Paul Crawford, King Marketing's President offered his predictions for the home improvement sector for Home Improvement Retailing's Annual Leaders Predict Report.

When one of our reps walks into a big box home improvement retailer to check on our manufacturers’ products, listed below are the top 7 deficiencies they typically find: 1) Empty shelves. The product is not stocked on the shelf. 2) Uninformed staff. Floor staff have no information about the products. 3) Opened packaging. A product has been opened and left on shelf. 4) Product is hard to find. Product that is displayed is hard to locate in the store. 5) Displays that are broken, dirty or missing parts. 6) Use of “Tear Pads” or “Pick Cards” instead of actual stock. 7) Off-Shelf displays like stack outs and clip-strips that are untidy or empty. Any one of these problems is a frustration for the customer and for you, as the manufacturer. Improperly display products cost you money. 1) Empty shelves. The product is not stocked on the shelf. Isn’t it frustrating when you go into a store and there is a gap on the shelf or an empty peg hook where the item you intended to purchase should be stocked? You made that special trip to a store and now you wish you had ordered the item online. However, an empty shelf does not necessarily mean the item is not in stock. Most stores will carry overstock either above the area where the product is usually located, or they might have stock in a back room or a warehouse area. In this case the problem is usually the store staff have not had time,or are even aware that they need to “down stock” product to fill that empty space. An empty shelf or peg hook can also be the result of the store computer system being out of sync with the actual physical on-hands. This can happen when items have not been scanned probably when sold, items have been stolen, or are mistakenly listed as a different item in the store. Stores conduct physical inventory checks about once per year but what happens between those inventory checks? Since most orders are auto-generated by the stores computer system, that out-of-stock item will not be re-ordered until the adjustments have been made to the computer system. 2. Uninformed staff. Floor staff have no information about the products. Many people want to go to the store to find out more about the product they intend to purchase. This can quite often be the case with an item that is mechanical in nature and retails for more than $50, like a power tool. The consumer wants their “hand-held” before making that more significant purchase. This information can be obtained from an informed member of the store staff or from point of purchase materials. But isn’t it aggravating when the store staff member cannot provide you with even basic information on that item? They obviously have not received any specific product knowledge training and worse still, they might just guess and “wing it” with an answer that is not based on facts at all. 3) Opened packaging. A product has been opened and left on shelf. Open, torn or broken packaging is another frustration for consumers. Most customers will try to find an unopened carton or package but sometimes this search can be fruitless because the only item or items on the shelf are broken packages. How do you know if all the parts of the product you are about to purchase are in the box? Why has the package been opened? Was it returned by another customer? You do not want to purchase a used item. The store could very well lose that sale because the only item or items in stock have been opened. 4) Product is hard to find. Product that is displayed is hard to locate in the store. You love the look of that light fixture hanging in the “light cloud” of the box store you are shopping in, but what is the price of that item and where is the stock of that item located. The item should have a price label and a location label clearly fixed on the display or hanging from it, so you know the retail price and the shelf location the stock is located in. Think of the Ikea system which provides you with the location for the stock on that item. 5) Displays that are broken, dirty or missing parts. Doesn’t it drive you crazy when the display item you want to touch, and feel is missing important parts? It doesn’t make customers happy either. A faucet without a handle, a drill with a missing chuck, a light fixture that has a burned-out light bulb. How can you make an informed decision when you specifically wanted to see that product displayed in all its glory? 6) Use of “Tear Pads” or “Pick Cards” instead of actual stock. Another problem at the stores is the use of “Pick Cards” or Tear Pads”. Costco has used this system for many years, as you take the pick card to the cashier and after paying for the item, you go to a lock up room at the front of the store and a member of staff collects the item for you. Recently we have seen more box stores use this system. Of course, the main reason for using this system is to reduce the theft of higher priced items. But what do you do if the Pick Card / Tear Pad is missing? Customers make the assumption that there is no stock of that item. In most cases this is incorrect. Quite often the item is securely located in the lock up at the front of the store, but the Pick Card / Tear Pads are all gone. Many sales are lost because these cards are missing. 7) Off-Shelf displays like stack outs and clip-strips that are untidy or empty. Stack outs which are usually used for sale items providing the store with another way to get that product into the view of their customers as they walk the aisles of the stores. If they’re messy or empty, the customer walks right on by your product. Clip stripped items are usually located close to products that are associated with that item. For instance, batteries might be located on a clip strip beside the flashlight stock. It’s a reminder to the customer to add that product to their shopping basket to compliment the purchase. It is a wasted opportunity when the stack out or clip strip is empty or has other products stocked there. Retailers often rely on these off-shelf positions to move additional stock, and sales can be compromised if these locations are not maintained. Free Trial A group like King Marketing will be checking for all these deficiencies and more, so why not take up King Marketing’s no obligation free trial offer and see what can be achieved by a dedicated sales and servicing group. Choose from a list of services, pick some test stores, and then see what goes on everyday through a transparent web-based portal.

Over the past number of years, we have seen some of the larger home improvement box store companies implement a program where they use their own dedicated staff to replace vendor sales representatives. The box stores charge vendors a fee, usually a percentage of sales, to cover the cost of this program. The box store retailers have suggested that vendors no longer need in-store representation as their own dedicated teams can provide most of the services and functions that the vendor sales reps once provided. This is simply not the case.