Reaching for More

Understanding the market is key to selling more aids to daily living, says Peter Shmagola, CEO, Parsons ADL, and the target consumer may not be as obvious as you think.

Shmagola suggests the person making the buying decision is more likely to be 50 years old than 80. He sees the caregiver — that member of the “sandwich generation” who is struggling to keep the kids in college while caring for an aging parent — as the key to selling more Aids to Daily Living (ADLs).

“The 85-year-old might not want to admit they need the product or might not want to spend the money,” says Shmagola. “The caregiver is more likely to buy.”

The breadth and diversity of the ADL category — from reachers to bathroom grab bars to leisure products — can appear challenging for HME providers looking to balance the need for a broad offering that serves customer demand against the expense of devoting extra shelf space and inventory. But the rewards are great for those who get it right: higher cash sales that can help to offset money lost to lower reimbursements. And although the products can be low-cost, the profit margins are healthy, according to manufacturers.

Shmagola contends that consumer awareness is crucial: Many people just don’t know these items exist.

“Don’t tuck these products in the back of the store where they will be forgotten,” he warns. Parsons offers a broad array of products, from cleaning aids and reachers to kitchen items, eating devices, dressing aids and bathroom grooming aids. The Canadian company does about 30 percent of its business in the United States, where about 200 HME providers carry its products.

With products designed to offer ease and comfort of daily living, the category also may offer an opportunity for HME providers to branch out.

“It’s about disability but also it’s about the simple aging process,” says Ruth Mallin, owner of Independent Needs Centre, which provides a variety of personal care items for dressing, eating, grooming and toileting. The company also provides leisure products such as magnifying glasses, book holders and large-number playing cards.

Mallin stresses the importance of listening to the customer base. “Who are your customers and what are they looking for? If you are located near a medical center that does a lot of hip replacements, you should know what they will need and cater to that need.”

“ADL products should adapt to the person rather than the person adapting to the product,” says Alan Bingham, senior product manager, AliMed. The company has been branching out into the bariatric area, where specific needs related to reach and personal hygiene are important. The company has adapted aids to enable a bariatric patient to extend his or her reach to do a variety of tasks, from using toilet paper to applying lotion.

Ergonomic Product Design

A common element in many ADL products historically has been a “cheap, bland feel,” like they have been made inexpensively and put together without any thought to the people who need them, says Bingham. But that is a trend that is changing. “We have some very elegant eating and cooking elements that are ergonomic and convey a level of dignity,” he says.

Consumer focus — including product design — is core to the offerings from Carex Health Brands, which supplies a variety of ADLs such as bathroom safety (rails, grab bars, shower seats), reaching, dressing and opening aids, and mobility aids such as canes and walkers. One example is the company’s E-Z Grabber reaching aid, which removes the need for users to rotate their wrist to reach for and pick up household items.

Essential Medical Supply has changed the ergonomic design of the handle on its lotion applicator and offers bendable spoons and forks that are useful to stroke patients. The company breaks down its ADL products, around 100 in all, into four categories: eating and drinking, dressing and bathing, reading and home products.

The manufacturer/distributor sells a lot of “hip kits” targeted to anyone who has had hip surgery. A typical kit might include a reacher, a dressing stick, a shoehorn and a bathing sponge, all in one package. The kits can be custom-designed to meet the specific needs of the occupational therapist-driven market.

AliMed’s focus on product design includes a research and development department with biomedical engineers on staff who can create computer prototypes of products for daily living and later test the items in the field. One of those items is the Universal Bedpan, which is made of high-density polyethylene rather than stainless steel and can support up to 1,000 pounds.

According to Parsons, product design is improving by leaps and bounds, especially in Europe and Canada. The company’s Blue Nosey Cup looks like a regular glass and is an example of taking the institutional look out of products. For personal hygiene, the Buckingham Easy Wipe is a toileting aid that is ergonomically designed.

Mallin of Independent Needs Centre suggests magnifying glasses as a product category for which ergonomic design has paid off. From heavy-duty items, magnifying glasses have evolved to lighter-weight versions with ergonomic handles, long-lasting batteries and LED lights instead of light bulbs.

“Now we have taken them and put them in packaging so people can see and touch the handle and test out the magnification before they buy without opening the package,” she says. Mallin also observes that eating utensils are becoming more ergonomically designed, and many are now dishwasher-safe.

She points to increasing consciousness among consumers about what plastics are used in water bottles. The company has transitioned away from the use of latex, for example, in exercise equipment or the handles of its plastic cutlery.

Importance of Packaging

Essential Medical has devoted a lot of effort to its packaging in the last several years, including creation of color-coded icons to guide the consumer, says Mike Hoepner, president. For example, anyone looking for an item in the eating category can look for a yellow icon with a fork and a spoon. For items in the dressing category, there is a blue square with the outline of a shirt.

The company also stresses uniform, high-impact packaging. Its planograms group related products together and help promote add-on sales.

