Showroom renovations are a powerful way to attract customers and increase sales.
Pete Matarese, president of Liberty Supply (Leominster, MA), knows the value of a showroom makeover. Although Matarese was skeptical that a renovation would make a difference to his customers, he followed the advice of his daughter and store manager, Deanne, and invested $35,000 to transform his roughly 1,900 sq. ft. showroom into a brighter, more open space with new counters, tiles, lighting and shelving.
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The result? Sales jumped at least 20 percent. “I don’t know if that’s all because of the renovation or just because, in general, business has gotten better,” Matarese says. “I do think, however, that the new look of our showroom had a positive impact.”
Distributors are learning that showroom makeovers go hand-in-hand with stronger customer relationships and higher sales. In an era of heightened competition from the likes of The Home Depot and Tractor Supply Co., clean and inviting stores help to retain existing customers and even attract new ones. Efficient new designs improve product visibility and leave space for additional amenities. “Customers love it,” Matarese says. “They come in and say, ‘Wow, look at all this stuff.’” Happy customers like that are as good as cash in the till.
Looks Are Important
Matarese is a believer now, but he needed some convincing before he took the renovation plunge. “I said, ‘Alright, but really who cares. Welders come in with dirt on their boots and what do they care as long as we have what they need?’”
That kind of thinking can be prevalent in an industry that serves contractors and other specialty clients, and where business often involves deliveries to customers by truck. Still, there is a case to be made for attractive stores and showrooms. For one thing, they give an impression of professionalism and success.
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“It’s imaging,” says Jim Kissler, CEO, Norco (Boise, ID). “It’s brand building, and it’s giving Norco a good reputation in the community.”
Meanwhile, the realities of doing business in today’s marketplace are changing. It’s a bad news-good news situation. The bad news: Contractors can take advantage of The Home Depot and other national chains to buy their welding supplies at convenient locations and low prices. It’s stiff competition to independent distributors who must find ways to retain their customers. Distributors do have some advantages, such as long-standing relationships, expertise and personal service, but showrooms can be a factor, too. After all, the big-box retailers actively maintain and promote their brands and images.
The good news is that the pool of potential customers is growing. You can thank NASCAR for a lot of that. Die- hard fans work on their cars, which means they buy welding equipment and supplies—and there are tens of thousands of them. “A lot of increased foot traffic is from people with welding equipment in their garages,” says Jerry Kurtz, branch manager, Rockford Industrial Welding Supply (Peru, IL).
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The trick is to attract these customers—or more of them—when they’ve probably been doing their shopping at a national chain. Here is where showroom design plays a role. “I think some people who aren’t professionally in the business expect to come in and see our store looking like a Home Depot or at least like an Ace Hardware,” Kurtz says.
Designed to Sell
Aesthetics aside, showroom designs that improve product visibility and display flexibility can boost distributors’ sales. New shelving, movable gondolas, high ceilings, brighter lighting, additional windows—they’re all options.
Bill Knickerbocker, branch manager, Gases Plus (Gillette, WY), has been involved with renovations at nearly all his company’s 14 stores. When it came to remodeling the Gillette showroom, Knickerbocker took advantage of 20-foot ceilings to mimic the warehouse style of a Home Depot or Lowe’s, stacking products on high-end shelving units so customers could see how much inventory was in stock. “It really opened up our customers’ eyes to what we have in stock,” he says.
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It’s obvious that customers can’t buy products if they don’t know what’s available. Bob Ames, executive vice president, Commonwealth Supply Co. (York, PA), saw this principle in action several years ago when the company renovated its store, in part by opening space between aisles to make them more accessible. Soon afterward, a customer was staring at the selection of welder’s helmets. “The customer said, ‘Well, I didn’t realize you sold this many different kinds,’” Ames recalls, “because he had never experienced a showroom before. That’s what has excited me since the day we opened the new store, what a showroom can do for us.”
Moveable displays enable distributors to rotate products through areas where customers will see them or position impulse items near their sales counters. But distributors shouldn’t forget the counters themselves. Strategically arranging them can place a lot of products in front of customers’ eyes.
ARCO Welding Supply Co. (Malden, MA) put its counter in the middle of its store. General Manager Tom Crowley points out that most of the consumable items are placed behind the counter where they’re still accessible—and highly visible. “When the customer is standing at the counter, he’s looking directly at all the product instead of all the product being behind him,” Crowley says.
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When it comes to displaying products, however, there’s nothing like a separate showroom dedicated to seeing equipment in use. Dave Teator, president, Ravena Welding Supply (Ravena, NY), rented a former sandwich shop next to his store and turned the space into a roughly 800 sq. ft. showroom for welding machines. The machines are always set up, and customers can pull them out for a thorough inspection.
Bells and Whistles
As part of his store renovation, Commonwealth’s Ames found value in a popcorn machine. The logic is simple: When the weather turns nasty, contractors seeking a dry refuge and a snack gather at the store and often wind up making purchases. Other distributors have followed a similar route by offering free ice or coffee. Beside possible sales, freebies open the way for contractors and distributors to network, developing relationships and building good will.
Where some customers get to eat or drink on the house, others can watch television. ARCO keeps a 35-inch flat screen TV next to its counter and tunes it to CNN or the occasional Boston Red Sox game. “Everyone’s interested when they walk in the door,” Crowley says, and watching TV makes the time customers spend standing in line seem a lot shorter. On the other hand, it’s a shame to waste all that customer attention on news headlines and baseball games. Television is synonymous with advertising, and Crowley may soon be using that TV to show product ads.
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It turns out that visual elements of all kinds are popular amenities. Mike Krupnicki, president, Mahany Welding Supply Co. (Rochester, NY), fills his store with metal sculptures from local artists, some of whom are customers. Out West, Norco’s Kissler uses lightboxes that display illuminated pictures of people using welding and cutting tools—and hopefully plant ideas for purchases in customers’ minds. On the subject of light, Kurtz says Rockford replaced a steel wall at its Peru store with a row of windows that enliven the showroom and dress up the building’s exterior.
Little Touches Add Up
Showroom makeovers don’t have to be massive undertakings of time and money. Quite the opposite, in fact: Even minor improvements can return a healthy payoff. “You can simplify,” Kissler says, adding that renovations frequently wind up being fairly inexpensive to do.
A simple coat of paint can change the nature of a room, and new flooring always spruces up a space. Even going into the ceiling to change the lighting does not require very much money, Kissler adds. “But it can be the difference between night and day when you walk into a showroom.”
