OLDIES BUT GOODIES

DAN ALAIMO

ATLANTA -- Supermarkets here are starting to get the hang of merchandising catalog sell-through titles, SN found on a recent series of store visits.

While Atlanta units of Kroger Co., Cincinnati, and Winn-Dixie Stores, Jacksonville, Fla., emphasized children's and family selections, others, like Publix Super Markets, Lakeland, Fla., Ingles Markets, Asheville, N.C., and A&P, Montvale, N.J., had significant displays of low-priced movies that spur impulse purchases.

But even the best supermarket displays of catalog sell-through paled in comparison with the offerings of mass merchants like Wal-Mart Supercenters, Bentonville, Ark., and Target Stores, Minneapolis. These retailers gave ample and prime retail real estate to movies priced at less than $10, as well as to higher-ticket videos.

Publix stores varied greatly in their approach to sell-through. SN visited five stores and saw four different configurations. The largest, at 11585 Jones Bridge Road in Alpharetta, Ga., had a two-sided, 12-foot gondola with endcaps parallel and adjacent to the last checkstand lane and the books-and-magazines section.

In a total of 32 linear feet, there was a mix of titles and prices; children's and family titles were merchandised on the side closest to the checkouts and more adult-oriented movies were on the inside run. One endcap featured Disney products; the other had low-priced movies.

In other Publix stores, SN saw a 4-foot rolling grid rack near the checkstands and service counter with about 400 units distilled from the larger selection, a grouping of shippers near the service counter, products on the counter and as few as nine titles behind a glass case at the service counter.

An Ingles store on Bethel View Road in Cumming, Ga., displayed sell-through in the main aisle outside the video-rental department and in a glass case on the service counter. Prominently featured was a two-sided display of products from Warner's 75th Anniversary promotion selling for $9.99 each. Two other shippers in the aisle featured previously viewed videos at $9.99, and more sell-through was displayed on the endcaps in the rental department.

The Kroger stores in the Atlanta area focused more on rentals than sell-through, and most of the retailer's sell-through inventory was children's titles. For example, the 1,300-square-foot department in the store at 10945 State Bridge Road in Alpharetta prominently displayed "Spirit of Mickey" at $14.99, "The Little Mermaid" at $17.99 and "NASCAR for Kids" at $8.99.

Other shippers in the department were "Looney Tunes Presents Marvin the Martian" at $6.99, "Dennis the Menace Strikes Again" at $14.99, "Home Alone 2" at $9.99 and "Home Alone 3" at $15.99.

This Kroger store also had Warner 75th Anniversary products, but they were not prominently displayed, merchandised on top of the rental gondolas in the center of the department. Titles at $13.99 were "Clockwork Orange," "Full Metal Jacket," "Under Siege 2," "Pelican Brief," "Conspiracy Theory," and the "Lethal Weapon," Clint Eastwood and John Wayne series. Priced at $14.99 were "All the President's Men," "Amadeus" and "Casablanca." Few sell-through titles in the store were less than $10.

In other Kroger stores SN also found a variety of approaches to sell-through. For example, a store at 3651 Peachtree Parkway in Suwannee, Ga., displayed sell-through on a speed table outside the video-rental department, a store at 6050 Peachtree Parkway in Norcross, Ga., had a grouping of 10 corrugated shippers in the main aisle outside a video department in the middle of the store, and a store at 540 Lakeland Plaza in Cumming had sell-through merchandised with its nonlive video-rental products by the cosmetics department.

An A&P Food Market at 4305 State Bridge Road in Alpharetta, on the other hand, had two three-sided racks positioned at the front of the store with $9.98 and $14.98 movies, as well as children's titles, also at $9.98 and $14.98.

Two Winn-Dixie stores, at 5450 Peachtree Parkway, Norcross, and 1502 Pleasant Hill Road N.W., Duluth, merchandised sell-through with shippers at the front end. Most product was children's, although some theatrical hits were included. Among the children's titles: "Spirit of Mickey" at $14.95, "Melody Time" at $14.95, "Flubber" at $14.95 and "Anastasia" at $16.95.

A leased-space department run by Blowout Entertainment, Portland, Ore., in a Wal-Mart Supercenter at 1500 Market Place Road in Cumming emphasized previously viewed videos. The department, called "Videos & More" -- named the same as the departments Blowout runs in Ralphs Grocery Co. stores in southern California -- had about 1,000 units of previously viewed movies and 300 units of previously played games. It was located on the grocery side of the host store.

The used tapes were merchandised in 12 linear feet on the new-release wall and on a rack in front of the department, which was very effective in drawing customers into the department from the massive supercenter, according to employees.

A sign proclaimed: "Sizzling sale: prices on movies to own, save up to $2 each," with $9.88 movies marked down to $7.88, $7.88 titles at $5.88, $5.88 tapes at $4.88 and $4.88 videos at $3.88.

Preplayed Super Nintendo, Sega Genesis and Sony PlayStation games ranged from $14.99 to $24.99.

The Blowout departments carry only products the host Wal-Mart store does not have in its electronics department -- thus the focus on previously viewed items -- but this store also had a shipper of "Jerry Springer: Too Hot For TV" at $15.88. The video appeared to be moving briskly from the displayer, SN noted.

A Target store at 5950 State Bridge Road, Duluth, had about 60 linear feet dedicated to video sell-through and another 8 feet for DVD. Under-$10 products were prominently merchandised; an endcap at the checkstands featured "The Witches of Eastwick," "The World According to Garp," "Mission Impossible," "Pretty Woman" and "Father of the Bride" at $6.99.

Another endcap in the main video section, dubbed "Great Movies $9.99" included recent releases like "Breakdown," "Fargo," "Independence Day" and "Dante's Peak." A four-sided island rack had "Hit Movies" at $9.99 marked down from $12.95. These included "Volcano," "Jerry Maguire," "The Saint," "The Rock," "Liar Liar" and "Jurassic Park: The Lost World."

DVD prices ranged from $13.99 for "Sphere" to $24.99 for "Scream 2." Four DVD hardware units were displayed above the low-rise software racks at prices ranging from $379.99 for a Philips Magnavox player to $499.99 for an RCA.