Haldware Speciallssue lncrease profits with good displays

HETHER he realizes it or not, every retailer delivers an unspoken sales presentation with every product he sells. There need not be a salesman standing next to every item, rattling off its benefits. Merely how a dealer chooses to display his wares has a direct effect on how well they will sell. And with small items potentially bought on impulse, such as hardwate, displays can play an even greater role.

"The display is the the thing that sells the merchandise," claims Phyllis Jacus of retail store design and display company Jay Display, San Diego, Ca. "You can have the same merchandise in two diflerent stores and the one with the best display will sell."

Story at a Glance

Ways displays improve retail sales. store design techniques for improving business ... identifying the ideal display ...innovative merchandising systems.

Jay Display is one of a growing number of companies that can be enlisted by retailers to come in and redesign the look of the store to improve sales, restructuring everything from traffic flow patterns to signage and displays. Another is Better Living, Milford, De., which concentrates on reorganizing independent home centers to make them more competitive with larger chains.

"working" display, in which the product can actually be shown in use in the display. "We just installed an actual shower, complete with enclosure, fixtures and even soap," says Albrecht. "We try to make the products look like they would in someone's home."

But these displays, he admits, are usually reserved for high ticket items, such as in kitchen and bath situations. "F-or displaying hardware and such, space limitations often cause retailers to resort to the stock display," he says.

Yet Shannon Pearcy, Madix Store Fixtures, Terrell, Tx., sees small items as a primary beneficiary of impulse buying. And what better way to prompt such apurchase than with an eye-catching merchandiser? "For small items like hardware I might suggest a four-way merchandiser. It is asquare unit on spinners or that you walk around. The display itself would be very attractive and if you cancatch the customer with just a corner of the display, he would more than likely walk around it."

Others visualize the ideal display as an entire "look." Jay Display's Jacus says, "lt would show off and actually enhance the product. It has enticing colors and everything is important, from the ceiling to the walls to the flooring. The square footage, the lighting, everything should be taken into consideration."

Space appears to be the reason small independent dealers cannot always present this ideal showcase. "We display our hardware on a big pegboard as closely together as possible," says Jerry Abrams, manager of West Portland Lumber & Hardware, Portland, Or., "Most manufacturers' displays are too big. We only usethe ones that are small, concise and neatly organized."

The Merchant Magazlne turer-produced displays as the best since they provide a great amount of information about the product, answering questions that normally would have to be taken care of by a salesman. "lf I could use more (manufacturers' displays), I would," admits Dan Durham, manager of Saddleback Lumber & Hardware, El Toro, Ca. "But they usually measure 8 to 12 feet, and I may only have 4 feet. So I'll have to construct my own display."

But although most manufacturer's displays do this type of selling, they can have their drawbacks as well. Explains Albrecht, "The manufacturer's display is usually astand the dealer picked up at a show. But often they buy it with the products. Some don't sell well and they don't reorder these products. They fill in the open holes in the display with other manufacturer's products. The display has now become ineffective. Or what happens is they leave the holes open and this just doesn't look good. It's worse."

The trend, as identified by Childs Store Fixtures, Pittsburgh, Pa., is towards bulk merchandising. As a result, the firm has introduced two large capacity shelving lines. Their Double Duty Front Room Shelving combines the versatility of gondola or wall merchandisers with the storage capacity of warehouse displays, while the Back Pack WideSpan Shelving features a self-seating slotting system for solid crossbeamto-column connections.

Stocking as much hardware in as small yet as attractive an area as is possible was also achieved by FrickGallagher Manufacturing Co., Lancaster, Oh. Their circular revolving Rotabin displays turn dead corners and aisle ends into profit centers, putting merchandise in bulk within easy reach. In response to a hardware dealer who needed a way to differentiate between metric and non-metric fasteners, the company introduced color-coded pans for stocking the products in the Rotabins. The colorful pans, 34" in diameter, also attract customers and make it simple to move stock from storage to selling floor.

For stocking larger items, dealers are increasingly turning to the combination storage/display possibilites

The perfect display, according to Better Living's Robert Albrecht, is the one custom built for the retaifer's requirements. He prefers the (Please turn to page 56)

Yet many retailers see manufac-

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