Ways to improve millwork sales architectural

EIACK in the boom years of rhe lJ'70s and'80s, moulding was a simple sale for most retailers with customers usually content to buy ranch or colonial profiles while the truly adventurous bought chair rail or crown moulding.

Today is another story. Architects, designers, builders and consumers have discovered the beauty, creativity, adaptability and luxury of moulding.

Story at a Glance

How to work with manufacturers in marketing fine hardwood mouldings ... suggestions for display boards, literature, participating in model home programs ... selling builders on the value of mouldings.

They are seeking and finding ways to personalize and add both real and perceived value to their projects by using a vast assorEnent of moulding.

Standard lumberyard mouldings can't create the desired effect. Everyone is looking to duplicate the character, grace and elegance of the large, well defined mouldings found in homes built around the tum of the century. Moulding styles are expanding to satisfy tastes ranging from contemporary to eclectic.

Decorative hardwood mouldings are popular with consumers. They offer the warmth and beauty of real wood combined with excellent machining and finishing characteristics. To help dealers cope with the task of providing their customers with value intrinsic products while gaining a high margin for the store, decorative hardwood moulding manufacturers are creating special merchandising progfiuns.

Programs offered vary although most are based on attractive consumer-oriented display boards offering a multitude of handsome specialty mouldings with graphic suggestions for their use. Because the displayed mouldings are readily available through specialty building material distributors, the retailer needs to stock only the most popular profiles, yet he can offer a wide assor0nent in a timely manner with little or no invesfinent in floor space or inventory dollars.

To further help the retailer maximize the dollar potential of moulding, many manufacturers offer informative, idea-generating literature for their customers and help them to educate their sales staff to creativelv upsell mouldings.

In addition, these marketing programs illustrate for the dealer how decorative mouldings can be marketed at the builder level. Participating in model home programs and sponsoring clinics or programs can demonstrate the value of architectural millwork to builders and convince them decorative moulding can help to transfonn a standard home into a custom show place with exceptional refum on inves0nent.

ATTRACTIVE disphv boards such as this can attract, ofler and dell-customers on the conced of upgrading their moulding purchases. In a&iition to being an eflicieni merchandiser, the board enables a retailer to stock fewer orofiles since he can readily order what his cu'stomer needs from a moulding distributor. Manufac. lurers such as White River. which created this display, are oflering numerous proorams designed to help a retailer increasb sales ol architectural moulding.

With architects, designers, builders and consumers creating greater demand for fine decorative hardwood trim, service-oriented retailers are using the perks offered by architectural millwork manufacturers to reap many benefits. An atfractive display board, informative, idea-generating literature and an educated sales force plus a little effort and ingenuity are all it takes to make decorative hardwood moulding one of the most sought after and profitable lines a retailer can offer.

My, iiJ- nT3;:T# iX'l;* Js species for cabinets, according to industry gurus. What does this trend mean t0 retailers?

"The industry has had oak for years and now people are readY for something fresher with a cleaner look," explained certified kirchen cabinet designer Connie Edwards. Still the most displayed hardwood species at the latest Kitchen/Bath Industry Show, oak accounted for 40Vo with maple close behind at 3OVo, followed by cherry atlTVo.

Oak accounted for over 667o of the market share of all wood cabinet doors, maple for l4Vo and cherry for 7Vo in the latest Kitchen & Bath Business magazine report. However, Edwards, marketing design manager, Timberlake Cabinet Co., Winchester, Va., said complete shifts in consumer preference sometimes take decades. It may be years before maple actually takes the lead on the retail sales floor.

A return to darker woods is being predicted among color forecasters. Edwards noted this is already evident in furniture and paddle fans. "Many of the darker finishes, especially cherry, were featured on cabinets for rooms such as home theaters, vanities and wet bars," according to a Cab ine tM akc r magazine s urve Y.

Despite this initial interest in dark colors, natural tones are more popular with the Southwest trend in interior design. "There is a continued resurgence in the importance of ethnic origins and all things natural and earthbound, when choosing cabinets, as opposed to things synthetic and glossy," said Edwards.

Medium finishes accounted for 32Vo of the wood cabinets at the recent kirchen/bath show, followed by light and pickled/whitewashed, each at207o, and dark atL9Vo.

Story at a Glance

How a retailer can handls changing preferences in hardwood species for cabinets.