Deck promotion a hit

ULL-SCALE redwood deck promotion with plans kits, in-store deck displays, sales training seminars and consumer clinics is boosting redwood lumber sales for California branches of Wickes Lumber this year, and offers great potential for redwood retailers everywhere.

Story at a Glance

Successful Wickes' test market of new CRA promotion program to sell more redwood deck business program included plans kits, store displays, training seminars and consumer clinics.

Based on Redwood Design-a-Deck, a complete do-it-yourself plans kit from the California Redwood Associa- tion, Wickes' promotion in 13 California stores has increased redwood sales an average of 2Wo over 1977's record totals, with individual stores reporting redwood increases tp Io lO0%.

WICKES employees built redwood decks during dayJong sales training sesions for major redwood promotion this Spring and Summer. Employees from each participating store learned all about redwood decks, as part of training to conduct their own consumer clinics with full-scale displays.

The Wickes' program shows how retailers everywhere can adapt Designa-Deck sales aids and ideas to different regions, schedules and store lay-outs. Eventually redwood deck promotion may extend to all 280 Wickes stores and 47 Wickes-owned Builders Emporium centers nationwide.

Design-a-Deck's copyrighted manual, graph paper, plans and punchout deck patterns explain step-bystep deck design and construction to fit any house and yard. Complete materials lists streamline dealer handling of redwood lumber orders.

The kit's modular interchangeable deck sections measure 6 x 8 to 14 x 2O feet when built, with an average deck using around 1100 board feet of construction heart and construction common redwood grades. All kit materials, including plans for steps, benches and railings, are re-usable so adding deck space and amenities year after year offers great repeat and tie-in sales potential.

CRA now offers the kit at a new low dealer price of $2.50 ($4 consumer list price), and has developed a free counter display holder, a new tipsheet on deck promotion ideas to increase redwood deck sales, and a step-bystep slide show, "How to Build a

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NEWSPAPER ad publicized d-i-y deck plans, prices and in-store clinics for 13 California branches of Wickes Lumber this Spring, part of full-scale promotion based on Redwood Design-a-Deck Plans Kit. Ad invited consumers to bring deck plans and problems to weekend 0 & A sessions conducted by trained employees or a professional deck contractor, that resulted in 20% redwood sales increase for Wickes statewide.