Retailers try to revive domestics with bold total home statements - productivity

Discount Store News, August 5, 1996

Discounters are reworking the $8.14 billion home furnishings segment to revive flattened productivity levels that had boomed in recent years. Some are romancing the goods with creative merchandising programs, while others are designing completely new departmental or store prototypes around the category.

Regional chains are proving the most proactive in merchandising changes. Bradlees, ShopKo, Venture and Hills are using more fashion in their domestics categories to "soften" their merchandise mixes.

Bradlees's new concept mixes higher thread counts, better-quality goods, upgraded price points and improved in-store merchandising. Bedding alone has grown by 50% in floor space. The chain is experimenting with new private label programs in such lines as blankets.

Angling to gain better turn in home categories, ShopKo is testing several ways to break up the ranks of gondolas in its floor displays; the best-producing prototype may roll out in chainwide planograms by spring 1997.

"Category dominance" at Venture's domestics department translates into telling complete, coordinated stories while providing better-quality goods. The chain has also found that switching to wire-grid fixtures sparks faster sell-through in a variety of lines from towels to bedding--while cutting down on housekeeping by virtue of the greater capacity of the displays. Further, the wire-grid system gives the department a clean, unified look and better sight lines for shoppers to quickly absorb the color and style stories and to zoom in on specific patterns.

Productivity in the floor coverings department at Venture has skyrocketed; other chains are taking a closer look at devoting more floor space to flat displays for 9-ft. by 6-ft. rugs.

Blending soft goods with hard goods like lighting, decorative accessories and RTA furniture has allowed retailers to broaden the scope of their home furnishings presentations, creating more appealing environments for today's consumers.

The "total home" concept is unfolding in stores at every level, from those concerned with upscaling to those hewing to old-style discounting. Total home as a display strategy combines products from a variety of subcategories in a single area, merchandising on the theory of room-by-room decorating.

           Domestics
          Productivity