Outdoor Essentials: How to Successfully Curate Your Outdoor Living Category

Many homeowners are opting to spend more time outside than inside. From lighting up backyard barbecues to enjoying time around a pool, homeowners are looking for the next best outdoor living product to complete their outdoor space.

In 2022, 58% of surveyed homeowners said connecting to the outdoors is an important influence on their home exterior design choices according to The Future of Home Design survey from the National Association of Home Builders.

The outdoor living category at Howard’s Hardware Hank in Arcadia, Wisconsin, stands out as one of the bestselling categories in the store. Hardware Retailing spoke with store owner Seth Howard about how he sells bulky outdoor living items with limited space, invests in a diverse product mix and engages his customers during the shopping process to make his store an outdoor living destination.

Do More With Less

While outdoor living may be one of Howard’s bestselling categories, the products associated with it, such as large patio and outdoor furniture, grills and outdoor decorations, can take up a lot of space, which can make stocking these items challenging for some stores with limited square footage.

“We utilize a lot of floor space for our different lines of grills,” Howard says. “With limited selling space, we need to ensure we’re using our square footage wisely.”

Given the store’s 10,000 square feet of selling space, Howard says he needs to be strategic when new outdoor living products come his direction.

To overcome size constraints on his salesfloor, Howard carefully curates the store’s inventory based on customer input and past sales, selecting items that will not only attract customers but also maximize the use of the available space. Howard’s approach ensures each product that he brings into the outdoor living department contributes to one of his most popular categories and keeps customers coming back into the store.

“These grills take up a lot of space in our store,” Howard says. “We have to pick and choose what we stock because it’s hard to bring in outdoor chairs, tables and a big umbrella without compromising the store’s visual appeal and functionality.”

Achieving Stocking Excellence

Since taking ownership of his store, Howard has learned that a comprehensive approach is crucial for success in selling outdoor living products. Stocking grills isn’t enough to succeed in the outdoor living category.

“You can’t just have a couple of items in this category, it won’t be worth your time,” he says.

By stocking an extensive range of seasonings, sauces and grilling accessories, he can attract repeat customers. These customers might initially buy a grill but will return to stock up on essential items like seasonings and fuel. Howard says before his store expanded its outdoor living product range, he had one barbecue sauce in his store that rarely sold.

“We wondered why nobody was coming in to buy our barbecue sauce,” Howard says. “Nobody was buying it because we only had one or two, and nothing else to go with it. There wasn’t a reason for anyone to come in. If they needed barbecue sauce, they’d go elsewhere.”

To make his store the first place people think of for outdoor living products, Howard has worked through his wholesaler to bring in a variety of items, such as patio furniture and grilling equipment. He aims to offer a mix of well-known brands and local products to provide his customers with the best selection and introduce them to something new.

“Since we’ve been able to bring in a large amount of diverse products, it gets people who are thinking about purchasing outdoor decor to come here because they thought of us first, instead of us being an afterthought,” Howard says.

Spicing Up Customer Engagement

Another way Howard makes his store an outdoor living destination is by offering free tastings of any of their seasonings, spices and rubs. If a customer asks what a certain product tastes like, Howard is more than happy to show them to his “seasoning lair” as he calls it, and lets them try the product, which in turn makes them more likely to make a purchase.

To further boost engagement and sales, Howard uses his store’s social media to promote outdoor living products with live streams, photos and videos showing followers what they have and short videos highlighting the store’s variety.

“With any form of advertising, you’re not sure why the customer came to your store unless they tell you,” Howard says. “But we’ve had quite a few people mention our social media when they visit.”