It started with a catchy name and a good idea and became a business that more than doubled its sales from 1997 to 1998. So how did Atlanta-based Mature Mart gross $1 million in its first year (1996) and several more millions in the following years, without a retail storefront and without reimbursement from Medicare, Medicaid, or managed care?
The answer is cash sales via the Internet, catalogs, phone orders, one-on-one selling, and QVC television shopping. In addition to these outlets, customers can buy Mature Mart products in approximately 500 Kroger's supermarkets throughout the South.
Clearly, Mature Mart is not a traditional HMD provider. The products that founder and president Alexis Abramson sells are designed to help mature adults with the activities of daily living (ADLs) that many younger people take for granted--until they get older. Currently her catalog boasts more than 20,000 of these types of products.
Best-selling items include a swivel seat ($38.50); a hands-free crafter's magnifier ($15.95); and leisure items such as jumbo-print playing cards ($4.15) and playing card holders ($5.97). Prices range from as low as $1.98 to more than $200.
To ensure success, all products receive thorough testing by focus groups of older adults. Moreover, Abramson taps the experience and inventiveness of her own customers and routinely evaluates new ideas and inventions. She offers a "fair deal" to inventors to have their creations manufactured and marketed.
The company has an exclusive licensing agreement with one manufacturer that makes more than half its products. The remaining products come from more than 25 other manufacturers, some of which have exclusive distribution agreements. Mature Mart outsources all its shipping and warehousing needs.
WHY NOT A RETAIL STORE?
Before founding Mature Mart, Abramson earned a master's degree in gerontology and directed the senior program at the Atlanta Jewish Community Center. While working there, she observed that difficulties with everyday tasks often turned into psychological limitations for her clients. With financial backing from her family, she started Mature Mart with the intent to provide one place where all these ADL products could easily be found.
"I wanted to make sure that all mature adults, regardless of their condition, could get the products they needed quickly and easily," Abramson explains. "I was amazed to find out how big a difference could be made immediately for so many of the millions of Americans over the age of 50."
Then, just as Abramson was getting ready to launch her business, Internet marketing and direct television merchandising emerged as valid ways to do business. Abramson saw this trend and abandoned her original plan to open storefronts, believing the new avenues as an excellent way to bring products directly to consumers.
Still, despite the explosive growth of ".com" companies and increased Internet marketing. Abramson's current Web sales are relatively small compared to other sales avenues. The majority of her sales come from in-store displays at Kroger's supermarkets and selected other stores. Catalog/phone orders make up an additional 20%; QVC, Internet, and one-on-one sales account for the rest.
For the one-on-one sales, Abramson sends a representative to nursing homes, assisted living facilities, and case management groups. The sales representative answers questions from patients and residents and makes them aware of Mature Mart's products.
One difficulty Abramson has encountered is seniors' reluctance to deal with their new limitations. "The seniors themselves sometimes are less willing to accept the fact that they need these types of products," Abramson explains. Consequently, many of Mature Mart's customers are relatives, friends, or children of older adults.
Abramson continues to seek innovative ways to reach the seniors themselves. For instance, Abramson's 86-year-old grandmother oversees the Web site, answering emails and sharing her real-life experiences through a Web newsletter. According to Abramson, "Grandma Rose" relates well to the other seniors and cements customer loyalty. "She certainly enhances our brand and lets people know that we're out here for a reason–not just to make money."
Abramson predicts that as more and more baby boomers reach retirement age, her Internet business will increase. She is so sure of this that she hired an outside Web designer 4 years ago and plans on hiring a permanent Web master to build, enhance, and maintain the site.
MARKETING THE PRODUCTS
Abramson has never advertised, but she is an expert at generating the publicity that creates word of mouth. When she saw a gerontology expert describing products on the Today Show, she thought she could do better. She called up the show, sent a press kit, and got a call 24 hours later. Since then, she has been on television almost every month for the past 2 years.
Abramson is identified by the show as a lifestyle gerontologist, and although no reference is made to her company, the Today Show Internet site features video clips of the entire segment and has a link to the Mature Mart Web site. "The viewers have gotten to know me; our phones will start ringing as soon as I show a product," she notes.
Abramson is also striving to establish Mature Mart as a knowledge resource for seniors, the disabled, and the business community. In the wake of her television appearances and the publicity she received when she won Atlanta's Small Business Person of the Year Award, Abramson has received consulting opportunities and invitations to speak. "I go into restaurants and businesses and teach them how to sell and market more effectively to seniors and create a senior-friendly environment," she says.
"I also may speak to a group of employees about what it means to be a caregiver and teach them how to decrease their absenteeism and productivity problems related to caring for a mature adult," Abramson continues. "Through that, I can tell them about my products."
PRODUCTS LABELED "DISCRETIONARY"
One reason that Abramson has kept out of the traditional HME market has been the unwillingness of payors to see her company's product offerings as more than luxuries. Payor sources claim that while items such as phones with larger numbers, easy-to-grip fingernail clippers, and countless other products may improve quality of life, they are not medically necessary.
"I think the people who use the products-and their children-clearly understand the value, but I do believe that the majority of people out there think these are discretionary products-and I totally disagree," she says. "If you've had a stroke and you're trembling and you can't hold a spoon or a knife, we have spoons, knives, and forks with built-up grips. I don't think feeding yourself is discretionary."
Ultimately, Abramson would like to expand into more traditional HME items. "I do believe the HME stuff still is not easily accessible unless you're really looking," she says. "With that said, I think we're going to expand into that part of the line-it's a natural complement to our current business."
She is also optimistic that reimbursement may come for her more nontraditional products, most likely when "someone in elected office has a critical health situation and understands."
Until then, Abramson will continue to sell her ADL products through private cash sales.
Greg Thompson is associate editor of Dealer/Provider.
