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Response Magazine
DR Products Filling Up Retail Aisles
1 Dec, 2002
By: Bridget McCrea
Response
Lured by media dollars and brand recognition, big-name retailers are merchandising more DRTV products than ever.

A stroll through the Bed, Bath & Beyond store in Clearwater, Fla., is a lot like a walk through DRTV product wonderland. While some national retailers sequester their "As Seen On TV" products to a few shelves or an end-cap display, this retailer proudly displays such wares in some pretty strategic places.

Quick Chops sit on the floor in a waist-high display positioned in one of Bed, Bath & Beyond's busiest aisles. Just steps away are a few dozen Oxiclean six-pounder canisters. Around the corner are a variety of Kaboom kits, and just up the aisle, a 13-inch TV/VCR combo is perched strategically above a pyramid of Samsonite Space-Savers by Space Bag, belting out the benefits of "shrinking bulky sweaters, jackets, coats by squeezing out the excess air through a patented one-way valve."

Target boldly displays large varieties of "As Seen on TV" products on endcaps throughout the store.
DRTV's influence extends out of Bed, Bath & Beyond's kitchen department and into the bath and bedding area, where AeroBed takes center stage in three sizes and two displays. Near the registers, jars of Blue Relief Pain Relief Gel take up real estate in the highly coveted impulse area, waiting patiently for an ailing consumer to snap them up.
This is just one example of a retailer that not only takes pride in its DRTV affiliations, but also maximizes it like never before, placing the products in several of the store's prime selling spots. Just what percentage of the national retailer's sales comes from products that either grew up on DRTV, or that are currently running on DRTV spots and/or infomercials, is anyone's guess. The company and many of its counterparts either ignored or declined interview requests, but based on the amount of floor space the retailer allocates to products like Oxiclean, Kaboom and AeroBed, you can bet it's pretty significant.
They may not want to talk about it with the press, but retailers aren't doing much to hide their exuberance for DRTV products. Whether they create an end-cap display of "As Seen On TV" products or take the Bed, Bath & Beyond route and scatter them throughout the store, it's clear an increasing number of retailers have found success in merchandising products that got their start on DRTV, sold well, then made the natural progression to retail.
A Growing Affinity
A.J. Khubani, president of Fairfield, N.J.-based TELEBrands, has seen a major change in the way retailers look at the products that his firm markets. In the DRTV industry for almost two decades, Khubani made his first foray into retail in 1989 with Amber Vision sunglasses. His most recent retail success is the Roll-a-Hose, a 50-foot, flat garden hose that pops up like a regular hose when the faucet is turned on.
"At first, retailers looked at me as a competitor," recalls Khubani. "They didn't carry any 'As Seen On TV' products at all, and assumed that because we were selling to consumers, and they were selling to consumers, that we presented competition for them. Retailers really didn't understand the value of advertising production on DRTV as a way to create rapid brand awareness."

Quick Chop has made a smooth transition to retail.
Slowly, they came around. Within five years, Khubani says all major retailers were on-board, with straggler Wal-Mart becoming the last major player to embrace DRTV products in 1994. "We did a lot of convincing across the entire retail channel, proving to them that the category was real," he says. "As a result, we were instrumental in getting the 'As Seen On TV' category set up as a separate category at many retailers."
Khubani is still working on the latter, mainly because some retailers insist on lumping DRTV products into their particular categories - such as housewares or exercise equipment - rather than allocating a single buyer to handle all DRTV merchandise. Wal-Mart, for example, buys its "As Seen On TV" products under department 82, also known as the "impulse category."
Regardless of their buying strategies or merchandising tactics, retailers like Walgreen's, Target, Linens and Things and ACE Hardware have displayed a growing affinity towards DRTV products. Drawing them in are the millions of media dollars being poured into the DRTV arena each year. According to a recent Fortune magazine article, roughly 800 28.5-minute ads were produced this year, up 20 percent from 2001. In a typical month, infomercials run more than 225,000 times, and comprise one-third of all television airtime.
Always searching for a way to improve margins and boost sales, retailers can't afford to ignore those numbers. Throw in the billions of dollars in annual sales that the DRTV media time generates, and the allure is overwhelming. "If the product is really hot on TV, and the advertising dollars are put behind it, it will sell well at retail," says Khubani. "That's what today's retailers are looking for."
Following the Rules
What retailers are also looking for are vendors that can meet their stringent guidelines, and delivery demands, and fulfill their hunger for the products, should they start flying off the shelves. At DITAN in Eatontown, N.J., Ron Novotny, president and CEO, has helped DRTV marketers meet those demands for a few years now. A retail distribution services firm, DITAN crossed into the DRTV arena when it realized that such firms needed help dealing with the likes of Wal-Mart and Target.
"They didn't know how to do business with these guys, and that was already our niche," says Novotny. "We were able to take them into retail and get them set up with all of the retail compliance and Electronic Data Interchange (EDI), so that they could be viewed a viable vendor in the retailers' eyes."

Rotozip has seen a series of its tool products become retail successes.
Novotny says DITAN's highest profile product was the Ab Energizer, which came on strong in 2001, but later was taken off the market due to legal issues. After working with such products, Novotny says he's learned that retailers in general are looking for suppliers who can do business under their retail requirements. Most retailers publish those requirements in guides that must be followed to the tee. Ignore them, and risk a failed retail campaign.
"Large, national retailers buy hundreds of thousands of SKUs from thousands of different suppliers," says Novotny. "They can't do business individually with each supplier, so they rely on a standardized way of doing business that translates into the smooth-running of their retail stores."

