Merchandising tactics for hardware, houser$are$ I

QHOWING a customer how your 9merchandise can enrich his life and stimulating his desire for it is an important part of merchandising. You may have the latest household items, craft materials, pet sup'plies, gardening equipment and plants, as well as lighting fixtures, mail boxes, door mats, home equipment and tools, but if your customers continue to think of your store only in terms of nuts and bolts, you are losing sales.

Emphasize one stop shopping for the home. Offer help for the d-i-y customer on repairs, home improvement, and decorating. Attract the gardener with pruning seminars and pest control sessions. Appeal to women with craft classes, cooking schools, gSt wrapping, and a gift registrT. Malec your store essential to every resident in your community. lltilize the unusual with a stand of packing crates filled with excelsior to show off the bright colored dinnerware in your househoW secrion.

Guide and direct your customers with your arangement of counters, gondolas, and displays. Lead him and direct his attention to items you want him to see as well as those he wants to see. Devices such as broken Iines, rectangles or different colon and arrow-susgesting triangles incorporated iritS the- flooring can channel customers into various departnents. The same is possible with ceiling designs and overhead displays. Showmanship can direct the customer's attention and stimulate impulse buying.

PTEASURABLE relaxation is suggested by this vignette bringing together merchandise from many sections. Wallpaper, floor covering, wainscotting, moulding, windows, furniture, pictures, lamps, accessories, dishes, ahd plants are combined in the attractive sefting which a customsr can visualize and want t0 duplicate in his own home.

Colorfut signing is necessary to identify your departments or sections. If your community is bilingual, consider using pictures or symbols as well as letters or adding a second language label.

Keep in mind the rules about eye level locations for merchandise. Put attractive displays above the customers heads and use the lower "stoop" areas for storage.

Dumpster units placed in the customer's path or at the cash register encourape impulse buvinp. Tm for a dramitic effect by cbnv1rting cbntainers to seasonal decorations such as giant flower pots filled with garden items, or a chimney for Christmasrelated items. A pirate ship filled with picnic goods or a flowercart piled with artifrcial blooms are other ideas.

Promote tlte craft section by showing how crafts can be used in the home. Display macrame plant hanger kits with hanging plants in the garden section. Heap storage units or baskets with colarfrrl yarn or hemp. l,ocate stencil or decoupage kits near the unfinished furniture.

C0LORFUL ltitchen tools have instanl sales appeal in this still life arrangement on butcherblock. Almost every w0man will want them for her own cooking center.

Group related items to suggest add-on sales. Put the remote control elecfical systems near the lamPs, coffee pots, porch and post lights.

Set up an end cap with remedies for drafts such as window sealing kits, weatherstripping, storm windows, storm doors, plastic sheeting, air deflectors. Include on the signing facts and fi^gures emphasizing the importance of energy saving.

Unfold a few ladders to make vignettes with hanging baskets, light fixtures, or other above-the-head merchandise. Use another ladder or two as a display rack for small household items or tools.

Creste visual excitement with spashes of color by granping colored items such as extension cords to' gether. Consider package colors in displaying merchandise.

Have a tablesetting contest in your housewares section or a flower show in the garden area.

Use gondola ends to display related merchandise which is sold elsewhere in the store. For example, goup sawblade sharpeners, bil, covers, safety goggles and heavy gloves at the end of the chain saw gondola. Pep up the display with a t-ew small logs.

Create informative displays to help the d-i:y customers.Mount a displpy of components such as those needed to repair leal<y or sagging gutters and rairupouts. Include a Inndy holder for how-n-brochures and a list or disptay of needed tools including a ladder.

Make use of the research manufacturers put into packaging and merchandisin! units. bver-4dwere recognized as outstanding at the Hardware Industry Packaging Exposition. Use their materials to your advantaee when possible.

With the strong emphasis on home securiry, it can be profitable to establish a home security center. Have working models of smoke detectors, window latches, loclcs, communicati.on systems, automatic lights, garage door openers, burglar alarms aia other securiry devices. Display literature which exptains the neidfor security as well as how the items can be insnlled.

_ If one is good, ten is better. Try for a mass efrect,'rather than a spott! single item display in some of 'your merchandising. The impact of a dozen of the same colorful objects will athact attention.

Story at a Glance

Relate your merchandise to your customer. . . guide him through the departments show him what you have and how he can use it. create a desire for products . . . incrcaae in sal€*.

lilAGlllATlVE use of plastic stackers to store craft supplies is a silent salesman. Both the utility of the storage and the satisfaction of creative handwork are conveyed to the customer.

Gather up Eoffie bold colored plastic items plus a few with the nuts and botts industry look, such as mechanics lights, to create a high tech boutique . The look is the latest, especially with the young, because it is practical and inexpensive.

The hand is quicker than the eye and motion attracts attention. Take those ceiling fans out of their boxes and install them near the checkout station. The movement plus the refreshing breeze will arousi interest and sales.

Hang mobiles which wilt sway in the air. Try colorful household items and tools that are light weight. If they tinHe or chime, so much the better.

Don't let kitchen items and housewares sit on shelves in a drab row. Create a gourmet shop. Make kitchenware special with vignettes. Arrange large crocks on a tiered platform and fill them with small items like ice cre:rm scoops and measuring spoons. Go Country Western with granite cookware, pottery, calico and basket accessories. Create a sophisticated display with stainless steel and glass.

Wood burning stoves, fireplaces, and accsssories including arfficial lags go together. Let the customers compare their advantages. Have as meny as possible in working order. Bring in the iron cookware and stovekeeping tools to show how homey and comfortable a wood fire can be.

Hang dre light fixtures from the ceiling and wire them so that they can be nrned on. A sprkling fixture is more attractive and the elow will wann up the surrounding arEa of electrical accessories and shades.

(Jse mannequins to demonstrate merchandise or add ltfe to a vipnette. Three dimercional hands alio are fiective to point out merchandise.

In the tool department set up a metal tool shed, leaving off one side. Equip it with electrical outlets, overhead lights, and a tool bench for a try- it-fu-yourself center. Change the tools frequently or plug in the special one a customer is examining,

DRAMAflZE the trash can and oardening tools by grouping them to- imply pleasant hours sDent outside oardenino. A few ,live plants and packagel of sedd can a00 more zlp.

Use an audio system to provide information to cuitomers in a selfserve situation. Tape a continuaus sales message or have a machine which is activated by a button or an electric eye.

Create specialry shops that vary with the seasons. In spring have an all-white bridal shop wittr eit iOeas and the bridal regi-stry. fo-r Christ-

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