a bumper crop of mosquitoes this summer. Mike Post, a grocery buyer/merchandiser at Morgan's Holiday Markets, Cottonwood, Calif., said each of his stores has put up a display rack to capitalize on the sales.

"We took advantage of prebooking deals. Basically we put all of our eggs in one basket. We

run with the No. 1, Raid. We also have a lot of stores in recreational areas, and they are heavy into personal repellents," he said.

Retailers nationwide predicted new products from leading manufacturers should give sales another nice boost this summer.

"The Raid Flea Killer Plus line of products from S.C. Johnson should be successful, since fleas and ticks are a huge problem down here because we don't have winter kill," said Morrison of Randalls.

"We had the Off! citronella candles and Skintastic last year, and they did very well for us. And we expect them to do well again," he added.

"Here we have fire ants, and there have been some new products that have come out, especially with Combat. They have some new items to put out in the yards, and it is going to be interesting to see how those are going to work," said Lane of Minyard.

"Several people are coming out with unscented, water-based products, which won't stain and do not have any odors. I think these will add something to the category because a lot of people don't like the smell of the insecticides," said Butch Smathers, vice president of merchandising at Western Supermarkets, Birmingham, Ala.

"This year, national manufacturers appear to be leaning heavily on flea and tick items," said Ruth Kinzey, a corporate spokeswoman at Harris Teeter, Charlotte, N.C.

When merchandised in manufacturer-provided displays, seasonal departments and endcap displays, insecticides can really give sales a good shot in the arm, retailers said.

"There is a lot of impulse and that is why we put a rack on the [sales] floor. When a customer comes into a store and bumps into the display with her shopping cart, that is when she decides she is going to buy a can of Raid. They may also pick up a can when they are going to have a picnic," said Supervalu's Voelker.

Jan Winn, director of general merchandise and health and beauty care at Big Y Foods, Springfield, Mass., said her chain is using category management to assist in insecticide merchandising for the summer.

"We will set up an in-line section with sprays such as Off! and Deep Woods Off! at eye level. The regular insecticides will be below that, and the Raid rack will be used as a promotional vehicle. "We are competing with other retailers by trying to stock a good variety. We are using the Raid rack for the entire summer. We are competitively priced, and we will also run more ads this year and do more cross-merchandising with charcoal -- and Skintastic with suntan lotion -- to get that impulse sale," she added.

Don Kelly, grocery buyer at B&B Cash Grocery Stores, Tampa, Fla., said his chain often uses endcaps to merchandise insecticides. "They sell fairly well here year-round, and it has its summer moments," he said.