Hardwarelhousewares r r , moving the merchandise

Use energy conservation as a theme to help sell more metal cookware. Point out in signs and ads that, when properly used, metal cookware helps conserve energy.

A gondola end display with a spice rack, antting board and napkin holders can help announce a housewares dept. to your customers. Be sure to group the various items used in the display, racks with racks, boards with boards, etc.

Cooking molds, often decorative as well as functional items, can be hung on a wall to enliven a housewares dept. as well as to call attention to the merchandise itself. Be sure they are priced, so the customer knows they are for sale.

There is plenty of winter left in which to bear down hard in selling fireplace accessoies qs well as the fireplaces themselves. Use some of the left ov er Christmas decorqtion "snow " to help make your point.

Help out the woman shopper by ganging together a number of power tools, for example, drills, in one display, so she can see what differences price makes. If space allows, include explanatory material about the various tools, but keep it brief.

Push the garden hardware goodies with a sale themed: "It Isn't Too Early to Get Garden Tools." By now, after months of snow, many customers will welcome the mention of Spring, even if it does mean slaving away in the garden. lUhen merchandise comes in an attractive package, leave it in the package when you display it. It also can mean that you can quickly stack several levels and-presto-your display is done-

When you display rakes, try and include a "live" display that positions the rake (at least one) in an upright position, with artificial grass or green paper shreds actually being raked by the tool. The alternative of having them just leaning against a wall or gondola is pretty dull stuff.

End displays on gondolas can cause problems when the merchandise extends out beyond the end of the display and snags or even cuts customers. Remind your clerks never to put sharp edged merchandise where it can bruise or cut the inattentive shopper.

The holidays are two months distant and bills are being cleaned up, just the time for a new push to sell your customers on hordware and housewares. How about a sale to push accessories to compliment what they bought at Chistmas?

When vertising thb merchandise you are adis guaranteed, be sure you make your customer aware of the fact. But be very careful as to what you say regarding guarantees or you may end up getting "Nader2ed" by some militant consumer. llhen you or your key people attend an industry function such as the National Housewares Exposition, be sure and alert your local newspaper. This mry seem inconsequential news to you, but it helps establish you and your store in the eyes of the public as an expert in housewares and/or hsdware.

Neatness is an essentiol element in most all hudware and housewares merchandising. An exception is that with loose items it is best not to make formal displays as the customer may be reluctant to "ruin" the display. It also means you spentl less time in presenting the merchandise to your customers.

If your sales floor people are sharp enough to answer d-i-y questions in depth (and if not, why aren't they?) use their knowledge as a potent force in your advertising. If you can convince buyers that your store is truly the place to get a how-to answer, you will develop a steady flow of profitable business.

If you ftnd yourself having ftouble in being all things to all people, take a look at some of the convenience store profiles developed by hardware suppliers for small stores that do not have adequate space for numerous and extensive departments.

Get on your clerks about merchandise that ends up on the floor in front of where it goes on the shelves. It is not only a turn-off for the customers, it is dangerous and may even bring down an OSHA fine upon your corporate head. It also doesn't sell the merchandise.

TV has done an excellent iob of convincing housewives that they can lay tile and other kinds of flooing without the hassles of old. Your displays and advertising materfuls should make certain that the woman's angle is a well-considered part of moving these profitable items.

Encourage your customers to renovate when they repair. When they have to fix the faucet, for example, point out that they can replace the old one with any one of a number of attractive new faucets. Tie-in soap dishes, towel racks, even vanities. Carry the theme as far as logic (and credibility) allow.

Rental tools should alwaysbe prominently displayed and labeled as rental items. Make certain that your adverthing also stresses the informotion tlwt you rent tools. The anstomer who comes to rent may well tum into the next big ticket buyer once you get him inside the store.

Provide a packaged assortment of basic tools that parents can buy for their children. Even a list of what would comprise the most elemental collection of tools would be helpful. Kids love tools and having their own would help (though not guarantee) that they wouldn't run off with dad's hammer and saw.

Always urge atstomers to read and follow the manufacturers' instructions after they have purchased tools or home qpliances. Many, if not most, of the problems people have with meclwnical devices is due to an ignorance of what is possible or impossible to do with them and how to mointain them.

Use a sampling of tools from inventory as a "sign" for a hardware department. Don't forget a sign that says HARDWARE, you still need that, but the tools themselves will also reinforce the message you are trying to convey.

Use pegboard from your own inventory to prwide the backup for hanging displays of any and all manner of hardware and houseware items. Put a small sign on the pegboard that it is also for sale forX dollars in another part ofthe store.

A Gourmet Shop is a perfect merchandising excuse to combine a number of expensive housewares items into one high impact area. Just the word gounnet often attracts men shoppers who wouldn't ordirwilv ventule into a housewares area.

If you are on a computer and get an accurate idea of profitability per item, use that information to weed out the loosers. Don't waste valuable time, effort and money trying to merchandise hardware/housewares items that are slow sellers or that return a small profit.

Bathroom repair items should be displayed near cleaning products so the customer makes the natural tie-in. If he or she comes in for foam to clean the bath, your adjoining display can help sell them on fixing up as well as cleaning up the bathroom.

Impulse items should always be placed at or near the cash register checkout for maximum punch. Impulse items need not be 25d merchandise. They can be much more expensive, just n long as it is the type of merchandise thst causes a doit-now reaction. Even a senice, stch as room odditions, can be posted by the register to help drive home the fact that this is available.

If you provide paper bags withlmtr company identiftcation on them, why not use a picture of tools, housewares and other items in your inventory as a way of expanding public consciousness as to what it is you really sell.

Contact your hardware and housewares associations for booklets, charts and similar printed matter that you can acquire inexpensively for use as customer education material. There are some amazing bargains available in printed how-to material that your customers would find fascinating.

Story at a Glance

Merchandising tips to help you sell more hardware and houseware items .... covered are areas such as display, advertising, signing, sales and promotion ideas.

Vast product knowledge is a valuable asset to anyone dealing with the retail customer, but there are times to use it sparingly. Perhaps the customer is in a hurry or doesn't care to know all there is to know about wrenches. Remernber, numero uno is the vle, not o diplay of your clerks' product knowledge.

Be certain that you post tears of your newspaper advertising all over your store. It isn't enough to put one up by the cash register, get them all over. The newspaper will be happy to furnish a reasonable number of tears. Don't be timid about using them in every part of your showroom.