SPONSORED: A New Way to Look at Spring Cleaning

Spring cleaning has its roots in several cultures around the world and was a necessity in cold climates as coal became the prominent source of heat. As homes were scoured of filthy coal dust each spring, the practice became a tradition for many.

Today we don’t have coal dust, but the annual spring-cleaning ritual is one retailers should be prepared for nonetheless. In addition to cleaners, dusters, vacuum cleaner bags and other supplies, spring cleaning can include rental of a carpet cleaning system and purchase of coordinating cleaning solution, replacement of furnace filters and dryer ducts and vents or purchase of grout cleaners and sealers. Having a well-stocked and diverse housewares department could equate to more customer traffic in other categories.

According to Karen Bauer, Orgill’s senior category manager for home products, housewares is one of the largest selling categories in the spring. “Homeowners want to shake the dust out of their houses from the winter, clean windows and floors and get themselves ready for the warmer weather, and home improvement retailers should be ready with the products they need to do that,” she says.

According to Bauer, this includes having the latest in cleaning chemicals, buckets, mops, sponges and all the other tools consumers will need to get their homes tidy and also can offer a lead in to other categories that will do well in the spring including heating and cooling.

“Spring is when a lot of people start facing allergies,” she says. “Getting your home clean is one way to mitigate allergy problems but that also includes doing things like changing the filters in your furnace, sealing cracks in doors and windows and even painting.”

With the number of reported allergy suffers on the incline, customers are going to be coming to you not only for the cleaning supplies and tools to make sure their house is rid of dust and mold but also to check out your line of air filters.