HOME GTLNTEM MERGHANT

Bill Fishman

Bill Fishman & Affiliates

'| 1650 lberia Place San Diego, Ca.92128

This column is the last of two dealing with ways of reaching the d o- i t -y ou rse lf cus I o mer -ed.

Disclaimers

For many unsubstantiated reasons, building material and home center advertising is packed with disclaimers. They disclaim:

. Printing errors r Adequate stock on hand r The accuracy ofthe product illustrations. r Sale prices subject to change without notice. r The obligation to sell ad items in quantities. to the mothballs for another 15 years or so. It's no wonder. The ROI is marginal when you consider the net dollars, drain on available co-op funds, and the burden in time and labor required by the buyers, vendors and loaned-out store personnel, Maybe the efforts have been reassigned to new store openings!

These disclaimers offer no legal protection, nor do they avoid the moral obligation to treat your customers fairly. Most companies that run disclaimers in their ads never have a need to exercise them. Yet their disclaimers discourage shoppers. They say to a customer "you may have to make more than one trip to buy what we advertise and we may not mean what we say in print."

The printed disclaimer should be positioned behind a manager's desk and presented to a customer if and when needed.

DON'T SCARE'EM OFF!

Major chains are now printing their own "how-to" pamphlets rather than just imprinting the ones available from stock sources. Personalized pamphlets serve two purposes.

(1) They avoid me-too-ism.

(2) Most stock pamphlets are too detailed. By showing how to overcome every contingency they frighten off all but the most dedicated d-i-yer. Pre-sale pamphlets should encourage occasional do-ityourselfism by showing how easy it is (three easy steps: measure - cut - install). The more exact details should be included in the packaging of the products used in the project.

in the newspaper ads, radio & tv spots and changeable bulletin boards reflect "here's what's playing this week" at the shopping site. Developers are writing promotional schedules into their store leases. Home centers and building material dealers should now be taking advantage of their ability to pinpoint their market and attract customers with demonstrations and clinics.

Tracking Customers

Customers are being asked for their zip code at the point ofpurchase. The cashier punches the information into the register for the computer to track traffic by total dollar purchase, total number of items, product categories in dollars and units, time of day shopped, etc. This information is invaluable for directing advertising and sales promotion efforts and determining merchandise mix by geodemographics.

RED, ORANGE & BLUE

Store color identification is catching on big again. Red appears to be popular with food chains and discount houses. Orange, a color identified with Grossman's for a few decades, has now become the color symbol of many home centers and warehouse operations including Home Depot and Home Pro. Hechinger's merchandises blue.

PROMOTION! PROMOTION! PROMOTION!

In each chain the color theme is dramatically carried through the entire store. Signing, interior walls, store light fixtures, fixturing and shelving, even shopping carts, are matched to the store color.

RETAILER'S OFF PREMISES SHOW

Off premises shows, the ones where retailers rent the downtown annory or sports arena for a 3-day home show, seem to have gone the way of the idea house in-

Remember when the three most important elements of retailing were "location, location, location"? No more! Today the cryis "event! event! event!" Department stores and shopping mall merchant associations are creating activities to pull in traffic. Their promotions as reflected

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"Neighborhood Watch" meetings are be ing held in schools and homes in local communities. The police are represented to answer questions, show films, offer meaningful procedures and describe recommended security hardware!

Try this: Contact your Neighborhood Watch organizers and the police departments. Offer to create a "security hardware package" to their specihcations and print handout material with a redeemable discount coupon for all those who attend the Neighborhood Watch meeting.

Finding Good People

In all of retailing there is a shortage of good people on the merchandising executive level and in the sales support area. Department stores used to look for graduates of the Macy's or Federated execu- tive training squads. These programs seem to be gone.

In the formative days of the home center industry, key execs used to be recruited from Sears and Wards. Later, Forest City, Wickes, Channel, and Lowe's became the schools.

Look for your next crop of management people to come from the Grossman's, Home Depot and Payless Cashways ranks.