Q&A: Premama's appeal to new moms can be a crucial loyalty play
NEW YORK — In the healthcare space, it's a long-held tenet that the female heads-of-household, aka mom, is the primary purchaser of the OTC remedies and balms that cure whatever it is that ails you. So why not capture her loyalty from the beginning?
Premama is looking to do just that with a family of products that appeal to women and their spouses as they build a family, from trying to conceive through a successful pregnancy and the subsequent first years of infant care. Drug Store News sat down with Dan Aziz, president Premama, to discuss the market potential of that new mom and how the company's Premama brand delivers that opportunity to retail partners.
Drug Store News: What is the value in establishing a brand relationship with a new mom and her family? How does Premama build that relationship?
Dan Aziz: The women is the household shopper for all family items. When a women becomes a new mom it is one of the few times she will change her brand loyalty, and she is very likely to stick with that brand for the remainder of her life/child’s life. Capturing a new mom is extremely valuable, as it gives you the opportunity to provide the entire household with products if the mom trusts your brand. We build this relationship by creating products to make life as easy and comfortable as possible for new moms. We help them conceive, help them have healthy pregnancies, and help them breastfeed, so they trust our brand for everyday occurrences after pregnancy.
DSN: What are the particular purchase opportunities associated with that new mom?
DA: The opportunities are endless, as new moms are open to trying new brands and switching brand loyalty. It all depends on what the company offers/plans to offer. For us, we have the opportunity to capture this customer for a 24-month period and have her buy several of our products in tandem, every month. [That creates] multiple trips to stores, and larger baskets – which our retailers love.
DSN: For those purchase opportunities, what is the full market potential? And what are the synergistic categories associated with that marketbasket?
DA: The average U.S. family spends roughly $15,000 from trying to conceive to [the first year of] baby – this is a potential market potential of $67.5 billion (with 4.5 million pregnancies each year). The opportunity is even larger if you can stay with this customer after their baby is born and growing. Synergistic categories include household food, everyday nutrition for the family, diapers, strollers, any product for baby and any product for mom to get back to her normal life after giving birth.
DSN: How is Premama helping their retail partners realize this opportunity?
DA: We help by being the only company worldwide that caters to each stage of the maternity journey: TTC [trying to conceive], pregnant, breastfeeding. Because of this we create more trips to the retailer if the retailer carries our products for each of these stages, then say a brand that just plays in prenatal. This leads to customers coming to retailers carrying us at least once a month, and while they are there they are likely to buy more than just Premama products.
DSN: What are some best practice examples for this opportunity?
DA: A number of our retailers are creating a maternity/new mom destination, which takes products from vitamins, baby and fem care, and brings them all to one destination. This, in theory, makes it easier for the mom to find everything she needs. That said, in order to be executed properly, there needs to be proper signage and communication in the store to let customers know where to find these new destinations. Creating these destinations, with proper education and support, will really allow retailers to win this new mom customer.