EVANSTON, Ill. -- Six months ago Joel Warady started CP2 with a vision: To comb the international markets for the best products unavailable in the United States. Last month, Warady's vision became a reality as Rite Aid and Snyder's Drug Stores picked up the first CP2 product to hit the mass market, the Xylifloss Pocket Dental Flosser -- straight out of Finland. Xylifloss will launch at Rite Aid in March in about one-half of the chain's 3,600 stores and Snyder's will add the item across its 220 units.

CP2 stands for "clinically proven consumer products," which is something all of the brands Warady will introduce to the U.S. market share in common, he explained.

"We are only going to bring brands in ... [that can] make a clinical claim," Warady told Drug Store News last month. "We aren't interested in something that [might] make you smell better; we want something that will make you smell better," but that also contains a proprietary ingredient or mechanism that provides a distinct health benefit, he added.

Xylifloss--the first of two planned entries for the oral care category--is a patented, self-contained flossing system that uses a special handle to extend the user's reach and Xylitol-enhanced floss.

Janina, an all-natural whitening product, will be the company's second foray into the U.S. oral care market; however, it will be some time before the product is ready for a launch into mass retail. "It is a high-priced item, and we want to build a customer base before we introduce it to the trade," Warady said. For now, CP2 will use catalogs and other direct-to-consumer channels.

On the more immediate horizon is Podovis, a five-SKU line Warady describes as "skin care for the feet," which makes for an interesting merchandising challenge. "If you position it as foot care, then you have to go talk to the foot care buyer, and your products end up [next to] Dr Scholl's; a [young person] isn't going to run back to the bunions and callouses set [for this kind of product]."

Coming out of Italy, Podovis is an all-natural, seaweed-based line of spa-inspired foot care items. There is already an established customer base for seaweed-based skin care items, which typically sell in high-end cosmetics boutiques, such as Sephora, with price points ranging from about $18 to $25, Warady noted. Podovis retails between $3.99 and $5.59. Items include cream talc, dry foot moisturizer, deodorant spray, moisturizing relaxing gel and pumice cream.

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