RM Online - P-O-P! goes the customer

"If you don't continually try to find out what works for you, the hardware and discount stores that are getting more and more into rentals are going to be even tougher competition," says Bill Rands, the area account executive from Lozier Store Fixtures in Bettendorf, Iowa.

Rands worked closely with the American Rental Association in putting together the past two model rental stores at the Annual A.R.A. Convention and Rental Trade Show. The model rental store concept was added to the convention in 1996 in Anaheim, Calif., and continued at the 1997 show in New Orleans.

Drawing from his experience, Rands says that rental store owners face the same challenges retailers face: "If a customer can't find it, the store won't be able to sell or rent it. You have to be self-service."

Rands says a key to modern marketing practices is to capture customers as they walk through your door. You can't wait and hope that something they may see in your store will happen to interest them.

Every location demands its own unique layout and character. Signs, kiosks and displays have to route renters slowly past "on-special" items, move them up and down each aisle, walk them past every wall and gently show them the way out after they have stopped by the counter and signed their contracts.

"The most successful rental stores I have seen are well-lit and organized," says Rands. "Your customers today just won't stop by a store that looks like an old, converted gas station where everything is tossed in a corner. This doesn't mean you have to continually redecorate your store, either. Minimal changes can sometimes help you rent items.

"Even if you don't call a professional to help you with your layout or to help you design your displays, try moving a few gondolas around, adding signs and observing how a simple change can affect the movements of your customers," says Rands. "I think you will be surprised at the results."

The study of what makes customers buy and rent, especially when they do so on impulse, has become a science for fixture and hardware manufacturers such as Lozier. These companies spend hours of research developing the right shelving and items that can enhance a store's marketing potential.

There's even a national organization for these manufacturers - the Point-of-Purchase Advertising Institute in Washington, D.C. The institute concerns itself with the stimulus that can put customers in the mood to open their wallets and purses and make their buying or renting decisions as they walk down an aisle.

"Retailers are becoming more aware that their shelves and displays are critical vehicles for their stores' success," says Dick Blatt, president of the institute. "The sales results show significant increases when P-O-P [point-of-purchase] signage, displays and media support brands. P-O-P constitutes the last three feet of any marketing campaign waged on TV, radio or in print.

"The local hardware and discount stores know what their markets are and how they can successfully display products," adds Blatt.

"They know that in effectively utilizing P-O-P advertising, a shopper planning to spend $29 often ends up having spent $35."

Blatt says there is a way a single store can compete on the same level as the massive chains and wholesale outlets. He suggests that rental store owners should work closely with the P-O-P hardware producers, suppliers and brand-name marketers, and combine their expertise to help put punch into rental marketing campaigns.

Scientifically designed and intelligently displayed P-O-P advertising can change the odds greatly and help stimulate impulse renting as well as the purchase of items such as lubricants, gloves and safety gear. P-O-P can highlight brand names and products and help fix them in your customers' minds for future rentals.

The Stihl Concept Store is a good example. The brand-name chain saw and power equipment manufacturer has developed a point-of-purchase concept package for rental and retail outlets. Tim Campbell, manager of sales development at Bryan Equip-ment Sales in Loveland, Ohio, put the program together for Stihl. Bryan Equipment is a regional distributorship for Stihl products.

"After a rental store owner lets us know through their Stihl dealer that they are interested, someone such as myself will visit the facility," says Campbell. "We then look at the layout and configuration of the store and design a display that's not only best for our products but also one that enhances and helps organize the store.

"Your cost as a store owner is based on a co-op program that we have set up. Every display will be different in some way but will still contain the same ideas."

Campbell says that personnel from the 14 Stihl regional field offices across the country have installed more than 327 of these concept stores, mainly in retail outlets. Some of the businesses are reporting up to a 35 percent increase in chain saw and related Stihl product sales.

"The design of the display brings brand awareness to our product," says Campbell. "We use our chain saws as the central point and create synergy from them. Then we can build recognition in our other products, such as cut-off saws, line trimmers and hand-held and backpack blowers, as well.

"The store can display lawn and garden tools, related equipment and the proper safety gear that is needed to protect the operator, all around the main display.

"You also can show videos and pictures that demonstrate how the product is properly used. By educating the customer, you will save yourself time and money in the long run. People sometimes need to see how an item can be used before they rent. I always go by the rule that if it's not visible, you won't sell it."

Vandalia Rental in Vandalia, Ohio, took advantage of Stihl's offer.

"There was a slight charge for material," says Vandalia Rental Manager Tim Smith. "Stihl built it in a corner that was out of the way, dark and generally just junked up. They came in with headers, lighting fixtures and some signs. It decidedly has helped in our sales. We see more customers spending time in that area."

Smith says his store is fairly large as rental stores go and has such a diverse range of rental products that it is unique in the area. Vandalia Rental offers everything from floor care to lawn care products to construction equipment.

"We even try to turn over our chain saws every six months because of the wear and tear we usually get on them," says Smith. "We like to sell off the used and buy new. The new display has helped us do that. Even our employees were impressed by the change the Stihl display has made. Before, there was no way we could draw this much attention to that corner of the store. It has inspired everyone to clean up other areas, too."

The well-lit Stihl display acts like a lightbulb to a moth, says Smith: "The light draws them to the back of the store. Customers look at a lot of our other items to get to it."

Bill Rands' example of the "converted gas station" is not lost on Brown Rental in Boise, Idaho, which started just that way.

"Our owners originally started out in an old gas station some years ago," says Steve Johnson, manager of Brown Rental's new Fairview branch. "We knew we needed the upgrade.

"When we moved to our new location we decided we'd go all the way and try an altogether different floor layout and different hardware."

Rands now points to Brown Rental as a good example of how a store can upgrade its image with the latest in hardware and P-O-P marketing concepts.

The company accomplished part of the feat by purchasing the display fixtures that were used in the 1997 A.R.A. model store in New Orleans.

But to really do the redesign properly, the company and the designer stepped back to take a fresh look at the whole operation - from the first moment the customer approaches the store, all the time the customer spends in the store, right up to the time the customer goes out the door.

"When someone walked into the old building, they were looking right at the counter," says Johnson. "Every-thing was stored in the back.

"Now we have an L-shaped showroom with the counter on the short leg of the L. The front entrance is at the top of the leg. Gondolas, signs and displays guide customers to the counter. All of our wall space is covered with shelving, where we display a variety of everything from carpet cleaners to bike racks to chain saws - you name it."

Johnson says the design moves the customer through half of the displayed items on the way in and half on the way out.

Brown even added a hospitality center where customers can get water, snacks and other refreshments.

"We want the store to be as self-service as possible and make the customer feel welcome so customers slow down and look around," explains Johnson. "We want our specials and our products to stick in their minds for the future."

The new Brown Rental store also has an 18-by-144-foot outdoor canopy that covers the power equipment on the lot. Everything is parked in plain sight of customers as they drive in.

"The people who came into the old location now come in and constantly tell us how professional everything looks and how easy it is to find things," says Johnson. "It's too early to put any exact numbers on it, but our new layout has definitely helped increase our rentals - especially our impulse rentals."

"If a customer comes in and walks through our store the way we expect him to, he'll see about 75 percent to 80 percent of our inventory," says Brown Rental owner Brad Bengson, former director of A.R.A. Region Eight.

"And about half the time, that's the way it works. It has worked pretty well for us."