Of all areas in the home medical equipment showroom, the physical therapy product department can be one of the most dynamic and most chaotic, according to manufacturers. Loosely defined, it includes orthopedic softgoods, braces, sports wraps, support pillows and the like.

Such variety challenges HME dealers to create profitable retail assortments in a market in which products not only proliferate but also increasingly find their way into mass retail channels.

Complicating some PT categories, manufacturers say, is the fact that reimbursements that might have existed a year ago are gone, the victims of government and insurance cuts. "As far as our business, it's down quite a bit," says Ruth Simmons, an owner of Best Orthopedics. "I understand from my customers that a lot of it has to do with reimbursements on insurance."

"There is so much competition going after the same market," says Linda Lavi, vice president of marketing at Alex Orthopedic. "Now, with no reimbursement, everyone is saying where do we go from here?"

These market realities have forced many manufacturers to focus on expanding their retail presence. And fortunately for some manufacturers, they already have lines that are well-established in other channels. "Our Jacknobber has been our most successful product around the world," says Bernard Gladieux, chief executive officer of Pressure Positive. "That is really only because it crossed over to the gift market, the mass market."

In some cases, market pressures have also forced lower price points and even precipitated a slide in product quality. Quality, however, seems to be the linchpin of the HME channel's strategic advantage.

PRODUCT QUALITY IN DEMAND What HME providers offer is characterized by quality more than price, manufacturers say.

"A company like ours has always prided itself not on making the cheapest things out there; we make the best things out there," says Pam Compton, vice president of sales at CMO. "Taking that type of a retail concept to a Rite Aid or a CVS will not work nor should it. That's not a market we're interested in pursuing. Those buyers could care less; they want to get as many turns as they can a week."

Mass chains may avoid the higher price points of the unique materials and features and the products' slower turn rates-but those are just the features that work in the home care channel.

"It definitely gives them a differentiated product than what you are going to find in the chains," says Rhonda Machin, director of marketing at FLA Orthopedics. "That is what has really helped us in the home care market, not selling in mass. A mass-merchandised product is manufactured for a mass-merchandise environment."

Maintaining image is important to the manufacturers that serve the HME market. "That's why, even though the bulk of our sales is in the mass market, we still focus on the medical market because when home care dealers carry our product, it legitimizes it in the medical field, and that's very important in our business," says Gladieux.

DRESSING UP DISPLAYS Declining reimbursements, increasing competition from other channels and the opportunity to capture impulse sales in areas such as sport rehabilitation have renewed interest in merchandising the PT department. But it can be a challenge to make it both attractive and profitable.

"Sports medicine, orthopedics and physical therapy are a very chaotic segment," says Machin. "Most dealers are buying from 10 to 15 different suppliers. The fact that there's this inconsistency of look also makes it very chaotic."

Hit products also tend to come and go. "Anytime we introduce a single new product, it always peaks out really quickly because it's something new," says Compton. "But then it falls in line with everything else."

A few manufacturers help dealers make sense of new products by offering "planograms" and other merchandising programs. "We offer a planogram right in the box that tells the provider how many pieces to put on a hook, how many hooks go in each space and what order to put them up in," says Compton.

This kind of service can be critical to the success of HME providers, she notes. And as market competition continues to increase, she predicts, displays and other merchandising techniques will become even more integral to providers' efforts to capture impulse sales and make home care retail stores destination spots for consumers.

Pam Compton, vice president of sales, CMO, Barberton, Ohio; Bernard Gladieux, chief executive officer, Pressure Positive, Gilbertsville, Pa.; Linda Lavi, vice president of marketing, Alex Orthopedic, Arlington, Texas; Rhonda Machin, director of marketing, FLA Orthopedics, Miami Lakes, Fla.; Brad Ruhl, executive vice president of sales, Otto Bock Orthopedic Industry, Minneapolis; Ruth Simmons, an owner of Best Orthopedics, Hickory, N.C.

IT MIGHT HAVE taken awhile, but orthopedic products are being transformed by new materials-and some that have been around for many years, says Rhonda Machin, director of marketing at FLA Orthopedics.

"What you are seeing now is a lot of manufacturers concentrating on materials," she says, "and I think you will see your better manufacturers coming out with a lot of advancements in the types of materials-newer elastics, plush elastics that are latex-free, new laminates and soft materials.

"Orthopedics has not changed in such a long time, so it's refreshing that we are seeing these new materials coming out in these product lines," she adds, pointing to advancements of the last 50 or 60 years such as microfibers with moisture-transferring fibers, cooling fibers and gels.

A number of manufacturers are starting to employ such high-tech materials. CMO, for example, has a moisture-wicking material called Derma-Dry, and Otto Bock launched its own material less than two years ago. "We now have a fairly extensive line of softgoods that are [composed] primarily of a unique neoprene material we call Thermoprene," says Brad Ruhl, Otto Bock's executive vice president of sales. "They range from upper-limb devices to lumbo-sacro devices to knee sleeves, ankle sleeves, et cetera."

Perhaps even more interesting are the new materials that clinicians can tailor to their patients' needs. "We have a line of fairly unique thermoplastic, reinforced, heat-moldable wrist and ankle splints that have really caught on quite strongly, particularly for ankle orthosis," says Ruhl.

MORE AND MORE manufacturers of physical therapy products are introducing packaging designed to communicate an image of quality and reinforce the special character of the home care channel.

"Home care dealers have to do things with merchandising that makes them look like a nice, medical, professional store," says Rhonda Machin, director of marketing at FLA Orthopedics. "That's why we have really focused on our packaging and helping them create displays that are going to give them a professional-looking section for orthopedics."

Her company introduced new packaging last September. "It's the not the type of retail packaging you would see at a Wal-Mart or Kmart," she says. "It has enough of a medical appearance to maintain the integrity of what we manufacture" yet is still attractive enough to catch the eye of a consumer who has been directed by a therapist to purchase an orthopedic product.

Slick packaging can go too far, however. "Sometimes I think the [providers are] just buying packaging and nothing else. The integrity of the product doesn't seem so important to them," says Pam Compton, vice president of sales at CMO. "But it has to be the best of both worlds-be attractive enough to get the consumer's eye but maintain that medical look and impart the proper information."

She notes that the decline in therapists' ability to dispense product, because of regulations, pressures retailers to help communicate a product's merits. "Good packaging used to be somewhat of an issue, but now it's an imperative."