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Dealer adapts to cope with changes
fF you're a typical Western lumber dealer" r the home builder is your biggest single customer. Then comes the remodeling con' tractor and next the do-it-yourselfer.
How does a dealer go about changing that customer-mix when building takes a dive? How does he attract a larger share of the lucrative "piece-at-a-time" do-ityourself market without alienating his "bread-and-butter" builder-contractor accounts?
A Hermosa Beach, Calif. dealer has worked-out a simple in-store traffic system which he feels solves this problem at his operation. And all it required was a little carpentry and a few signs.
Do-it-yourself customers entering Learned Lumber Co. are met by a sign inviting them to "Serve yourself or ask a salesman for help." A prominently-placed checkout counter helps to speed them on their way.
Nestled in a corner at the rear of the store is another counter, dubbed the "Prod' uct Information Center." This area handles contractor sales, charge sales and will calls.
Plywood and lumberyard items also get serviced here with loading tickets which are filled from yard stock at the rear of the store,
"That sign alone saved us some big money," pointed out dealer R. G. "Dick" Learned, o'It proved to our insurance un' derwriters that our in-store employees weren't out in the yard wrestling lumber and running the cut'ofi saw," he added'
Story qI s Glqnce
Changing the customer mix bY changing signs, letting customer help self saves on workmen's comp. premiums traffic control separates do-ityourselfers a nd contractors . . store now shoots for 5050 customer mix . . . figures merchandising changes will never stop.
Wosfern Lumber & Building i/loteriols MERCHANT
Consequently, Learned got a better break on his workmen's compensation premiums.
"W'e're still experimenting with the sys' tem, but it seems to be working out well," he continued. "It seems to be solving one of our biggest problems in serving both do-it-yourselfers and contractors quoting prices. If a do-it-yourselfer finds out that he's paid more for a lockset than the contractor right behind him, you can bet your life you'll never see him again."
The yard, formerly Learncd & Smith Lumber, bowed out of the scramble for tract sales in 1957 when they sold out their Inglewood, Calif. location and moved to their present site, which was then owned by Learned's father. Learned later bought out his father and partner, Charlie Smith.
"Ve grossed $2/2 million during our last year at the Inglewood yard, which is now Crenshaw Lumber Co.," assistant manager Ernie Hixon joined in. "But, like most volume yards, we had a terrific overhead. We had to ship 100,000 feet a daY just to make the payroll," continued Hixon, who was formerly a merchant seaman before ioining Learned fulltime \n'54.
"W'e're currently about 70'30 percent on our contractor-do-it-yourselfer mix, and we're shooting for 50-50," he added.