Cost-conscious consumers step up footcare segment

Sales of foot care devices seem to be running rampant of late—22.9 percent growth for the 52 weeks ended Aug. 10 across food, drug and mass outlets (minus Wal-Mart), reaching a dollar volume of $389.9 million according to Information Resources Inc.

A lot of that growth, however, can be traced to Telebrands, an As-Seen-on-TV marketer that recently brought its PedEgg orb-shaped callous remover to the mass market from the direct channel. Telebrands has generated $46.9 million in mass-market sales so far.

Pull those Telebrands sales out of the mix, and the foot care device category is still growing at a healthy clip, 8.1 percent on a dollar volume of $343 million, despite a weakening economy. “The foot care piece of our business is strong in every channel,” said Steve Head, executive vice president of Implus, a company that services such specialty channels as footwear and sports retailers in addition to mass. “The fact is the numbers support, across a number of channels, that foot care is recessionary [resistant],” he said, meaning that consumers looking to cut down their discretionary spending are not yet including foot care insoles on that “can-no-longer-afford-to-buy” list.

A down economy may, in fact, be helping to drive consumers to the foot care aisle. Cash-crunched shoppers who have taken on second jobs could be looking for that additional foot comfort, and the more savvy and frugal consumers may be looking to extend the life of their footwear three months to four months through the purchase of new insoles.

Implus Footcare last month introduced a new look across its Airplus foot device line and coupled that with a new tagline: “We stand for comfort.”

Included with that brand repositioning are two new products. Airplus GelCell Insole features more than 100 massaging cushion cells that more evenly distribute pressure and provide better shock absorption. And AirPlus CoolMax helps wick moisture from the body. The CoolMax technology is licensed from Invista, Implus executives reported, and already enjoys an 82 percent brand recognition in the marketplace.