Message from the shop floor: don’t forget to buy batteries for your devices!

Zita Sebők, marketing manager of Energizer Magyarország Kft. told our magazine that the average shopper buys batteries every second month. Most of the time they choose products with familiar packaging, affordable price and no negative connotations. Andrea Zelenák, trade marketing manager of VARTA Hungária Kft. added that buying batteries is always highly dependent on the field of usage, therefore they find it important to help consumers in selecting the right product.

According to Orsolya Varga, Energizer Magyarország Kft.’s trade marketing manager the company offers expertise and quality products with a good price/value ratio. All three experts agreed that share of private label products is below the average in the category. Consumers use these long-lasting batteries in valuable electronic equipment so they rely on branded products. Energizer’s opinion is that consumers have come to realise that modern digital devices need high-performance batteries. Many people also became more environmentally conscious and started using rechargeable batteries. VARTA sees the biggest potential in new generation batteries with Ready2Use technology. These are not only sold charged but also preserve 80 percent of their energy for up to a year. They can be recharged 1,000 times. These rechargeable batteries are among the most sought for in VARTA’s assortment. VARTA renewed the design of products in September, the new packaging includes performance data, larger icons for the fields of usage and easily understandable colour codes. All these help shoppers in finding the right products. Energizer’s new Extreme and Precision rechargeable batteries arrive in the winter period, they are already charged so shoppers can buy them ready-to-use. These batteries remain charged for 1 year even if they are not used. They perform perfectly even after being charged for several hundred times. The best chargers are packaged together with these pre-charged batteries by Energizer. In the second half of the year VARTA introduced new generation Lithium-technology pencil and micro batteries. These are seven and four times longer lasting, respectively, than traditional alkaline batteries used in digital cameras. Lithium batteries can also be stored longer (up to 10 years) and adapt to extreme changes in temperature well. Since batteries are impulse products, POS advertisements and right placement are crucial in the case of these products. Shoppers also like promotional packages, e.g. when they get 6 batteries for the price of 4. In the Christmas season, when lots of batteries are sold for children’s toys, VARTA will appear in-store as many places as possible. Energizer is going to organise a game called MOVE & PLAY, which anyone can try at www.energizerplay.com. At the same time their Energizer Ultra+ batteries will bear a MOVE&PLAY game code that facilitates access to new levels of the game.