Windows of opportunity - marketing curtains in discount stores - Home Market Trends Supplement

Discount Store News, April 11, 1988

Windows of Opportunity

Innovative Fixturing, Coordinated Kitchenware Promise Growth and Excitement for Curtains

It's almost impossible for a discount chain to call itself a full-line store without offering a substantial curtain assortment, yet merchandisers who buy the category are getting more and more pressure from management to improve productivity for the sizeable in-store space these displays often require.

Some chains are cutting back on space for window treatments and others, while not insisting on such reductions, are now starting to make demands for turns and volume that weren't made in previous years.

It's not that window treatments have had a free ride all these years, but as the impact of sluggish overall sales has made itself felt, chains are becoming ever more sensitive to the need for maximum performance from every category and some buyers for window treatments are now being pushed to produce more from the same space, or less.

Industry insiders trace the current raised expectations back a couple of years to strategic decisions by department stores like Macy's to drastically reduce their position in curtains because of lagging sales. Not long after that, major discount chains became even more sensitive to the need for improvement in the category.

In responding to this latest crunch, major suppliers are presenting innovative options not previously available to make curtains more profitable and space-efficient.

Two of these key programs, one by Lees Curtains, the other by Aberdeen, have taken markedly different approaches, but both aim to increase sales either by increasing product appeal or through a more efficient use of space.

At Lees Curtains, a division of Arlee, company president Bud Frankell said the company is offering a new system of fixtures, which, when combined with polybags and a pegboard system, can boost turns far above the industry average of 2.3 to 2.4.

The display system is the key element of the program and it revolves around two curtain fixtures -- preassembled by the supplier -- that allow maximum use of space while presenting considerably more sku's in the curtain department.

One fixture measuring 30 inches by 60 inches is designed for use on an endcap and allows for interchangeable valance, tier and swag in the same window display.

When combined with the pegboard underneath, the display stands 102 inches high and can be used to display several patterns and colors that formerly would have required at least twice as much space.

Another fixture measures 48 inches by 36 inches and is designed to be dropped onto a gondola. It, too, offers the pegboard system of poly-bagged curtains underneath in complete sets.

Frankell said the displays have the potential to generate sales of $500 per square foot because they take up so little space.

And combined with the advantages of the space-saving fixture comes a caution from Frankell that retailers sometimes exacerbate their own space problems by too many choices that, in the final analysis, are not all that different.

"When you get to 18 numbers, I guarantee that six of them are look-alikes. Most stores can't support 18 tiers. It's very hard to get 12 or 14 winners that are not look-alikes," he said.

The display system presents the products in a way that is strictly self service. Customers need no sales help. "By purchasing sets, you eliminate the residue of valances and tiers that are out of stock," Frankell explained.

Several major retailers have already decided to test the new system, including K mart, Jamesway, Ann & Hope and McCrory's.

Aberdeen has taken a bold new approach of its own by joining its kitchen curtain and kitchen textiles division with a line of ceramics, all in two coordinated patterns -- its top selling Curio Shelf and Kissing Cousins.

Although the coordinated line will be officially introduced during market week in May, major retailers who have previewed the line are reported to be ready to commit to it.

Norma Devito, vice president of Aberdeen's curtain and kitchen division, said, "We are doing totally coordinated kitchen curtains, kitchen textiles and total ceramic houseware and dinnerware. Nobody under one roof has ever done this. We are doing something that is hot as hell and the people we have shown it to feel the same way."

In explaining the thinking that went into Aberdeen's strategy, Devito explained, "We wanted to have the total package. We are already manufacturing curtains and kitchen textiles. The obvious next step was adding the coordinated housewares pieces in the kitchen and dining area. Coordinates are one of the biggest things today."

The overall look of the coordinated line will be strong enough to encourage impulse purchases, said Devito, purchases that will lead to additional sales later on.

"If she is going to buy a curtain, why shouldn't she buy the whole accessory program that matches it?" Especially when Aberdeen has used its two hottest patterns for the program.

The coordinated lines will consist of curtains -- the curtain, valance, tier and the topper. In textiles the line offers towels, mitts, pot holders, dish towels, tea towels and place mats. In housewares there will be a 20-piece dinnerware set, a four-piece canister set, a mug tree, a ceramic utensil holder with utensils, a three-piece mixing and storage set, a wooden napkin holder with salt and pepper shakers and a spoon rest.