Ways to boost wood moulding sales

LL ACROSS the country, dealers interested in building a better profit picture for themselves are improving their display methods for unfinished wood moulding.

Why? Because they are realizing that unfinished wood moulding is one of the most profitable items in retail lumber yards and home centers. Wood moulding can provide a high return, high turnover and high sales potential.

"As the do-it-yourself market continues to grow so does the potential for sales and profis of wood moulding," states Bernard J. Tomasko, executive vice president of the Wood Moulding & Millwork Producers Association (WMMPA). "However, if this potential is to be realized, the product must be properly displayed."

To help maximize profits, Tomasko makes the following suggestions: effective display found in one store features both a cross-section and a four-inch longitudinal sample of each of the lll different profiles the store stocks. The prohles were glued onto a plywood base, then sprayed with a urethane finish. Each sample is labeled as to profile name, size and price.

Display wood moulding as a decorating product. Sell consumers on the finishing touches that can change their homes. Move moulding from a commodity product to a decorator item, both in store displays and in the minds of consumers.

Display wood moulding as a companion to other products. Every paneling, paint, wallcovering, window, door and drywall sale is a sales opportunity for wood moulding, so display the product in these related areas. Keep sales personnel aware of a potential tie-in.

Display wood moulding not only for wall and ceiling projects, but for hundreds of other projects around the house. Dramatize the multiple uses of moulding; incorporate it into other displays around the store.

Display the complete wood moulding inventory not just one or two token items. An in-store display of wood moulding does not necessarily require extensive floor space.

A neat, organized display ofinventory that makes it easy for the customer to see what is available should be located at the entrance to the moulding department.

Stores all around the country have devised methods of displaying moulding for customers. Several innovative displays are described below in addition to being illustrated across the page.

An attractive sample board containing a three-inch piece ofeach ofthe 50 profiles the store carries is nestled in the middle of nearly 50 feet of moulding bins. A label on each sample contains the profile's name, size and a number corresponding to the moulding bin where it can be found.

Another sample board containing the same 50 profrles is located at the checkout counter to allow both the cashier and the customer to match the moulding with its price.

To provide more convenience for the do-it-yourself consumer, casing is given its own display at the store. Complete with its own sign to draw customers, the special area contains only seven-foot pieces ofcasing in both ranch and colonial profiles.

When retailers can't put a moulding display near the product, they find putting it near a service counter is a good alternative. The wood moulding display found at a small, rural lumber yard is a good example.

Store personnel glued two-inch samples of 85 profiles onto a 4'x4' piece of hardboard. They added samples of the 15 wood sidings stocked and labeled each as to name and size. The completed display is mounted adjacent to the customer service desk.

Story at a Glance

Proximity to sales help is also the key to the wood moulding display. Hanging directly over the main checkout counter, the display is constructed from a piece of 1xl0 redwood l2-feet-long to which 49 six-inch samples are attached and grouped according to function.

Each profile is identified by a number which corresponds to a moulding bin in the back of the store. Customers can either serve themselves or order by number at the counter. Prices are listed on the back ofthe display board where the cashier can easily see them.

In terms of construction techniques, wood moulding displays can range from very simple to very elaborate. At a rather large home center, customers couldn't get close enough to the existing wood moulding display because it was on a wall behind a service counter. The solution was to construct an octagonal display that rotates on a pedestal base and locate it in front ofthe service counter where it is easily accessible.

Another home center uses both indoor and outdoor wood moulding displays to spotlight the 102 profiles in stock. The store carries more profiles than any other store in its area. According to the store manager, "We have an image as a quality yard and quality yards always have a calling card. Ours is moulding."

The store's free-standing indoor display is situated near the cashier's counter. Longitudinal and cross-section samples of each profile are mounted on strips of plywood which in turn are attached to a standard, spinning metal display fixture. Each of the profiles is identified by number.

Because customers must pick up their own moulding, the store also installed an outdoor display near the moulding bins to reinforce customers' selections. The outdoor display is a wall board measuring 4' x 6' in size.

