On Retailing

Tuesday, October 30, 2001

Products for a slow economy

Ad campaigns aiming to entice buyers during a time of failing confidence

David Pellerin/Caller-Times

Zenn Taylor, president of Levetron Industries, shows off his company’s new toy, The Levitator. The inflatable flying saucer, priced at $4.95, is intended to rival high cost video games and other products this holiday season, as the economy slows.

An increasing number of retailers are coming out with advertising campaigns that say their products are perfect for a sorry economy.
   One of those is Levetron Industries, a Corpus Christi-based company formed last month to sell an inflatable flying saucer for $4.95, invented by the partnership's president, Zenn Taylor.
   The partnership, which also involves local attorney Daniel Hall, put out a news release that said the flying saucer was timely given the uncertainty of the economy.
   "Parents may not spend as much this holiday, but you can bet there will be presents under the tree,'' it said. "At only five dollars retail, The Levitator provides a value rivaling any high cost video game and because the flying saucer has a patented one-way valve you can refill it over and over at any grocery store.''
   Consumer fears
   Retailers are worried about the effect of a slowing economy combined with fears about anthrax and terrorist attacks cutting back on profits for the upcoming holiday shopping season.
   Courtyard by Marriott ran an ad with Robin Leach advertising hotel discounts and featuring Robin Leach commenting on why he didn't want caviar anymore: "Not in this economy.''
   Hall said he didn't think advertising The Levitator toy in the context of a sad economy was a self-defeating prophesy.
   "You have to face the reality,'' Hall said.
   Taylor, a former Tampa, Fla., resident, said his market research suggested that Americans are ready for simpler, back-to-basics entertainment.
   "This is something that will let people take their minds off their problems,'' he said.
   He interviewed people at craft shows and in children's hospitals while in Tampa, Fla., trying to decide if there would be a market for his product. The oil and gas investor came up with the idea for the toy after returning from a weeks-long trip, when his wife gave him a homecoming balloon that deflated by the next morning.
   Taylor said his invention is made of patented microfoil and lasts five days before it needs a helium refill. The balloon, which is manufactured by Pioneer Balloon Co. in Wichita, Kan., spins around as if hovering in space.
   About 675 Levitators have been sold at a festival in Tampa, and more than 100 were sold in an hour at a state fair in New Mexico, he said.
   Craft fairs, kiosks
   Taylor said he formed the company last month after the Sept. 11 attacks, thinking it was a perfect time to begin selling the flying saucers.
   "It was apparent the economy was already going down, but with this it was apparent there wouldn't be any huge retail sales this Christmas,'' he said.
   For now, he and Hall are concentrating on selling the toy at fairs, craft shows or mall kiosks, and they're building a network of distributors that so far includes six people.
   "Especially since the Sept. 11 attacks and all the layoffs, we thought what a wonderful time to help people supplement their income,'' Taylor said.
   Linda Sorsby, an owner and manager of Global Exotics in Corpus Christi, is aware that a slowing economy might not bode well for luxury furniture and exotic imports such as bear skin rugs and crocodile sandals, just a few of the items she sells.
   Leather does well
   But Sorsby, who also sells leather goods and is a dealer for The Leather Factory, says leather has always done well in turbulent times.
   "Research has shown us during wartime that leather is a priceless commodity,'' she said.
   The owners, Corpus Christi residents Sorsby and David Hinojosa, moved the shop from the Katy Mills mall near Houston recently after their lease ran out. They also have closed a small store on Saturn Road in order to move to their newly renovated 8,000-square-foot store at 3802 Saturn Road.
   Another potential strong point for the Corpus Christi-based company is that it wholesales leather goods to the state and federal prison system, where inmates fashion items that are sold to consumers. About 65 percent of its sales are to prisons or inmates.
   Global Exotics, which does $300,000 in annual sales, specializes in leather goods but also sells wrought iron furniture and novelty imports.
  
  

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On Retailing is published every other Tuesday. Contact business writer Naomi Snyder at 886-4316 or snydern@caller.com

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