Response Magazine
DR Products Filling Up Retail Aisles
1 Dec, 2002
By: Bridget McCrea
Response
Lured by media dollars and brand recognition, big-name retailers are merchandising more DRTV products than ever.

Retail's Crucial Role
All DRTV marketers know that the holy grail is for a product to generate enough momentum on TV to win placement in stores, where most consumers still like buying stuff that they can touch, see and smell before shelling out the cash for it. Combine those buying preferences with the fact that much of a DRTV campaign's profits get eaten up by media expenses, and the race to get to retail becomes even more intense.

Ron Popeil's Showtime Rotisserie is just his latest successful retail venture.
The race route has also become much shorter - at least for some products - during the past few years, according to Bill Kyle, vice president of marketing for Los Angeles-based Moulton Logistics, the fulfillment company for the popular Aussie Nad's product line and other DRTV products. These days, Kyle says DRTV products are going to retail as quickly as possible, sometimes within just a few months of being on the air.
Take the Ab Swing, an in-home ab machine designed with Swing Glide, for example. The product was only on the market for three months, according to Kyle, before making the push into retail. "It's a completely different model than marketers were using four years ago," says Kyle. "Back then, marketers didn't go to retail until the DR wasn't working anymore, or when sales were less than 2-to-1 vs. the media."
Kyle speculates that the hot "knock off" market generates the urgency. "Marketers know that if they have a hot product, there will be six more like on the market before long. Otherwise, why wouldn't you stay on TV for as long as you could, then eventually go to retail?"
Khubani says the right timing for a retail launch depends on several factors. Factor out competition and originality, he says, and the optimal timeframe in the current market would be about three months after the DRTV launch. Retail distribution is a critical component of a successful campaign, he says, but must be watched carefully because once retail sales get hot, TV sales tend to fall off pretty quickly.
For that reason, Khubani used the following formula for all campaigns: go heavy on DRTV for three months, then get total, complete retail distribution during the fourth month by getting into every major retailer.
"Doing that," Khubani contends, "allows marketers to take advantage of the peak of the DRTV advertising."
To further maximize the retail component requires a line extension program that goes beyond just the "flash in the pan" success, according to Jake Weisbarth, president of Los Angeles DR consulting group Content = Commerce. Formerly with King World Productions, where worked on retail and DRTV campaigns for Craftsman, Kenmore and George Foreman Grill, Weisbarth says, "It all comes down to shelf space, and how long you can sustain and support that retail real estate."
"Retailers want products that have the potential for lines that can be established for long-term brand development," says Weisbarth. "To simply walk in and ask retailers to open their door and give you real estate space for a 'one-shot' with great DR legs is okay, but to be taken seriously by retailers you must build brand awareness and support from the beginning."

An assortment of George Foreman Grill products lines store shelves.
One Hands Washes the Other
One company that knows the value of line extension and longevity at retail is Rotozip Tool Corp. in Cross Plains, Wis., maker of the Rotozip Spiral Saw and a line of converter attachments and accessories. Rotozip got its early legs at the retail level in 1994, but didn't become a recognized brand name until using DRTV. It was a bold move at the time, and one that the company's retail partners were against initially.
"We had placement at retail first, and our retailers at first balked at us when we decided to use DRTV," says Angie Schoeneck, merchandising manager for Rotozip. "They thought it would take sales away from them." Since then, Schoeneck says retailers have learned that the DRTV has not only driven retail traffic, but also brought them a more educated consumer who knows what a spiral saw is and is ready to make the purchase.
"No matter how many photographs you include on the package, or how clear the wording is, it still doesn't fully communicate the message," says Schoeneck, adding that Rotozip's current retail outlets include Lowe's, Home Depot, Sears, ACE Hardware and Wal-Mart. "Once people see the tool in action on the infomercial, they get interested and go to the store to make their buying decision."
Similar awakenings have led major retailers to look at DRTV as a friend rather than a foe. Products like the Showtime Rotisserie, George Foreman Grill and Oxiclean all have proven the strength of the relationship between DRTV and retail - a relationship that just 10 years ago was strained by the same channel conflict that nearly hampered Rotozip's decision to use DRTV as an advertising medium.
Back then, Norm Goldring, president of CPO Direct in Chicago, says retail buyers would shy away from products that they saw advertised via an infomercial or DRTV spot. Today, they flock to them, knowing that the valuable media dollars are not only driving consumers to pick up the phone, but also increasing brand recognition for consumers browsing through their stores.
"It has turned 180 degrees to the point where if a prospective manufacturer goes in for distribution of a new item that qualifies as a good potential DRTV product," says Goldring, "a retail buyer is likely to tell that manufacturer to run some TV and come back."

Ace Hardware's endcap stocks many of Orange Glo Intl.'s cleaning items, such as Kaboom and Oxi Clean.
Going forward, Goldring sees the alliance between DRTV marketers and retailers as staying "solid and healthy," as evidenced by a recent CPO Direct client who was closing a private label deal with a major retail chain. "When he told the chain buyer that his company was about to launch the same product using DRTV," says Goldring, "the buyer changed his mind about private labeling and ordered the branded product instead."
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