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The desire to look and feel good preoccupies consumers young and old.
Oral care manufacturers have identified this preoccupation as a significant sales opportunity. Standout innovations in recent years, such as Crest SpinBrush, Listerine PocketPaks and Crest Whitestrips, have carved out new segments in the category, said Kim Feil, division president of worldwide innovation at Information Resources Inc. And introducing consumers to these new segments has generated a wave of promotional activity at retail.
"In any situation where you're creating a new category, as a leading manufacturer, you re responsible for educating consumers,' said Feil. She expects oral care manufacturers to rely on one-year to twoyear campaigns to promote education and trial.
Consumers are proving quick studies. The introduction of entry-- price-point powered toothbrushes, such as Crest SpinBrush, retailing for $5.99, helped bump up unit sales of dental accessories and tools in drug stores 12.7 percent to more than 28 million units for the 52-week period ended Sept. 8, according to IRI.
Moreover, close to 30 percent of the $195 million dental accessories sold in drug stores were directly related to some manner of trade promotion. Upcoming product introductions, such as the new Crest SpinTrush Pro for $7.99 and Gillette's Oral-- B CrossAction Power for $6.99, are likely to attract even more new users to the powered category.
The goal among vendors, such as Oral-B and Waterpik, is to create a stepladder effect that eventually leads consumers to higher-priced powered toothbrushes in their lines. Waterpik jumped into the low-priced powered toothbrush game last year with its sleek and portable eBrush retailing for approximately $5.99. The idea, explained Stanza rell, director of marketing for Waterpik, is to encourage consumers to trade up from manual to the eBrush for about a dollar or two more and then eventually trade then up again to an item such as Waterpik's SynchroSonic, which ranges from $48 to $69. Currently, approximately 40 percent of Waterpik's oral care business is done in the drug store channel, the company reported.
Similarly, Gillette Oral Care also has laid plans to use its new Oral-B CrossAction Power toothbrush as a trade-up tool to its higher-ticket powered brushes. In fact, company research indicates the potential for trade up is huge.
The Oral-B research also shows...