Category Captain: Oral Electrolytes: Abbott Nutrition

As a way to build traffic through increased assortment of fluid replacement offerings and to leverage promotional opportunities that would help drive cross-category purchases, Abbott Nutrition teamed with a food retailer in the South to offer Pedialyte liter SKUs at suggested retail pricing of $5.49. The item normally retails for $5.99.

The four-week promotion also featured ad support and made use of the retailer’s loyalty card database to drive increased sales. Planograms were revised and reset to highlight such new offerings as Pedialyte Strawberry liters, Apple singles and Powder Packets. Additionally, the retailer’s baby mailer, which included a $2-off coupon for Pedialyte liters, went out to a targeted list of households.

As a result of the promotion, Pedialyte fluid replacement sales increased 9.4 percent, according to Nielsen data, generating an incremental sales amount of more than $37,000, or 4,300 units. The retailer was able to close a competitive gap by expanding on its fluid replacement assortment, thereby giving moms more options when they’re purchasing fluid replacement items, and lowering the chances that they’ll opt to purchase Gatorade as a substitute product.

For 2012, the overall oral electrolyte category is expected to increase 1.7 percent over 2011.