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Read what they wrote:
February 21, 2013
Kaeron rolls out direct-to-home toilet tissue.
Read what they wrote:
February 21, 2013
TP for the People
Kaeron rolls out direct-to-home toilet tissue.
In
a past life, I worked for a supermarket industry magazine that printed
an annual rundown on every single grocery category. One statistic from
that study has always stayed with me. It serves to remind one of the
unpredictability—or maybe the ingenuity—of the American consumer. The
stat? That toilet paper has a 97% household penetration rate. It's a big
number for kumquats, perhaps, but for toilet paper it seems short of
the mark. The U.S. population is currently 313 million. That means that 9
million Americans have either found a bathroom tissue alternative, or
need to be singled out and shunned. Each year when the study came out,
the identity of the 3% inspired an office guessing game. Were they bidet
owners? Granolas recycling newspapers? Homeless? It remains one of the
enduring mysteries of the consumer packaged goods business.
Negligent
grocery list writers in Montana who return from their 100-mile
roundtrips to the nearest Safeway minus the TP never came up. But if
they form a significant component of the 3%, a startup out of Miami
called Kaeron Consumer Products has them covered. This summer, Kaeron
will begin direct marketing of its new toilet paper brand Cleenz, with a
plan to remove toilet paper forever from grocery lists of people who
purchase subscriptions to have bulk supplies shipped to their homes or
offices.
“Why
not have it delivered to your door? It's a product that's in our lives
daily but is very mundane, so why not order it for a year and forget
about it?” asks Katiuska Guerrero, president of Kaeron, which also
markets Amici pet wipes, Bum Bum baby wipes, and Puriz disinfecting
kitchen wipes.
Aside
from the consumer proposition, Kaeron has two other strong reasons for
taking TP to the people: toilet tissue is a crowded category, and retail
space is expensive. Guerrero's aim is to place Cleenz in people's
pantries first, and store aisles second. Moreover, Kaeron can't hope to
tilt marketing swords with category leaders Procter & Gamble
(Charmin) and Kimberly-Clark (Scott), so it is taking a decidedly modern
route to market: crowdfunding, social media, and direct shipping.
As
the first production run of Cleenz brand sits in Kaeron's South Florida
warehouse awaiting a summer debut, Kaeron has introduced the brand on
Twitter, Facebook, Tumblr, Pinterest, et al, as well as crowdfunding
blogs. It has set up its own crowdfunding page offering “Premium soft
bathroom tissue at your doorstep” and asking for pledges that will be
fulfilled with rewards of toilet paper. The first 1,000 backers, for
instance, get free shipping on initial orders. ($99 gets you a year's
supply, or 192 rolls. Six months costs $65.)
Guerrero
has called on Kaeron staff for ideas for branding images and slogans
distributed through social media. Targets include working moms, owners
of roll-destroying cats, and college students (“Frat parties. Plenty of
booze. Never enough toilet paper!”)
“It's
toilet paper. What can you do to market it outside of price? So we're
reaching out to people looking for a deal, and who are influencers, like
the crowdfunding community that has really gotten behind us,” says
Guerrero, whose favorite tweet is “May your life be like toilet
paper—long and useful.”
Kaeron's
goal for the brand in 2013 is to establish the brand nationwide and
determine four to six standard subscription plans that satisfy all
segments. Retail distribution remains a long-term goal, one that's only
worth mentioning if Cleenz survives its direct-marketing birth.
Should
Cleenz make it, I offer up an even longer term goal: Raise household
penetration in the U.S. to 98%. That would be a good thing for Kaeron,
but a great thing for the country.
