There is no rest for retailers selling private label diapers and training pants. Moms might be showing strong loyalty to store brand products in this category, but retailers are working awfully hard to attract newcomer loyalty.

Chris Ferdock, vice president of marketing at Duluth, Ga.-based Associated Hygienic Products (AHP) says that once a retailer has convinced a mom to switch to private label diapers, training pants and wipes, it only is a matter of time until her little ones no longer need the products. Consumer turnover is frequent in the diapers and training pants category.

Still, retailers seem to be convincing more and more moms that their private label diapers and training pants are just as good as, if not better than, the national brands. Data from Chicago-based Information Resources Inc. show that for the 52 weeks ending Nov. 1, dollar and unit sales of private label disposable diapers, disposable training pants and baby wipes rose, while those of the overall categories fell (U.S. supermarkets, drugstores and mass market retailers, excluding Walmart).

According to “Nappies/Diapers/Pants – US,” a June 2009 report from London-based Euromonitor International, in 2008, Procter & Gamble and Kimberly-Clark offered more premium diapers and training pants to differentiate themselves from private label. However, Americans still chose private label over the national brands. This turn to private label saves Americans more than a few bucks, Ferdock notes.

“Some studies indicate that the average household can save between $500 to $700 per child by converting to private label baby diapers and training pants,” he emphasizes.

No Knockoffs, Please

Are moms setting aside their desire for innovative products just to save money? Ferdock doesn’t believe so. In fact, store brands increasingly are offering the same innovations as the national brands.

“Based on our research, consumers do not want a typical branded knockoff in this category,” he warns. “They are asking for unique product features that meet their performance needs.”

Ferdock says AHP is particularly proud of its leakage protection technology, which revolves around what he calls “stretch engines.” The company’s leakage protection technology is comparable to that of the national brands and regularly outperforms similar technology from other private label manufacturers, he adds.

Ferdock says good stretch engines are crucial in preventing leaks. Therefore, it makes sense that he gets annoyed by how often the term “leakage protection” is used among private brands that do not deliver comparable-quality technology.

According to Ferdock, leakage protection technology involves a complex combination of different product design features such as core development, fastening systems and elastic construction. He warns that retailers advertising such capability on their product packaging should make sure to deliver it.

“It’s very easy [for a supplier] to convince a retailer that [a] product resembles the national brand,” he notes. “However, in our experience, it’s much more important to prove your performance during actual household use, as many of these leakage design elements are invisible to the user.”

The baby wipes category is another category in which retailers need to make sure they truly are delivering what they promise. Avi Tansman, president of Boca Raton, Fla.-based A World of Wipes (a division of Unico ITC), says that all too often, many suppliers and retailers claim to offer baby wipes that are made from 100 percent natural cotton fibers. But in reality, many of these wipes are made from a much smaller percentage of natural cotton fibers.

Tansman proudly notes that A World of Wipes offers 100 percent natural cotton fiber wipes for retailers’ private label programs, as well as innovative wet gloves — baby wipes that come in the form of a glove to make them easier to use.

Packaging Matters

Retailers should not limit innovation solely to the products they offer, though — packaging innovation also is important. Tansman notes that many brands use too much material to package their wipes and could stand to cut back a bit.

“Rule number one: Stay away as much as you can from plastic,” he says. “[North America] is a market that consumes disposable plastics way beyond any other market.”

Tansman notes that retailers could use recycled plastic or even paper to create more environmentally friendly packaging. In fact, he believes retailers could offer “green” packaging for their wipes to differentiate themselves from the national brands.

“The store brands usually follow the [national] brands,” Tansman says. “So wherever there is a plastic packaging type, come up with a sustainable one!”

Ferdock says AHP also sees the benefits of using recycled plastic to package private label diapers and training pants.

“From a packaging [standpoint], our real focus has really been turning post-consumer waste into packaging,” he says. “A lot of the early environmental packages were all pre-consumer waste. Now there’s a lot of airplay happening with post-consumer [waste].”

The Whole Brand

So after retailers get their diapers, training pants and wipes on the shelf, what can they do to market the products?

Eric Smith, director of category management at AHP, says they could cross-merchandise their diapers and wipes with each other, for starters. To a consumer, an individual product is just a product. But Smith believes several products marketed together give the full picture of a brand.

“In other words, [promotions] will include the diaper, they’ll include the wipes, they’ll include other products in that portfolio,” he says.

Smith says he admires two particular retailers that have done an excellent job cross-promoting their store brand diapers, training pants and wipes: Minneapolis-based Target and Bentonville, Ark.-based Walmart.

“It required some money and it required some dedication, but they have had some significant sales growth year-to-year with those brands,” he says.

Smith goes on to point out that Walmart and Target also have done a good job turning their private label diapers, training pants and wipes into brands of their own by removing their names from the packaging — Kroger Comforts became Comforts, and the Target brand became up&up.

“Both Kroger and Target have solid marketing departments,” Ferdock says. “They’ve done their homework; they’ve talked to consumers. So it wasn’t just a blind launch on their part.”

To further market their brands, retailers such as Kroger and Walmart still are having success with the classic coupon. Although not all retailers like coupon campaigns, Ferdock notes that they need to remember that many moms out there do.

“A recent study indicated that almost 25 percent of purchases in the baby diaper category are done with coupons,” he says.

Coupons, which can be offered in paper form or online, are especially relevant in the digital age — an age in which the mommy blogger is the common watchdog over the brands moms purchase for their little ones. Ferdock believes retailers and suppliers should pay attention to Mommy bloggers, as well as other utilities such as Facebook and Twitter. He points out that AHP is taking social media seriously — after all, everybody is talking about it.

“It’s like a buzzword — it’s like the word ‘environmental’ was three or four years ago,” Ferdock says. “But what I haven’t seen is [a supplier] coming to the table with a concrete plan on how to address social media from a private label perspective. That’s something [we’re] working on and will be a big part of our marketing platform in 2010.” PLB