“People come in for one thing, but they can use two or three,” says Hoepner. “Until they see it, they don’t know it’s available.” Essential Medical also provides brochures for customers to take home. “The keys are high-impact packaging that increases the perceived value, making it easier for the consumer to see what it is, and giving them something to carry away, like a brochure,” he says.

AliMed packages its products in two ways, both for the facilities market (more generic packaging), and for the consumer (HME) market, including more detailed explanations and instructions. Also, packaging items in a bubble pack with a cardboard back helps consumers see what the item is, Bingham says.

Shmagola of Parsons sees the benefit of allowing a customer to touch and feel the products, for example, by showing a bathroom setup or displaying plates on a tray. The company has replaced its sealed packaging with a recloseable clamshell package with better graphics to promote more sales.

“We have invested in equipment and are dedicated to making our packaging more customer-friendly,” Shmagola says. He recalls having a revelation while he was helping a retailer in Canada arrange items on a wall. “I came back to the office and said, ‘Every package has to have a picture of what the product is and what it does.’”

Competing with Mass Retailers

Mass retailers typically have only a few ADLs on display and feature the most common types, where HME suppliers are better equipped to make a statement with a wider range of models to help consumers see more options.

“Letting customers try a sample in the store would be a great way to convert to sale,” suggests Matt McElduff, president, Carex Health Brands.

“A lot of mass retailers are selling products that may or may not work,” agrees Bingham of AliMed. “The HME provider has a level of expertise so he can make sure the consumer gets the right product. You can’t walk into a large chain and buy something that would solve a problem, and no one in the store has any expertise.”

HME providers can also excel by offering a wider product range rather than just one or two items of each type, he adds. “People cherish the extra value of having exactly what they need. HME providers are not competing on price, they are competing on solving the problem of the patient.”

Adds Hoepner, “There are umpteen-million ADLs that mass retailers are never going to carry. They aren’t going to give up the shelf space and they don’t know what to stock.”

HME providers, on the other hand, have an opportunity to provide the right product mix, to display it effectively and even to do some creative cross-merchandising. “If you have a bedding section of your store, put the magnifying glasses there because people read in bed. Put the reachers near the canes,” he suggests.

Ideas to Increase Sales

Mallin urges HME providers to check out the quality of what they are selling and what it’s for, and to educate staff so they can explain items to customers.

“They are already selling medical equipment to someone; they should learn what other products might be helpful to those people and add it to the sale,” she comments.

Mallin also contends a store should have a consistent section for ADL products.

“You can’t just have one or two pieces here or there. People just don’t get it. You also need signage to direct people to that area. It doesn’t matter so much where you put it in the store, it just needs to be a cohesive group of products that makes sense and be attractive enough with decent signage.”

AliMed’s Bingham suggests grouping items together in the store that are related to a specific illness or condition, such as items likely to be needed by someone who has had a stroke.

Growth in the elderly population also points to a need for providers to keep a fresh supply of various solutions available from manufacturers in the ADL category, says Carex’ McElduff. He also suggests the Internet as a tool providers can use to spread the word about their offerings; Carex provides supporting images and content to help ADL retailers fortify their Web sites.

AliMed produces product videos, some of which teach people how to use their products.

Parsons offers several point-of-purchase displays, including one for reachers and one for its Guardian Alert 911, a distress alarm that automatically dials 911 when you push a button. The audio display has a button customers can push to hear the product explained in 30 seconds.

ADLs Are Getting Smarter

A “smart” medication dispensing device can remind, dispense and report medication non-compliance to ensure that a patient takes the right medications at the proper time. If a dose is missed, the system sends a signal to designated caregivers via text, voice or email. The MedSmart Medication Tool, developed by American Medical Alert Corp., Oceanside, N.Y., is an example of the growing influence of electronics in the traditionally low-tech ADL category.

Another example is the Egress Alarm from AliMed, one of several types of wander alarms that signal when someone goes out a door. The Loc8tor from AliMed is a full global positioning system (GPS) that can find people wherever they are; the device is unobtrusive and lightweight, less than an inch square.

The company also offers a Stove Cutoff device that switches off the stove if it senses nobody is in the kitchen for a specified period of time.

Independent Needs Centre offers a similar device called the Stove Guard.

Even for products that aren’t necessarily “smart,” Parsons ADL sees other technology improvements. Bath lifts, for example, at one time were water-powered. Now battery-powered lifts, such as the company’s Sonaris model, are improving with the use of smaller motors and smaller batteries that provide longer life — 18 lifts instead of eight.

Experts Interviewed

Alan Bingham, senior product manager, AliMed, Dedham, Mass.; Mike Hoepner, president, Essential Medical Supply, Orlando, Fla.; Ruth Mallin, owner, Independent Needs Centre, Markham, Ontario; Matt McElduff, president, Carex Health Brands, Sioux Falls, S.D.; and Peter Shmagola, CEO, Parsons ADL, Tottenham, Ontario.