BATTERY MAKER GOING INTO RETAIL.

Byline: Brent Hopkins Staff Writer

NEWBURY PARK - In this deal, batteries are included.

Breaking out beyond the wholesale market, Battery-Biz Inc. will enter retail stores with a new line of rechargeable batteries, hitting Wal-Mart, Fry's Electronics and Best Buy stores just in time for the holiday toy and hand-held electronics rush.

``This is definitely a big shift,'' Jessie Taxe, director of marketing for Battery-Biz, said Monday. ``For the first time, we're making a big push to get into retail. We've gotten in with a lot of big retailers and re-sellers and are broadening what we can do for customers.''

Sold under the Hi-Capacity name, the product line includes lithium ion, nickel metal hydride and nickel cadmium batteries and chargers. Rather than focusing on the vast consumer electronics market, taking on stalwarts like Duracell and Energizer, Battery-Biz instead focuses on replacement charges for digital cameras, laptops and cellular phones. While the company has experience in the wholesale market dating back to 1988, this will be its first major push into retail.

The privately held company declined to release sales figures, but Taxe said the company is expecting 48 percent growth in revenue next year as a result of its new retail presence. A profile in last month's Baseline Magazine projected this year's revenue at $25 million, a number that Taxe did not dispute. No specific figures exist for the total battery market, but the Portable Rechargeable Battery Association says the number of applications are growing.

``Five years ago, you didn't have portable DVD players and digital cameras,'' said Norm England, president of the Atlanta-based trade group. ``You've got all these applications brought to the forefront by the new technologies.''

With the new technologies comes added complications, however. Since Battery-Biz positions itself as an alternative to manufacturer-supplied parts, consumers can find themselves with a confusing array of choices. While some digital cameras require only easy-to-recognize AA batteries, the much more complex systems used by computers and power tools must be matched precisely to the device.

``The main thing is that the specs are the same, the voltage, the type,'' said David Brooks, who writes the Digital Help column for the photography magazine Shutterbug. ``You need to warn people to look at the manual, because they'll go to the store, they won't have the instruction book and they'll ask the minimum-wage clerk which one to buy. They don't know, it won't work, and then they've got the hassle of having to take it back.''

Anticipating this, Battery-Biz will give retailers access to its Internet database and toll-free phone numbers, allowing shoppers to find what battery their gadget requires without trial and error.

``One of the biggest barriers to entering into the industry is that there's so much information,'' Taxe said. ``Unless the consumer knows what they need, they're in the dark.''

Brent Hopkins, [phone]

brent.hopkins(at)dailynews.com