HOME GENTEM MERGHANT

Bill Fishman

Bill Fishman & Affiliates

11650 lberia Place

This column is the Jirst of two dealing with ways of reaching the do-it-you rse lf cust o mer-ed.

San Diego, Ca. 92128 a balloon tethered to his roof carrying huge dayglo "sale" banners. The balloon can be seen for miles. It's lighted in the evening. A squirrel-cage blower keeps the balloon inflated with cold air. The cost for this spectacular is from $200 - $350 per day depending on the length of the balloon rental. The results measure favorably compared to the reach of other advertising media.

E YEAR 1983 was an exciting one in the home center industrv. New words were permanently added to our trade vocabulary. "Warehouse operation" was the phrase most commonly seen in print, followed by "software package," "ROI" and "share of market."

Some new promotional ideas were created, and some old ones recycled. Here are a few of the happenings and never tried promotional ideas that found their way into my notebook: q9944

Our local furniture retailer located parallel to the highway has much success with

BRINC 'EM BACK AGAIN!

Enclose a coupon redeemable for the full ticket price of any how-to-do-it book against the purchase of $100 or more in tools and materials for the project in your store.

TT{E VOICE OF EXPERIENCE

There have been a number of recent articles about privately held companies and smaller corporations benefiting from a board of directors or an advisorv board. Carefully structured and administered, these advisorsoffer inputand direction relating to financing, marketing, merchandising, management, R&D, and expansion.

The board meets periodically with a fixed agenda. These directors and advisors take their functions very seriously and the input is often more succinct than the typical management consulting company.

Beware of putting your own banker on the board. Being open about company problems might prove too frightening to him.

More Geodemographics

Just as we all began to understand the jargon of the researchers, i.e. "Demographics, geographics, and psychographics," they invent a new tool-"geodemographics." The Claritas Corp. has introduced PRIZM Geo-demographic Market Segmentation and Targeting. Their definition:

"PRIZM is a 4Gpoint, life-style segmentation system strong enough to explain, and accurately predict, consumer behavior.

PRIZM is also a versatile and efficient targeting tool, geocoded to actual consumer neighborhoods, and the retail outlets which serve them."

Another systern called ACORN (a classification of Residential Neighborhoods) is being marketed by C.A.C.I., an international management consulting firm. They classify 256,000 neighborhoods in the U.S. into 44 distinct homogenous neighborhood types. Their smaller "block groups" average only 30) or so households. The research can be valuable for site location studies, credit promotions, and media decisions.

Building Credibility Gaps

Beware of two critical areas in your advertising. (1) Avoid running regular priced merchandise under a "sale" heading. If it's easily recognizable as a regular price it will cast a doubt over the value of the other items that you promote. Try "event" themes rather than "sale" themes as the banner when running regular priced merchandise.

(2) Coupon sales should be designed to restrict sales, Use coupons on loss leader items to bring customers into the store. Offer the lower price only if the customer presents his coupon (or with a duty manager's authorization to avoid losing a customer who forgot his coupon). Keep the merchandise priced and signed at regular prices. Showing the coupon price and offering it without a coupon makes those customers who went through the trouble of clipping feel that they have been asked to perform a foolish and unnecessary task.