POS & MERCHANDISING


torn open and sat on shelf in their cardboard bottoms. “It saves time and means the team members don’t have to spend the time standing there getting each one out of the box and hanging them on pegs or placing them on shelf,” explained a Bunnings representative. This tactic is tweaked slightly, where necessary for certain products, such as paint brushes, with a selection hanging from pegs and refill stock in their opened cartons underneath. Handles, knobs and plumbing fittings are all displayed on strips of chipboard.


The opportunity for customers to be able to see and touch the product is very important to Bunnings and nothing is on display for sale solely in its boxed form. Larger cases of items are, again, torn open and placed on the floor in aisles almost as their own free-standing merchandising units – but always with a clear hand-written price tag and one of products out of the box and placed on top for a customer to pick up and feel. For some of the power tools I did wonder if such an approach could lead to issues with shrinkage but, when I asked a team member, she maintained the display items didn’t disappear.


Baskets at the ready The store boasts clear directional signage, both overhead and at aisle ends, to help shoppers navigate their way around. Two piles of baskets are helpfully placed next to category signposting at the end of every aisle, encouraging shoppers to fill them; a simple technique that no doubt pays dividends. Bunnings


has also products


advantage of every opportunity for secondary sitings associated


around


the store, using clip strips to great effect, with moth balls next to clothes storage bags, packs of blades hung next to garden strimmers, disposable gloves in the adhesives and sealants and decorating aisle and even grout reviver pens alongside shower heads. Cases of products were also stood in aisles to generate add-on sales, with WD40 and maintenance kits stood in the garden power aisle. Gondola ends have been used to highlight relevant products in an impactful way to inspire customers to make that extra purchase – again, with boxed product there ready to take away. Linked sales are encouraged throughout the store, with an array of pots located


www.diyweek.net


has maintained its promise of the widest choice here too, with a good, better, best – and the rest – offer. One is definitely spoilt for choice (I think I counted five different types of tomato feed) but, as long as this broad an offer doesn’t lead to shopper confusion at point of sale.


Clever use of space There is definitely a pile-it-high mentality within the Bunnings Warehouse,


with boxes of


overflow stock stacked up high on the racking to make space for the products on sale and display below. For products with a bigger footprint, such as giant tool chests, sheds and other outdoor structures, the upper-level space is


taken of


right next to the houseplant fixture, petrol cans found on the shelf directly above lawnmowers, and barbecues and accessories right next to one another and located in close proximity to the garden furniture and other outdoor living items. Customers are not left wanting


for prompts to make a purchase or top up their basket spend. Even the Gardena wall-mounted hose reel they use to water the plants in the garden centre area is in stock and available to buy at the store. When I asked one of the team about this, wondering if they had missed a trick by not offering the item for sale, I was immediately escorted to the correct aisle and shown the product. A wall of plant food and care


products is situated next to plants in the outdoor garden centre area, so shoppers don’t have far to look for the items they need to tend to whatever flora they buy. Bunnings


used to great effect to display items for customers, freeing up the area below for the pick-up stock. The outdoor garden centre area, part of which is covered by a large canopy, has a very different feel. Garden sundries, chemicals, fencing and landscaping products are all still displayed on the characteristic metal racking but the plants are merchandised on lower-level units and trolleys. It is far more reminiscent of a traditional garden centre and allows the shopper to survey out over the rest of the space and plant displays.


Also, while the focus may be on


‘warehouse prices’, that is not to say Bunnings doesn’t offer premium products. As well as top-brand power tools, soaker shower heads priced up to £250 and outdoor water features for £1,608 and £1,350 were also on sale, as well as a large olive tree for £500.


Broadening its appeal With its café, children’s play area and weekend sausage sizzles, the store is now far more attractive to families and sets itself up as somewhere people


might consider


Piles of baskets are strategically placed at the end of each aisle to encourage spend


spending a bit more time, as they do with places like Ikea and their local garden centre. Mini trollies for children to push around the store and weekly DIY workshops add to the appeal, as well as the clever positioning of children’s playhouses at the entrance to the garden centre and near the play area. The draw of these added attractions seem to be working, as the store was far busier than I would expect it to be on a Wednesday afternoon and many


browsers were


not people you would have pegged as regular visitors to a DIY store.


Service is another strategic pillar Bunnings prides


itself on and a


board showing photos of team members listed as experts in their department is visible as you enter the store. And, really I couldn’t fault the store on service. There were team members everywhere I looked – that’s not to imply that they were standing around idly twiddling their thumbs. They were all busy but it was nice not to play ‘hunt the store employee’ when I did have a question and nothing was too much trouble when I did ask. Ultimately, no matter how good your merchandising and POS is in store, you need to have the employees and service in place to support that journey.


14 APRIL 2017 DIY WEEK 15


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