Merchandising

While attending the garden show spoga+gafa in Cologne, Germany, in September, Hardware Retailing editor Jesse Carleton also had the opportunity to visit two garden centers in the area. These garden centers are exemplary in the way they merchandise their wares …

For decades, window displays have been a staple of many downtown retailers’ marketing strategies. For some retailers, windows are a place to put their best and newest merchandise on display so passers-by will window shop and hopefully come inside. Other …

Click the picture to download a PDF of this story. Do you know what your big-box competitors are up to? What are they good at? What don’t they do well? Regularly visiting other retail outlets should be part of your competitive strategy …

Click the picture to download a PDF of this story. By Jesse Carleton, jcarleton@nrha.org Hard to Resist One of the key performance indicators for a retail business is average transaction size or sales per customer. Do you know what that number is for …

Mills County General Store and Ace Hardware is a mainstay in Goldthwaite, Texas, a town of about 1,800 people in the center of the state. Austin is the closest big city, just more than 100 miles south. Because it’s remote, …

Who wouldn’t want X-ray vision? Beyond the Superman comparisons, home repairs and installations would be a snap. Imagine being able to see the inner workings commonly hidden behind drywall or brick throughout a home, showing the links between your electrical …

Click the picture to download a PDF of this story. By Jesse Carleton, jcarleton@nrha.org You may have heard it from real estate agents. What sells a house? Location, location, location. It’s not much different in your store. Where a product is …

It’s springtime, which means you’re likely seeing more foot traffic, and those feet may be dirty. Even though business is picking up the pace, you should still commit to regular spring cleaning maintenance. Having a clean store will help customers …