Page 6 - Fall 2012 Hardlines Strategies
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6
Fall 2012 •
Hardlines
Strategies
STORE PROGRAMS
Assortment Planning:
The Heart of the Process
With the new store up and running,
Brian says he’s glad they listened to Blish-
Mize’s suggested assortments. While they
initially thought they had a good grasp
on what product lines they would need in
their new store, they quickly discovered
the market in Anita had different
demands than the market in Adair, the
location of their first store. While their
first store sells mostly to contractor
customers, their new store has more
walk-in business and a larger market for
paint, plumbing and electrical.
The assortment planning process isn’t
just valuable for those building in a
new market. Gary Smith, along with his
brother Larry, have experienced dramatic
One Easy Way to Make More Profit: Bin Label Your Store
If you’re still labeling each product with a price stick-
er, there’s one easy way you can push more money to
the bottom line. “We encourage all of our customers to
price on the shelf and not on the product,” Blish-Mize
regional manager Chuck Short says. “Pricing every item
costs you about 3 percent of the cost of the actual
item. So take 3 percent of your annual sales, and that’s
what you’re spending to price sticker every item.”
Pricing every item takes more time and leaves a
greater chance for inaccuracy at checkout as those
items require someone to punch numbers into a cash
register. The better alternative is to scan the UPC code
using a POS system. Relabeling also saves money
when prices change. You just need to change one
label, which allows for quicker, more profitable pricing.
Blish-Mize offers several ways to accomplish this.
You or your salesperson can use the MC3000 to
request labels by checking the “bin labels only” option
on the machine. The order in which you scan your
products’ UPC (i.e. left to right, top to bottom) is how
labels will print, which makes it easier to label when
the labels arrive at your store. Another option is to
have your salesperson request bin labels with your
shipments, ensuring labels and pricing stay current.
If you are relabeling a section, an entire depart-
ment or store, Blish-Mize has just developed a faster,
web-based procedure. With this new method you
can walk the store with a small laptop, scan gun and
small printer. The scan gun reads the UPC and prints
out the type of label you need. At the time of item
capture, retail prices can be modified and bin labels
printed out with new prices. You then need to easily
update your POS system to reflect all changes.
If you want to label your entire store, these stream-
lined labeling services are available for a daily fee.
Contact Cindy Kane (ext 167 o
or see her at the Retail Services area of the Market for
more information.
For a demonstration on how this system works, stop
into the mini-store area at the Market and look for the
Retail Services counter at the back of the store.
While the Wendt’s first location in Adair, Iowa, sells to mostly contractor customers, the store in
Anita draws more consumers and has a larger market for electrical and plumbing items.
Using bin labels to price items can save you from tagging many
small items, such as those found in the plumbing department, and
make it easier to adjust prices when necessary.
