HOME CENTER MERCHANT

(Continued from page 29) who originated as super hardware stores carrying lumber found a common denominator under a Home Center sign.

The credit for do-it-vourselfism belongs primarily to the retailer and, it is the innovative retailer who ist forcing the manufacturer to catch up to the needs of the homeowner. During the '60s and '70s these innovators expanded a market that today accounts for over $30 billion in retail sales.

I was deeply impressed by an article that recently came across my desk from the Hamard Business Review. It's entitled "Brand Marketing in the New Retail Environment. " The sub-title reads "Brand Strategists must sharpen their marketing skills to compete in the new game. " The article makes the statement that a quiet revolution has been occurring among retailers who, faced with increasingly saturated markets are now taking up the methods and tools that used to be the exclusive domain of the manufacturer. The retailer is becoming a more sophisticated strategist, developins distinctive aDDroaches to significfnt market segments. And, the new innovators are backl

It is exciting to see how retailers are meeting new challenges and again expanding the market. The retailer's world is changing more rapidly than his suppliers. Today's advanced retailer is selling more merchandise and now has sophisticated tools with which to analyze markets and to aim and produce his appeals. I refer not only to the giants but to t}te rural and small town home centers who through rade publications, trade associations, buying groups and wholesaler organizations, regional and national shows and seminars have available to them today, the most significant marketing information and professionally prepared marketing programs.

Behind us lies a million years of "shelter industy" and twenty years of documented home center retailing so that the smallest, most rural retailer today can be better prepzred to meet retailing challenges than were the farsighted innovators of the early '60s.

This is the first of a series of articles about home center retailine that will be appearing in this publication. Future articles will contain details of how I earned my battle scars as a home center retailer and of my experiences as advisor to many of the major chains and smaller home center retailers. Some will be laughable. Some not so funny. A few will be horror stories.

Exports Up, Trade $urplus Seen

Figures for the first six months of 1980 indicate that U.S. exports of wood products are up over 20Vo for 1980 compared to 1979. Although reports are that exports are down in the third quarter, it would appear that the industry may generate an export surplus of over $1.0 billion this year, the first time any significant surplus has been shown in wood products trade in more than l0 years.

The surplus is because all export categories show increases in the first six months, except for shipments of softwood logs which are down 57o on a volume basis. On the opposite side, imports of softwood lumber, hardwood plywood and veneer, the two major items, are down 317o. The result is a net export position for the industry for the first six months of $600 million, thus the expectation of a billion dollar surplus for the year.

Chinese Continue Tour

FibreForm Wood Products, Rocklin, Ca., a moulding and millwork remanufacturing and fabricating plant, was visited recently by an 18 man delegation from the Peoples Republic of China. one of a number of indus-