Daily News New York City. March 29, 2020

40 Sunday,March 29, 2020 DAILY NEWSNYDailyNews.com

SUCCESS

YOUR GUIDE TO MANAGING MONEY,

WORK AND THE BUSINESS OF LIFE

S

ome Americans have found a

measure of reassurance in

these coronavirus days by

stocking up on hand sanitizer

and toilet paper. For others,

peace comes with the purchase of a

$4,995 emergency go-bag, outfitted

with “Bond-like gadgets” and custom

monogramming.

Or a $149.95 “virus-eliminating”

personal air purifier that’s worn as a

necklace. Or a $99.95 Sanitized Sleep-

er’s Safe Haven, a bedtime cocoon

made from “patented antimicrobial

fabric that kills nearly 100% of bacter-

ia, fungi and viruses.”

These items are part of a cornuco-

pia of survival products that float at

the rarefied end of the burgeoning

$4.5 trillion wellness market. As the

pandemic spreads, they’re sold out or

on back order or otherwise in short

supply. Just like toilet paper.

“Our warehouse shelves are almost

wiped out,” says Ryan Kuhlman, co-

founder of Preppi, maker of high-end

disaster kits including the go-bag,

which comes with four hard-to-

obtain N95 respirator masks. Preppi’s

sales so far this month have increased

5 ,000% compared with February.

For makers of products that cater

to one-percenters nervous about

exposure to a deadly illness, inventory

can’t be replenished fast enough.

The granddaddy of pricey-gadget

peddlers is Hammacher Schlemmer

&Co. The retailer stocks a range of

defenses such as the “Virus, Mold,

And Germ Destroying Air And Sur-

face Sanitizer,” which for $399.95

promises to zap nasty microbes from

your living room using technology

similar to what NASA employs to

purify its space shuttles.

In the days before coronavirus, the

item was billed mainly as a mold

fighter. And though it was always

meant to fight viruses, the company

added the v-word to it and some other

products to grab the attention of

agitated shoppers, not to mention

internet-search algorithms.

“We strengthened the title to aid

consumers in their search,” said Ann

Marie Resnick, the company’s vice

president of marketing.

It’s working. Sales of some Ham-

macher personal-care items are up as

much as 500%, according to Resnick.

“It just went boom,” she said. “Ev-

eryone needs an air purifier for the

home. You’ll need more than one.”

Coronavirus-related spending is

most prevalent among higher-income

consumers, according to Stifel, Nico-

laus & Co., and those folks need every-

day items as well.

If Purell is too gloopy for well-

manicured hands, there’s Touchland,

aspray-on sanitizer ($12 for 1.3

ounces) whose packaging looks to be

modeled on a mini-iPhone. It contains

moisturizers, essential oils and some-

thing called Glycereth-26, which the

company says is “an awesome humec-

tant.” Bonus: It smells like watermel-

on or lavender or other fun stuff, not

ethyl alcohol.

There’s just one problem: It’s cur-

rently sold out.

“It’s been a little bit crazy,” said

Andrea Lisbona, Touchland’s founder

and chief executive.

Lisbona said she’d just returned to

the U.S. from the company’s factory in

Mexico, which is ramping up produc-

tion to get Touchland into the unsani-

tized hands of the 25,000 customers

on its waiting list.

“Until three weeks ago, this prod-

uct was essentially a fashion state-

ment,” said Alexander Chernev, a

marketing professor at Northwestern

University’s Kellogg School of Man-

agement. “Now, things have

changed.”

Turns out, if you want something

that’s both fancy and functional, you

might have to wait — no matter what

tax bracket you’re in.

The Prepster Ultra Advanced Fireproof

Emergency Bag sells for $4,995 from Preppi.

PREPPI

What the 1% buy to feel secure

Wellness market sees sales

jump during coronavirus crisis

BY MATHEW BOYLE

BLOOMBERG