RETAIL NEWS

Adult bath products offering a Zen-like experience are bubbling to the surface in mass stores and helping to perk up sales, along with Epsom salt soaks. Consumers are favoring products with a purpose over simply fragrant bath additives. That explains the 26% climb in volume of Dr. Teal’s, which offers a Pure Epsom Salt Soak, along with body wash and foaming bath. It is the No.1 selling SKU in the bath category.

A slew of at-home spa devices offer drug store retailers the opportunity to build incremental sales — while giving shoppers the chance to pamper themselves privately. Although visits to medical spas are up, not all women can spare the time or money for frequent visits. That’s fueled growth of the do-it-yourself gadget business. Today, chains can sell LED lights to fight acne or wrinkles, or to spur follicle growth — and they can do so even at price tags approaching $100.

It appears oral care brands are borrowing a page from the skin care playbook. To brush up on sales, more oral care brands are mirroring trends that have boosted mass market skin care sales — double-duty toothpastes, a trend toward “premiumization” and building momentum for more naturally positioned offerings.

Feminine hygiene products, once relegated to back aisles near diapers, are hidden no longer. In fact, the entire category is being treated more like a beauty business than a commodity. Some chains even cross-merchandise feminine wipes or cleansers near beauty aisles.

Once again, millennial shoppers are driving the change. They aren’t afraid to talk about periods or other feminine issues that were once unmentionable. There are blogs about waxing and menstruation, and Refinery 29 Snapchatted about how to empty a menstrual cup.

WAUKESHA, Wis. — Hamacher Resource Group on Wednesday introduced a new infographic series to help community pharmacies maximize sales. "Increasing the Market Basket — Ideas for Cross-Selling Merchandise," offers suggested complementary items to add to front-end health, beauty and wellness departments as space is available to improve the shopper experience and increase impulse purchases.

TAMPA, Fla. — Benzer Pharmacy on Wednesday announced that it would be partnering with physicians to provide additional clinical services under collaborative practice agreements. Among the services Benzer can provide under such agreements is chronic care management, transitional care management and intensive behavior therapy for weight management counseling, among others, Benzer said.

Having a baby changes everything — including shopping behavior, according to new insights from pregnancy and parenting resource BabyCenter, a Johnson & Johnson company. The company’s “2017 Skincare and Bathtime Study,” shared exclusively with Drug Store News, points to lasting changes that new parents undergo in terms of what they look for from their personal care products once they have children, as well as the top factors influencing their buying decisions.

The predominant factor impacting sales of the $158.1 million parasite treatment category is super lice. But how do you treat cases of head lice that can’t be eradicated through the use of traditional pediculicides? And more importantly, for parents it’s how do you eliminate that “super lice” infestation without injuring the host, which just happens to be their children?