Hardwood mad<et rcsponds to d-i-Vdemands

THE HIGH quality and prestige asI sociated with hardwood products make them a natural choice for homeowners ready to do their own home improvements and upgrades. However, until recently, the random width and length recognized as standard size in the hardwood indushy and the high cost of the product have limited d-i-y sales.

About l0 years ago, a survey r€vealed that X)Vo of the home craftsmen would buy hardwood panels for their woodworking projects if they were standard sized. More specifically, they asked for both lumber and edge glued panels, knife planed to 314" and clear from defects on at least one face.

Weyerhaeuser, Canfield Forest Products and Glen Oak Lumber and Milling wer€ among the companies responding to these requests. Merchandising programs including display racks, point of purchase materials and co-op advertising plograms were developed for retailers.

The problem of inconvenient sizes had been answered, but consumers were still concemed with the need for special tools to properly mill a high cost raw material. The prospect of a bad cut reducing an expensive board to firewood was not easily accepted. Manufacturers solved these fears by offering products such as turned chair and table legs and precut table tops which require little if any machining.

Adding value to the hardwood offers manufacturers a way to differentiate products. Once the lumber is dried, the obvious way to differentiate and add value is tkough additional milling to create products more attractive to the final customer. This allows both manufacturers and retailers to realize profit margins unlike those in the commodity markets.

Only the most progressive hardwood manufacturers have entered the do-it-yourself market. Different skills are needed to market hardwoods to consumers. Several leading d-i-y hardwood manufacturers hired people with strong merchandising backgrounds to ease their en!ry into the market.

That the hardwood industry has recognized d-i-y as a potentially lucrative new market and a diverse set of manufacturers has entered the field should be good news for retailers. Larger retailers can benefit from the merchandising programs offered by the firms already established in the di-y hardwood market. Smaller retailers may be served by manufacturcrs well versed in hardwoods, but new to d-i-y markets. The elaborate display racks and point of purchase materials offered by larger manufacturers may be unnecessary or inappropriate in their stores. Wholesaler processors and buying groups have also recognized the increasing demand for hardwood products and made them available to their customers.

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Hardwood manufacturers fill requests for standard sizes value added products incrcase sales potential . . . programs facilitate retailer's commitment.

Retailers who stock do-it-yourself hardwoods communicate to their customers a commitment to offer the high value products homeowners want today when building, remodeling or doing home woodworking projects.

Stephen Salisbury, an associate ofThe Ireland Gtoup, forestry consullants in Augusta, Me., prcpared this repon following a Sept. 5 Hardwood D-I-Y Symposium -<ditor.

Pay'N Pak,seattle Wa., opened Wblh Walla, Wa., store Sept" 14 en fikd for banknrdcv (see etory

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P lateaa:. Fewst PrEeducts'.'i$,:movit::,'' ing from Albuquerque, N.M., to Ben4 Or., in Jan....HiIl Lumber Co., Albany, Ca., is up for sale... ..'t,.',1: i'lllit:.1,i. i:i'i'll'i'rlr:lli'li' i'l''iilr:i]

Gregory Forest Products, Inc., Glmdale, Or., has bcen put on the by, presideu Bill].,'Oreg bing clmed by parea son-Ceco with rnacl