Wood mouldings can and should provide high return, high turn-over and high sales potential, but only ifthey are displayed properly. So make the commitment to go after the business that's out there waiting to be sold. Only then will you know that wood mouldings are truly profrles for profit.

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ECAUSE the window industry is fast changing in both fashion and technology, the following interview with a manager at Andersen Coqp. aims to bring the dealer up to date. Questions cover issues which we have found to be of the most concern to those on the selling side of the industry.

Q: How has the window consumer changed?

A: The consumer is much more knowledgeable about the product. I see more consumer advertising today by manufacturers who at one time only advertised to their trade factors. So the consumer hears more, retains more, knows more. An elderly lady will stand toe-to-toe with you and argue about U-factors and R-factors - things that people in the trade didn't even talk about hve to ten years ago. There's also a very strong "do-ityourself" trend. More and more people want to do their own building or remodeling.

Q: Who exactly is the consumer?

A: In the home building industry it can be the homeowner himself, an architect, or the building contractor. The contractor is especially important in speculative housing projects. In the commercial sector you also find the architect, but the general contractot developer and building owner are becoming more and more influential.

Q: What about windorv design? Hov has that been changing?

A: Feople want an open, airy sunny feeling in their homes, and they've learned that a good window will gain more passive solar heat than it can lose through convection, conduction or thermal radiation. As a result. con- sumers are using either bigger windows or putting more small ones together in large configurations.

We also see a trend in casement or projecting windows, as opposed to the double-hung style which has been the popular favorite over the years. Perhaps this is because people realize that casement windows close more tightly, but I think if you come right down to it, consumers buy beauty. They talk energy and they buy beauty. Fortunately they can do both.

Similarly, there's a trend to use windows for architectural interest as opposed to just light and ventilation. You see windows shaped as half circles, quarter rounds, ellipticals, and trapezoids. Some window manufacturers are offering one-of-a-kind windows for people wanting an especially large or different shape.

The roof window has probably been one ofthe biggest trends in the window industry over the last few years. You see it in remodeling and new construction for all architectural styles. I think this trend has come along because the roof window is a new way to get some light and ventilation into more areas of the house.

Q: Have therebeen any dramatic changes in window materials?

A: With the exception of glazing materials, I don't think there have been any dramatic changes in the last 10-15 years. You can only make a window so tight; you can only make the frame so thick for insulation. We have an air infiltration rate, for example, of .04 on our casement windcnr; that's close to no air inhltration.

The glass is the least insulated part of the window, and most manufacturers are putting a lot of their research and development dollars in that area. Today's new glass has a metal coating on it which actually insulates better than triple pane glass and works in cold and hot weather to help keep room temperatures comfortable.

Q: Do you foresee a day when there will not be a wood window?

A: It's possible that we'll someday have to find other window materials as a result of an undersupply of lumber. As long as it's the easiest to work with, the most cost-effective, and the best insulator available, we're going to use wood. There are alternatives for frame materials should that become necessary, plastic foams or mixtures of sawdust and resins, for example.

Story at a Glance

Knowledgeable consumens are asking questions you better be able to answer...morc casement and proiecting windows... buyers talk energy but buy beauty...high tech glass developments.

Q: What do consumers need to know in buying a window?

A: Consumers are being bombarded with all kinds of information about new glazing - "high-tech,""low emissivity," "high performance"so I'm sure they have a lot ofquestions. Consumers have to determine what makes a product the best they can afford - namely, materials, manufacturing processes, performance, and the firm behind it.

As for the window dealers, many have decided to stock quantities of windows because they can buy them at a better price, pass some of the savings along to consumers or trade customers, and maintain more competitive prices. Profits rise this way. But the dealer's main job is to answer the consumer's questions with facts. How well does a particular glazing perform? How much will it save the homeowner if he uses it? What's his original investment? The window dealer has anobligation to be knowledgeable himself and to educate the consumer, so that the consumer can make a good choice.