Finding answers in the aisles

Home Channel News, March 5, 2001 by Lisa Girard

CHICAGO -- Need a quick answer to a nagging plumbing problem? A step-by-step guide to building that deck you've been thinking about? Someone to make your favorite old chair look new again? Consumers that visit their local True Value Hardware stores may soon find such information at their fingertips.

True Value Answer Centers, which are information kiosks that advertise products and services and give "how-to" instructions on a variety of projects, have been placed in 100 True Value Hardware stores in the Northeast since January 2000. That number is expected to rise to 300 by May, at which time TruServ, the hardlines cooperative whose members operate stores under the True Value banner, will decide whether to roll out the program to its 6,000-plus stores nationwide.

"What we're always trying to do is provide our stores with an easy way to deliver on our brand promise, which is, 'Help is just around the corner,'" said John Schmidtke, marketing manager for TruServ. "We're all about home repair and home maintenance, and the Answer Center can help with solutions."

In January 2000, Dallas-based Media First Systems started marketing the interactive units to hardware stores in general, but TruServ showed the most interest, according to Robert Sims, Media First's national sales director. In June, the two companies worked out an exclusive agreement, which included test marketing the system in stores in the Northeast.

"We're concentrating on the Mid-Atlantic region because of the population density here," Sims said. "Then we've been asked by TruServ to enter the Midwest and then go south to the Baltimore/Washington area and Charlotte. After that, we'll hit areas like Atlanta and Dallas and head toward the West Coast."

The two-screen kiosk uses touch-screen technology, which Sims says is easier to use and more universally understood than a keyboard. The top screen features a series of advertisements, the largest portion of which is local, with some regional and some local advertisements. There can be a total of 60 advertisers on the system at any one store, each getting two 30-second spots per hour.

The kiosks are free to participating stores, whose only obligations are to provide an electrical line and agree to keep the machine running 24 hours a day. IN return, the stores receives 5 percent of the advertising revenues from Media First and a 5 percent advertising credit from TruServ toward special events and promotions. Media First keeps the other 90 percent of the advertising revenues.

According to Media First, the True Value Answer Center is an extremely cost-effective advertising approach in that it enables highly targeted messages to reach qualified customers. The program has attracted between five and 10 national advertisers, and according to Sims, the advantage is instant gratification. He uses Stanley Products as an example.

"We'll run [Stanley Works'] commercial in every store for X amount of dollars," he explained. "Their products are in the stores, and their customers are right in the stores ready to buy. If they can implant an idea, it can lead to a sale."

In addition, some 20 regional and 60 local advertisers are on board, including real estate firms, mortgage companies and restaurants, as well as a variety of home improvement companies.

The kiosk's bottom screen offers a variety of functions, including in-store product location and contractor referral through HSS (Home Service Store), which provides the pool of professionals recommended by the Answer Center.

Among the screen's other features are sections on home furnishings, local restaurants, clothing, financing, automotive dealers, sports activities and home decorating.

The bottom screen also features about 80 how-to demonstrations, which provide step-by-step instructions and graphics for home improvements and repairs. Each demonstration is accompanied by a list of items needed to complete the job that can be printed out by the consumer and taken home.

Tom Collins, owner of the Colmar Home Center, a TruServ affiliate in Margate, N.J., said the how-to feature was, by far, the most used feature on his store's unit.

"You get a lot of people looking for how-to information, and you can explain it to them 30 times, but they still don't get it," he said. "The machine spells it out for them, step by step. They can print it out, take it home and use it. It's a very valuable selling tool."

The True Value Answer Center also includes a calculator that tells consumers how much of a certain material they will need for a specific job. Users can also call up 7,000 products on the kiosk, each of which can be special-ordered, if necessary.

"We're leveraging the entire TruServ network by using that tool in our stores and augmenting what is already in the stores," Schmidtke said.

TruServ's next push is to get all the machines hooked up to the Internet, so customers will have access to the co-op's Web site and the 70,000 products available there. This can't be done on a large scale, however, until standard high-speed access is available in rural as well as urban areas. In the meantime, Media First is testing an Internet hookup in five Northeastern stores beginning in February.