Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
To remain competitive in today’s home improvement industry, all facets of your business must be top-notch and meet the needs of your market. Offering excellent customer service, while important, will not overcome high prices and a limited product mix.
Today’s standout retailers are not only providing excellent customer service, but they are also offering a variety of brands at prices that compete with big-box stores. You must regularly price shop competitors in your area to maintain the aggressive variable pricing that will keep your operation successful.
However, according to a recent North American Retail Hardware Association study, only 20 percent of independent home improvement retailers price shop even once a month.
Below are the findings on price shopping from the NRHA 2015 State of Pricing Study. You can download the complete study by clicking here.
While price-shopping competitors once a week may be rather unrealistic for your store, try to take a more aggressive approach. If you currently never price shop or only do so a couple of times each year, then make a push to price shop at least once a month. Create a schedule for your staff to get them involved in the process and gain a better understanding of how your pricing strategy works. Send them to competing businesses and have them snap photos on their phones of price tags on price-sensitive products.
Providing the staff this perspective will allow them to share confidently with customers that the store’s prices are truly competitive. Be sure to help your employees understand how margins work and that each penny counts.
