Orgill Case Study | 27 Merchandising changes included reallocating space throughout the entire salesfloor to accommodate expanded assortments in every department. To make the most of the space available while expanding the SKU count, the team utilized space saving techniques that maximized merchandising while making products easy to find. Other merchandising solutions eliminated overstock stacked on top of gondola runs for a cleaner store appearance. Lawn and garden, outdoor living, grills and outdoor power equipment had long been Germantown Hardware’s strongest categories. To enhance the shopping experience and realize the full sales potential of these areas, the team gave them additional dedicated floor space, expanded assortments and repositioned them on the salesfloor for maximum customer exposure. The outdoor garden center grew the most, from 3,900 square feet to 10,162 square feet, with additional aisles dedicated to lawn and garden inside the store. Because a traditional signage package wasn’t the best fit for the layout at Germantown Hardware, the Orgill team also designed a new signage package utilizing icon graphics instead of words to simplify wayfinding. The new design eliminated potential sign pollution and also leant to a cleaner store environment. The merchandising plan included a single-queue checkout configuration to promote impulse sales. Since the direct sales lift generated by a single-queue system can often be difficult to determine (particularly if the same products are stocked elsewhere in the store), the team decided to test a system of assorting checkout displays with items not duplicated elsewhere. The store design team also plans to use Germantown Hardware for testing other retail innovations, including experiments with category adjacencies. Both now and in the future, Germantown Hardware will serve as a testing ground where Orgill can envision, test and develop new merchandising ideas for retailers who want to reset or remodel their own stores. Aligning the Offering After CNRG acquired Germantown Hardware, the primary task of the store planning team was to create a more well-rounded hardware store by realigning its department and category offerings. The store had strong business in lawn and garden, outdoor power equipment and grills. However, after many years of business without many updates to merchandise mix, layout or assortments, the store needed an overhaul to keep current with the needs of the community. Outside of a few dominant departments, like lawn and garden and paint, most core categories lacked complete assortments. The store was likely losing sales to customers who were unable to get everything they needed for a project. “One of our primary objectives was to get Germantown Hardware back in the hardlines business,” says Phillip Walker, president of Tyndale Advisors. “The store had really been focusing on a few categories, which pulled in a lot of sales, but that unfortunately came at the expense of standard core hardware. Customers couldn’t complete a project in the store. A lot of the assortments needed to be filled out and overhauled. We had a lot of conversations about what the business did well, what it needed to do better and how we could enhance those areas.” The Orgill team also saw potential to strengthen dominant categories. The solution began with realigning space allocation to reflect sales. Lawn and garden, for example, brought in 60% of the sales but only had 20% of the space on the salesfloor. After - STIHL Display
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy MjkzMjMw