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How to display columns ahd posts

Columns and posts provide high profit margins because they look and feel much more expensive than they actually are.

Whether for indoors or out, the products are bulky and seemingly difficult to display. Retailers can learn and earn by following these merchandising tips:

The most important thing is to get consumers thinking about applications for columns in their homes. Especially effective are merchandising boards that feature application photos that suggest uses (such as for carports, mobile homes, patio awnings or wraparounds for basement posts)l as well as partial samples so customers can touch and feel the columls for themselves.

Columns and posts are also relatively' easy do-ityourself projects, and display boards and/or take-home brochures should spell out the simple installation steps.

A stack of posts will not sell as well as a single post topped by an outdoor lamp fixture or mailbox.

. Because columns are not a weekend project done on a whim, a large inventory is not nec. essary.. Work with a distributor who not ontry,provides atfactive point-of-purchase displays, but also shiprnents when you need them. Typically, a dealer may stock a few basic-style columns, capitals and bases and offer more ornate choices by sFecial orderr "Three or four standard sizes account for:607o of sales," says Jerry B ecker, Moultrie Manufacturin g"Dealers who stock these will also increase special order sales, because contractors are already familiar with buying colq4ns,from them."

A column or post merchandiser may provide an eye:catching end-cap display in'otherwise crarnpod quarters because, like' the columns and posts themselves, they usually are Yery shallow and can hang from or push nearly flat against a wall.

. When confined to especially tight quarters, some dealers opt to carry aluminum columns that come in knock down form; the shafts condense so they take up a fraction of the rack storage and truck space required by wood columns.