SA]ITA FE TUMBER G(l.

Offers Persona, Service

up his sleeves and went to work with two dealers in each area.

The association's primary purpose was to find out if plywood plans, displays and merchandising aids are actually worth the dealer's time and effort in terms of increased sales. Out of this series of case studies came many lessons of vital interest to any retail lumberyard.

The answer to the basic question was this-you can increase your plywood sales with association promotional material PLUS hard work, imagination and ingenuity. In all six yards, there was an improvement in plywood sales over what might normally have been anticipated. In at least three yards, increases in plyrvood sales directly traceable to these efforts exceeded 30/o.

fn virtually every case, the dealer was underestimating the prooortion of his dollar sales that came from plywood. During the study, exact records of plywood sales during the period were kept at all times and in all cases the dealers were genuinely surprised to find how important they were in his business. There was, of course, another side to the coin. It was clearly apparent that some forms of merchandising were not worth the time and effort involved and some sales promotion materials were less effective than others. lfere's a recap of some of the more important lessons learned.

To begin with, the association made every attempt to find yards for the program that .rvould be truly typical. Dealers who were already "hot merchandisers" were avoided, as were the "stick-in-the-muds." fn Southern California.

the survey included Chatsworth Lumber Company, a rural yard, and Cole Lumber Company, Van Nuys, a surburban yard. In Missouri it included Big Bend Lumber Company just outside of St. Louis, and Fountain City Lumber Company, DeSoto, Mo., a rural yard. In the East it was Charles O. Holmberg & Sons, Inc., in surburban Little Falls, N. J., and Califon Lumber Company in rural Califon, N. J.

In these yards, a concerted effort to increase plywood sales was made through newspaper display advertising, direct mail, display and, in some yards, production of do-it-yourself kits for Christmas decorations. Results from this display advertising based on DFPA