Shine a Light

This month we report on the test of a new product introduced recently to the convenience store market. Kool Brush is a unique dental hygiene product — a short toothbrush (with toothpaste already in it) designed to be carried and used anywhere. It's also reusable if desired.

This test proved a basic rule of business that "if you can't see it; you can't sell it." Three of the four stores where we tested the product had excellent results (all more than 70 percent sell-through), but the one exception had only 22 percent, simply because someone decided it would sell better behind the counter.

There wasn't a security issue — because two of the other test stores had scan data to verify sales of the product, so why did one store put the new item behind the counter? It actually was a sales associate at the store who moved the display and not the owner. Had the owner been more attentive to what was going on in his store, he would have had better results with the product.

Location No. 4 had exceptional results due to its site location near the interstate, while the other two locations posted strong results as well. The accompanying chart pro- vides a detailed analysis of our tests of this product at the four locations.

I recommend initially displaying this product on or near the counter to acclimate your customers, and then transferring it to a pegged section of HBC next to or near the toothbrush section.

The Kool Brush is a division of Barbar Industries, 9663 Santa Monica Boulevard, Beverly Hills, Calif. 90210. For more information, go to www.fin gerkoolbrush.com or send an e-mail to: dominic@bar barartist.com.

Other uses of this product are being researched for future applications.



Michael Hahn is founder of Diversified Marketing, a convenience store consulting firm specializing in product testing, evaluation and placement. Hahn worked in the c-store industry for nearly 30 years, including owning several stores, working for a 1,500-store chain, and being a category manager, direct-store distributor and broker. For more information, e-mail [email protected]. If you are a manufacturer and would like your product tested by Diversified Marketing and reported on in Convenience Store News, contact Don Longo, [email protected].
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