Tight race at big three for lowest-price branded goods

There were no big surprises in this year's Top Brand Market Basket survey. Wal-Mart lived up to its billing as the low-priced leader, Target reigned supreme in product presentation and Kmart was the hard-trying underdog that fell short in both areas. But a few things did stand out.

It seemed odd that, as hard as all three try to differentiate themselves, Kmart, Wal-Mart and Target all package and present products in much the same way. Everything from Hershey's candy to Hanes underwear came in the same color and package size and were shelved and promoted in almost identical ways.

The only example of a retailer teaming up to do a special promotion with a vendor (at least in the products we sampled) was Kmart and its "Big Monday Night In" sweepstakes with Del Monte. The sweepstakes is promoted with a shelf placard under Del Monte canned vegetables and gives shoppers a chance to win a plasma TV by mailing in proof of purchase of Del Monte products.

In the area of product presentation, the biggest surprise turned up at Kmart. Even though Wal-Mart and Target are touted as the two retailers that have dominated and changed the toy retail business the past few years, Kmart did the best job with toys. Its displays promoting toys from popular brands like Blue's Clues and Dora the Explorer were very effective and its $23.99 price on Fisher-Price's new Elmo talking plush was lower than Wal-Mart or Target's.

But that was the only area where Kmart was the price leader. Wal-Mart basically ran the board with rock-bottom prices on products like Suave shampoo (87 cents compared to $1.49 at Kmart) and Kodak single-pack, black-and-white film ($3.42 compared to $4.99 at Kmart).

Target did a superior job with product displays and did an especially good job in health and beauty and consumer electronics. The CE category was also the only area where all three offered almost identical prices. Kmart and Target had the same price on both the Sony DVD/VCR combo player ($149.99) and Kodak Easy Share camera ($249.99) with Wal-Mart just a few dollars below at $147.64 and $247.64, respectively.

MARKET BASKET

The editors of DSN Retailing Today visited three discount stores
in the Oceanside, Calif., market. Based on a survey of like items
in all three stores, Wal-Mart's price tally was the lowest, even
though not all three had an exactly comparable list of items.

CATEGORY                     TOP BRAND         ITEM

BEVERAGES                    Coke              2-Liter Bottle
CAMERA                       Kodak             Easy Share Digital 4m
HEALTH AND BEAUTY AIDS       Suave             Naturals Shampoo,
                                                 22.5 ounce
SNACKS                       Frito-Lays        Lays Wavy Ranch 11.5
                                                 ounce
COSMETICS                    Maybelline        Volume Express Mascara
CANDY                        Hersheys          Smores 11.3-ounce Bag
FILM                         Kodak             Black-and-White Film
                                                 Single
GROCERIES AND CANNED FOODS   Del Monte         Corn 15-ounce Can
MEN'S APPAREL                Hones Men's       5 Crew Neck T-Shirts
GREETING CARDS               Hallmark          Religious Theme Cards
INTIMATE APPAREL             Hones-Intimate    Cotton Stretch Bra
TOYS                         Fisher-Price      Elmo Singing Plush
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS         Sony              DVD/VCR Combo Player
WOMEN'S APPAREL              Hanes Women's     6-Pack Lo-Cut Socks
COMPUTER SOFTWARE OR
ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE
PRODUCTS                     X-Box Games       Max Payne 2: The Fall
                                                 Of Max Payne
CHILDREN'S APPAREL           Hanes Kids'       Boxer Briefs 3-Pack

TOTAL

CATEGORY                              kmart               TARGET

BEVERAGES                             $1.49                 $1.39
CAMERA                               249.99                249.99
HEALTH AND BEAUTY AIDS                 1.49                  1.19
SNACKS                                 2.99                  2.69
COSMETICS                              5.19                  4.99
CANDY                                  1.88                  2.09
FILM                                   4.99                  3.89
GROCERIES AND CANNED FOODS              .79       .52 (sale Price)
MEN'S APPAREL                         10.99                  9.89
GREETING CARDS                           NA                    NA
INTIMATE APPAREL                       9.99                  8.99
TOYS                                  23.99                 24.99
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS                 149.99                149.99
WOMEN'S APPAREL                        5.99                  5.99
COMPUTER SOFTWARE OR
ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE
PRODUCTS                              19.99                 19.99
CHILDREN'S APPAREL                     6.99                  5.99

TOTAL                               496.74                 492.58

CATEGORY                            WAL*MART

BEVERAGES                            $1.18
CAMERA                              247.64
HEALTH AND BEAUTY AIDS                 .87
SNACKS                        1.66 (sale Price)
COSMETICS                              5.12
CANDY                                  2.00
FILM                                   3.42
GROCERIES AND CANNED FOODS   .46 (Great Value)
MEN'S APPAREL                          9.43
GREETING CARDS                         2.23
INTIMATE APPAREL                       8.99
TOYS                                  24.47
CONSUMER ELECTRONICS                 147.64
WOMEN'S APPAREL                        4.96
COMPUTER SOFTWARE OR
ENTERTAINMENT SOFTWARE
PRODUCTS                              19.82
CHILDREN'S APPAREL                     5.88

TOTAL                                485.77

In the domestic category, Cannon was not available in Wal-Mart, Kmart
and Target

COPYRIGHT 2004 Reproduced with permission of the copyright holder. Further reproduction or distribution is prohibited without permission.
COPYRIGHT 2004 Gale Group