In the wake of competitive bidding, bath products offer a cash-only niche to the product mix.

Every 8 minutes a Baby Boomer turns 60. And by 2010, more than 100 million Boomers will be over 50. This should mean good news for DME dealers. However, final rules on competitive bidding have created a climate of uncertainty, at least for the time being.

As the pilot projects have shown, competitive bidding tends to favor large dealers who, because of the scale of their business, can severely undercut smaller ones. The good news is that competitive bidding—though affecting bread-and-butter products such as oxygen—is not touching every product category. This means that whole classes of products, many of them with the promise of cash-in-hand sales, could help smaller dealers weather the competitive bidding storm during the first tumultuous months and years of the transition.

One class that fits this mold is bath safety products—such as grab bars, tall commodes, and shower/bath transfer seats. The products may seem insignificant when measured against high-ticket items such as wheelchairs, but they have several distinct advantages. “About 98% of people will need bath safety products,” says Kevin J. Jones, senior product and brand manager (Homecare Division) for Moen Inc, North Olmsted, Ohio. “These products sell more units than any other category.”

Other than the large pool of potential customers, carrying bath safety products has another distinct advantage—it is a cash-only business. “Carrying bath safety products is a good way to diversify and enable cash flow,” says Deb Edgecombe, senior product manager for Adepta Medical, Columbus, Ind. Jones adds that including bath safety products in the retail mix will not necessitate adding staff, and will give dealers the opportunity to become more retail-oriented—offsetting diminishing reimbursement.

Bob Rosen, a registered pharmacist and president of 71-year-old Belmont Medical Supply Company, Belmont, Mass, notes that the large dealers—those who typically win the competitive contracts from the federal government—will not bother carrying the low-priced items in favor of big-ticket items such as wheelchairs. Currently, about 20% of his sales are for bath safety products.

Aesthetics is the Name of the Game
It is generally agreed that the consumer-driven Baby Boomers have the resources to purchase what they want when they want it. But this willingness to spend comes with high expectations. Edgecombe says that the Baby Boomer consumers are looking for both an aesthetically pleasing and functional product. With that in mind, Adepta has designed a variety of lines that complement bath designs already on the market.

For Moen, this interest in aesthetics is seen as a key to its success in this product category. “We’re betting on [customers’ interest in the aesthetics of our products],” says Jones, who adds that the company does quite a bit of research and sees itself as unique in the market because it is first and foremost a consumer market company.

Although Boomers are demanding aesthetically pleasing products, this requirement, which could be seen as simple vanity, may have untold benefits. According to Jones, the Moen physical therapy and occupational therapy consultants have told them that aesthetically oriented products increase compliance. Jones explains that add-on products, such as grab bars that look as if they belong in the bathroom, help consumers/patients to not focus on their disability. Visitors are hard pressed to realize that items are designed for safety and not simply basic bathroom fixtures. “Our products are about maintaining dignity,” he says.

With the drive toward developing products that are both aesthetically pleasing and functional, Adepta and Moen may be a bit ahead of the curve. Rosen says that among his customers, there have been few requests for beautiful products. He says that several of the manufacturers he deals with offer products in different colors, but there has “not been enough call for them [to carry them in the store].”

Liability Zone
Rosen says that liability connected with bath products has never been an issue for him, because he sticks with high-quality products. From the manufacturer perspective, both Moen and Adepta stand behind their products. Jones says that Moen offers a lifetime warranty. The quality of the products is assured because they are designed by the company and extensively tested. Edgecombe says that Adepta tries to “make the installation directions very clear. We have tried to make the products simple and easy to install.”

Liability is, obviously, an issue that dealers should consider when deciding which product lines to include in their shops. Rosen cautions against looking at the price point as the primary consideration. “Quality of the product [should be] the first consideration,” he says. This is due to the fact that many products are being made overseas, where quality considerations sometimes are not as highly valued.

Jones and Edgecombe echo Rosen. Jones says quality is the first criterion that dealers should consider. “You shouldn’t sacrifice quality for pricing,” he says. “When you’re examining the product, does it look or feel cheap? At the core of this consideration is the safety of the product. And Baby Boomers want higher quality.” Other criteria Jones says dealers should consider include, in order: the product guarantee and reputation of the company, the functionality of the product, the aesthetics or style of the product, and, last, the price point. 

Edgecombe adds that customer service and the company’s testing criteria also should be considered.

For his part, Rosen also has a close relationship with his manufacturer representatives. “I know if there is a problem with the products, they will stand behind them,” he says.

But misconceptions about carrying bath safety products continue. Jones says that dealers who are resistant to carrying bath safety products do so partly because they do not have experience with this product category. “They see the products as all the same, and look at the pricing,” says Jones. Because the products have a much lower price point than the typical money makers—oxygen and wheelchairs—these dealers do not see a compelling reason to carry the products. This means that these dealers could be missing out on a good source of passive income. “The reality with bath safety sales is that when you put them in a display, they sell themselves,” says Jones.

Evolving Market
Currently, add-ons are the biggest segment of the market. But Jones and Edgecombe both say that this is changing with many seniors and not-quite seniors doing renovations or building new homes with bath safety products as integral parts of their bathrooms. “Seniors who are building houses now are doing so with an eye to future accessibility,” says Edgecombe.

Jones notes that some builders who use Moen fixtures are installing the products during the initial build. “Universal design is growing,” says Jones. “It’s a value proposition driven by increased health care costs.”

C.A. Wolski is a contributing writer for  Home Health Care Dealer/Provider.