Home Center Merchant

BILL FISHMAN

Bill Fishman & Affiliates 'l 1650 lberia Place San Diego' ca' 92128

HIS MONTH the theme throughout the home center industry has been CUSTOMER SERVICE. I'm all for customer service. As a consumer I think it's great! As a marketer I know "service" is a terrific image to project. But, to lace reality, service is only one small part of the "store wars" being fought among home centers and building material dealers.

Stand outside the exit of any large chain warehouse store and watch the shopping carts and the lumber carts roll by. Take notice of the shoppers. Maybe these do-it-yourselfers and project installers have switched their "fashion" purchases from the May Co., Buffums, Broadway, etc. to Nordstrom because of their superior service, but it is the big bucks that they save (or perceive they save) that brings them to the warehouse store.

Service alone is not enough! The lumber and building material dealers, the independent and small chain home center operators need to sharpen merchandising skills to .compete with the giants.

Look at it from the shopper's point of view. The warehouse chain offers a greater selection than the neighborhood store. Their back-up inventories are larger. The shopper reasons he stands a good chance of getting everything he needs in one trip. What's more, on a $200 purchase he thinks he can probably buy it for $20 to $80 less. He'll put up with a lot of mediocre service for that kind of savings.

Superior service alone is not enough. To be a power in the market today the independent must learn to out-buy, outprice, out-merchandise, out-display, out-service and out-advertise all the competition. Impossible? To some maybe. But it ,s being done by a few in- dependents. They are the budding giants of tomorrow.

Programmed buying is the key to outpricing the competition. Negotiate shrewdly and fairly with suppliers. They'll help. Suppliers are not interested in seeing the giants get more powerful. Approach suppliers with concepts that will help them move more of their products off your shelves and they will offer lots of support.

The independent is in a position to exercise greater control and flexibility in merchandising. The multi-store chain is hampered by communication links. The independent can turn on a dime.

So what? So the independents can more easily merchandise the local weather, unseasonal trends, national lads and local governmental and environmental regulations. lt is easier for the independent to attract local shoppers.

Hang tough. If the store war gets nasty. get nasty. Use special buys to counteract the competition's claim of overall lower prices. Learn how to promote price sensitive items as loss leaders and make up the lost margins on accessories.

Be sure that the advantages of shopping your showroom are not the best

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