Home specialists retool merchandising

DSN Retailing Today, May 17, 2004

Once, home specialists carried their gadget businesses forward by pure weight of assortment, but today they are becoming ever more sophisticated in their emphasis on the category. Both Linens 'n Things and Bed Bath & Beyond have been revisiting the gadget section in large and small ways recently.

Besides competing with one another, these retailers want to make it clear that they are superior destinations for consumers who are looking for anything beyond basic in gadgets.

Linens 'n Things has developed a relationship with celebrity chef and television host Alton Brown. Alton's Picks are provided on signage at the entrance to gadget/cookware sections at Linens 'n Things stores. The signage includes a photo, appropriate for someone who appears on television, not to mention copies of a book he authored.

At a store in Carle Place, N.Y., Alton's Picks, listed on the sectional signage, included a couple of products from Eze, a Polder timer/thermometer, four Oxo products, a Chef'n pepper ball, three Zyliss items and several Linens 'n Things' private label products, such as a flat grater and a five-cup sifter. Alton's Picks also were called out in hanging signage within the product assortment. The signs explained the benefits of the products, as ascribed by Alton.

Beyond the Alton effort, Linens 'n Things clearly favored strong presentations of the "Picks" brands, design and color as elements to give its selection of gadgets a bit of elegance and differentiate the assortment from what is available at the broadliners.

Less than a mile away from the Linens 'n Things store, a Bed Bath & Beyond in Garden City, N.Y., took on a new look, with a big Oxo section and gadgets divided into several categories: Cleaning, Baking, Thermometers, Openers and Barware, and Utensils. While the new merchandising replaced the well-established high-flying mix of products for which Bed Bath & Beyond has been known, a company manager noted that the presentation in the Garden City store didn't necessarily represent a new prototype for the chain, although it is repeated on a reduced scale in a smaller store in Rego Park, N.Y.

The new merchandising did give gadgets a fresh look, a cleaner organization and problem-solving appeal. As for the Oxo section, which dominated kitchen gadgets and was organized around dedicated signage detailing the advantages offered by the brand, Gretchen Holt, a spokesperson for the vendor, said the strength of the presentation shouldn't be regarded as surprising. Bed Bath & Beyond and Oxo have developed a strong relationship over the years that has lead to unified presentations of the vendors merchandise.

Yet, the specialists aren't the only retailers building more brand-oriented assortments. Target stores now mount gadget displays vertically under brand names on a peg wall. At a Target in Rego Park, the company offered two Oxo columns followed by Onoda, Kitchen Aid, Rubbermaid, Pyrex and Copco.