Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
From furniture to bedding to appliances, Town & Country Do it Best in Crawfordsville, Ind., has it all. One of its big sellers? TVs.
With competition such as Walmart and Amazon, store staff is looking for ways to stay ahead of other businesses. They deliver and set up TVs, and the store is a DIRECTV retailer. “We want the business here, so we’ll do what’s needed for customers to come here rather than go to Walmart,” says Jerry Dreyer, sales associate. “And of course, we offer knowledge and service as well.”
The staff also tried some creative merchandising to show off its TV displays. Because furniture is also a popular category at Town & Country, the two have been combined into a home theater area of the store.
“That area has everything you’d need for a home theater room in your own home, including power recliners and other types of home-theater seating,” Dreyer says. “We have the TV selections across the wall, the furniture in the middle and four vignettes set up as well. Those are more inviting and homey than rows and rows of products.”
The room can also be dimmed to better imitate what a home theater room may look like in someone’s house.
Want to try something similar in your store? If you have a niche that could benefit from creative merchandising, try moving a few things around to see if you can come up with some unique displays. Find a way to show off your selection in a way that customers can get a better idea of what any of those products might look like in their homes. And if you have two departments that complement each other, try setting them up together.
