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

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.

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 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 or ckane@blishmize.com) or see her at the Retail Services area of the Market for more information.

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

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.

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.

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Fall 2012 • Hardlines Strategies