MAY: H0ME IMPROVEMENT MONTH Innovative retailing sends gross sales soaring despite location problems and fierie competition

rfro SUCCESSFULLY sell the consumer r todav vou must create e desire that is strong "no"gh to make him want a given item more than he wants the dollars in his pocket, says the Ward and Harrington Lumber Co.

In charge of accomplishing this successfully and profitably is Bill Bellmore, manager for advertising and merchandising who has spent most of his business life in the field of consumer sales promotion.

In the late I950s, Gil Ward and Frank Harrington embarked on a stepped-up program to woo the do-it-yourselfer to bolster profits and increase sales.

In 1961, the company opened a 10,000 ft. store at Garden Grove, Calif., in front of their Warington lumber complex. The Warington facility handles all the tract business of the company and acts as a supply yard for the line yards.

Bellmore was put in charge of the store operation as part of the company's biggest effort to date to woo the consumer.

Since that time it has been a story of constantly increased sales and profits. In 1962, the first full year of operation, eonsumer sales were $600,000. In 1968 they were $1.5 million, the best year ever for sales and profits on the consumer activity.

To accomplish this, the old fashioned lumber yard image had been changed to reflect a haven for the do-it-yourselfer. This in no way affected the contractor op-

Story q] s Glonce

Automotive, beauty aids, sporting goods plus lumber & building materials draw women & men to all 'round family home center.

eration, as they are two distinct entities and require a separate sales philosophy.

To create this image the variety of merchandise was broadened to offer in size and price all the materials that a homeowner would need to maintain and improve his home, plus many items that were of interest to the homemaker.

Many items were added to the inventory that could be classified as "consumables" or items that are regularly used and have to be repurchased as they are used up.

Lumber and plywood and building materials in sizes used by the do-it.yourselfer were displayed so that the customer was encouraged to serve himself. Red steel yard carts were made available in the yard to encourage this action on the part of the consumer. In the main store conventional grocery type shopping carts were also made available to aid in customer shopping.

Lines such as housewares, for the home. maker were added. Experimentation also was made with such things as bath towels, using a "second" of a famous maker as a leader. In this area the Garden Grove store sold sorne $25,000 worth of towels, and at a good profit.

As time progressed other lines were ad. ded, such as health and beauty aids (used for traffic advertising) automotive items, sporting goods and many other items of interest. As a result of adding a greater variety of merchandise, sales continually increased.

The Home Center image has been promoted constantly and cash sales by areas show that lumber accounts ior 257o oL the cash sales, plywood lo/o, plumbing and electrical l5/o, paint ll/o, tools IO/o, and the balance in miscellaneous hardware and general merchandise items. The store has a mix oL 70/o cash and 30/o conttactor sales. Occasionally a food item is used at a low price to stimulate the female tr"frc, which, by the way has grown constantly.

, In the begining, most shoppers were men. There wasn't too much merchandise of interest to women on display. That's fifferent now with so many items of interbst to women, when you see a man in the store, somewhere around you will usually find his wife, and very olten with two or three kids in tow.

Ward and Harrington long ago realized that the majority of men are at- work all week and become shoppers on Saturday and Sunday, but the housewife has timeo money and transportation to drop any day of the week. To this end Bellmore directed Ward and Harrington's advertiaing and Promo. tion, and has successfu\ increased the number of women that shop during the weeko motivated by their own needs and desires, or in many cases with a list in their hand of things that hubby has asked them to piek up. These same women are not opposed to shopping for themselves, and have been seen in the yard loading brickso garden items, edging and even plywood on a yard cart. While there is a fulltime crew in the consumer yard to aid such shoppers, many of them like to help themselves.

The Garden Grove yard is not blessed : with being adjacent to a traffic area for is just a stones throw from the Garden Grove Freeway and close to heavily trav' eled Beach Blvd. As a result, every customer has to be drawn to the outlet by advertising. Also, Bellmore constantly re' minds the staff that when these customers come in the store they have come, not because they were next door at a supermarket or post office, but specifically to make a purchase,

Once these people are in the store, the staff is expected to take good care of thern. Often the customer wants something that is not normally stocked and all such customers are encouraged to let Ward and Harrington special order the item. In this &rea some $50,000 worth of merchandise was soldo and at full profit, as a result of ofiering to get the item for the customer. Naturally, they don't get them all, but it is surprising how many will special order an item rather than search other places for it.

In addition to the main stoie area, of 10,000 sq. ft., there is also anotfrer l2U x 120 area under roof and closed to the weather, where sueh things as garden products, finish lumber, plywood, etc. are displayed and sold.

Traffic is stirnulated with an advertising progra& that.devotes 3 tg 4/o of the con- sumer sales gross to the ad budget. A 5 col. xl7 newspaper ad is run weekly in two large county area newspapers and some 135,000 twelve page tabloids are dis' tributed monthly. The tabloid has been a most cuccessful medium for sales stimu' lation.

Many non-building material items are used as traffic stimulatorsn and usually items that are geared with the housewife in mind ereate the greatest interest. The' idea being that you can create an image in I woman's mind relative to a bargain much easier with an item that she is familiar with, than you can witJr a buildiug material item. Once you have created this "good place to save" image, it is hoped that when the time comes to make a major purchase such as prefinished plywood ola patio or an add-ono she will use Ward and Harrington.

They say that life is a game, and that same thought could be applied to consum. er merchandising, for it is a constant bat' tle'of wits to find ways and means of stim' ulating the consumer to buy your \traxes rather than someone elses so play the game for all it is worth, Bellmore's phil osophy'holds.