Book channel builds fitness muscle
By Susanne Ault -- Video Business, 8/10/2007
AUG. 10 | As the traditional fitness category reshapes itself with a broader “health and wellness” profile, suppliers are finding pumped up support in the book channel.
Bookseller Barnes & Noble in recent months has created new endcaps dedicated to health and wellness items, holding both DVDs and other items, in its DVD sections.
“We have dedicated additional space in our DVD locations to this category,” said David Achar, director of DVD marketing for Barnes & Noble. “This decision was based not only on the sales of existing titles in the category, which have been very strong, but also on the response from the stores and their interactions with customers.”
Featured titles in the endcaps include Gaiam’s Yoga For Beginners and Qigong for Beginners and Acacia’s Yoga to the Rescue.
Borders did not answer inquires for comment by deadline.
“The category for Barnes & Noble has moved away from just fitness,” added Achar. “All stores have a fixture dedicated to this category that features a selection of products from Gaiam. This partnership has been very successful and has helped us build this business. The category is growing in all product lines, books, DVD, CD and related accessories.”
One supplier source of B&N’s latest encaps said, “This is going for wellness and not so much fitness.” This generally means “programs with good solid practices, and that are not celebrity-driven, and don’t revolve around equipment or diet food fads,” he said.
Gaiam president of retail distribution and direct response Bill Sondheim said customer are willing to experiment in the category.
“There’s no doubt that the book channels clearly feel that their demographic is more progressive in their search for answers, where they’ll use books to further explore interests, and that customer will experiment with new trends like education and wellness,” he said.
Current Gaiam titles selling well in the channel include Power Yoga: Total Body Workout and A.M. and P.M. Yoga for Beginners.
After successfully merchandising wellness DVD and other lifestyle items together in retailers as diverse as Barnes & Noble, Whole Foods and Linens N Things, Gaiam is looking to apply the strategy to other genres.
The supplier, for instance, builds merchandisers with yoga DVDs, mats, blocks and weights for some retailers. It will distribute a line of DVDs branded with the Mayo Clinic later this year that will anchor sections in alternative pharmacies.
But it also plans to expand the concept to other areas, such as family films or children’s titles, stocking, for instance, its Brainy Baby titles with workbooks, puzzles and toys.
“We have forged and refined this strategy with fitness,” said Sondheim. “We can emulate a similar strategy with kids, family, Christian.”
Acorn Media, which owns the Acacia label, this year will roll out 16 titles, which is about double the output of its launch year in 2006. The company’s hottest-selling titles this year include yoga DVD Shiva Rea: Fluid Power and Indian-flavored Bollywood Dance Workout With Hemalayaa.
“Baby boomers represent our real core audience, and they are concerned about living as healthy life as they can,” said John Lorenz, president of Acorn U.S. “And the Acorn customer is concerned not only about their own well-being, but also their surroundings and the planet themselves. That’s the appeal our line has.”
As retailers evolve their health offerings, certain fitness suppliers are experiencing some competitive pains. First National recently shifted its product focus from kids to fitness DVDs but has discovered constriction at some retailers, including Best Buy.
“At Best Buy, we were told they only want the main SKUs,” said Ryan Kugler, president at First National. “I don’t think they are just targeting fitness, but it’s across the board, where they want to make sure they have the good stuff” and biggest known brands.
Best Buy told Kugler it didn’t need to re-order First National titles, including its fitness line Belly Twins.
Kugler is hopeful fitness business will kick back in later this winter, when people are making New Year’s resolutions about improving themselves.
Other traditional fitness titles remain strong for companies, such as Koch Entertainment’s Self and Fabulously Fit Mom DVD series.
Koch pumps up the promotion on the DVDs by cross-marketing discs with other products, such as offering subscription discounts for Self magazine inside Self DVDs. Also, beginning in August, tens of thousands of Apple and Eve organic fruit juice bottles will be tagged with hangers advertising new Fabulously Fit Moms releases on Nov. 6 (prebook Oct. 9).
“This is one of the things that Koch does,” said Dan Gurlitz, Koch VP of video. “We release products with a lot of support. This category does continue to ship to our expectations.”
