Wipe Out
Stop & Shop offers store brand baby wipes under the Cottontails line, the Guaranteed Value line and its own Stop & Shop brand.
On-the-go shoppers wipe out germs with individually wrapped wipes and baby wipe travel packs.
Fears of flu have been sweeping through the media since last fall and wet wipe sales may be profiting because of it. The sale of store brand moist towelettes in drug and mass-merchandisers (excluding Wal-Mart, Club stores and Gas/Cstores) rose just over 23% to almost $56 million with an 11% share in the category, according to the last 52 weeks ending November 29, 2009 according to Information Resources Inc. (IRI), Chicago.
Adecco Group North America’s latest American Workplace Insights Survey finds that 77% of workers think their workplace will be impacted in some way by the swine flu, reports PRNewswire. The majority (59%) of workers, however, believe their employers are at least somewhat prepared to manage the potential fallout, which may be significant following the Centers for Disease Control’s recent announcement that a potential third wave of the flu could impact Americans this winter. Workers’ confidence in their employers may stem from businesses taking the flu threat very seriously. Adecco found nearly half of employers (47%) providing antibacterial wipes/gels and/or sprays to workers.
Most drugstores sell convenient travel packs of wipes, perfect for employees to keep in desk drawers and moms to pack in children’s backpacks. Duane Reade, New York, NY, and Rite Aid, Harrisburg, PA, both carry individually wrapped wipes that compare themselves to Wet Ones on the box.
Anti-bacterial moist towelettes at Rite Aid have a citrus scent and come packed 24 to a box for $2.59, while the same size pack of Wet Ones retails at $3.29. Once out of the box the “take along” pre-moistened towelettes can’t be recognized as a Rite Aid store brand, since the packages are printed with Triad Freshette logos.
Duane Reade antibacterial wipes contain aloe to clean and refresh, and, according to the retailer, are a perfect solution to cleaning up in the car, boat, at picnics, school, work, sporting events or when camping or traveling. Once out of the box the portable wipe packets pretty much mimic the information on the front panel of their Duane Reade box.
CVS/Pharmacy, Woonsocket, RI, offers “new on the go” individually wrapped packets of its make-up remover and gentle toner system (20 packets for $5.99), as well as “new” instant hand sanitizing wipes to clean, sanitize and moisturize on the go. A box of 24 individually packaged sanitizing wipes retails at $3.99. The packets inside identify themselves as CVS brand once separated from their box. CVS claims the product kills 99.99% of germs, a statement that has recently come under scrutiny. An article publishes in December in the Wall Street Journal claimed these numbers “often don’t include all pesky germs, and are based on laboratory tests that don’t represent the imperfections of real-world use.” The article went on to say the claims are made because they sell products and quoted Maria Lovera, senior brand manager of skin care for Playtex Products Inc., maker of Wet Ones antibacterial wipes, saying in an email that “The 99.99% message is more powerful among consumers than ‘antibacterial’ or ‘germ kill’ alone.”
Mass merchandiser Target, Minneapolis, MN, sells Up & Up antibacterial moist wipes in a round canister claiming the product both compares to Wet Ones and kills 99.9% of germs. The product also has a powerfully fresh scent, vitamin E and natural aloe. The active ingredient is benzalkonium chloride and may be used on faces, arms and legs, and the photo on the canister label of a hand holing an ice-cream cone certainly helps to conjure up images of sticky faces, arms and even legs.
Baby-Sized
When it comes to baby wipes, Ahold USA’s, Quincy, MA, Stop and Shop is a one-stop-shop for everything consumers need. Stop and Shop offers wipes in a variety of store brands. Stop and Shop’s Cottontails baby care products include everything from diapers to baby accessories and the baby wipes, packaged in yellow and blue, provide “quality with a caring touch.” For babies or hands on the go the pack of 15 baby wipes is “great to use anywhere and take with you.” The unscented pack is alcohol free and retails for $1.19.
Shoppers can find more value from the baby wipes sold under the Guaranteed Value line in plain yellow, red and blue packaging with bilingual information. The 80-count package of unscented disposable wipes cost just $1.79, while the Stop & Shop brand “travel & refill pack” of 80 baby wipes with the exact same ingredients retails at $2.00. The Stop & Shop packaging includes cartoon animal illustrations: a giraffe on the white unscented pack and a lion on the blue scented pack. The Stop and Shop tubs that the refills are intended to fill retail at $2.45, while national brands Pampers and Huggies both sold for more.
Whole Foods Market, Austin, TX, sells a baby wipes travel pack, under its 365 Everyday Value brand. The 30 unscented cloth wipes are whitened without chlorine bleach, hypoallergenic, and a “gentle, all-natural way to keep your baby clean and comfortable.”
Dollar General, Goodlettsville, TN, sells DG Baby shea butter baby wipes in the same plastic packaging as the other brands, but with an additional pop up lid so a wipe “pops up like a tissue.” The wipes moisturize from the benefits of the added shea butter, aloe, and vitamin E.
Changing Habits
The Soap and Detergent Association recently reported that 93% of adults surveyed, in a survey conducted by Echo Research, believe good hygiene will help avoid the spread of flu. However, even with that belief, only 8% say they clean hands more often and just 4% clean surfaces more.
“Simple but effective, everyday practices can help protect public health and guard against colds, flu and the H1N1 virus,” said Nancy Bock, SDA vice president of education.
“We can combat H1N1 at home, in schools and the workplace if everyone does their part. Preventative health care is literally in our hands. Common sense hand hygiene and surface cleaning and disinfection practices will play an important role this year during the cold and flu season to help keep people healthy.”
SDA recommends having all family members carry a portable hand sanitizer product when access to soap and water is potentially inaccessible and routinely cleaning and disinfecting home and office surfaces, including countertops, desks, keyboards, telephones and doorknobs and handles.
Most experts agree that keeping hands clean is the best way to stay healthy, reports a recent article from www.abcnews.com.
According to Dr. William Schaffner, chairman of preventative medicine at Vanderbilt University, the best thing about hand sanitizer is its portability.
“Soap and water works wonderfully, but we are a society in a rush,” he said. “If you are out and about and shaking hands, you can use it right away. People are so used to it that they will share it.”
Individually packaged wipes and travel packs of baby wipes are a great way for shoppers and their families to stay healthy this winter. With wipe sales increased, and yet many shoppers still admitting to not cleaning hands more often, it seems like there is still room to grow sales further. Retailers who stay on top of the trends and offer innovative ways to make wipes more valuable to their consumers should be able to become wet wipe line leaders.
