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y first merchandising effort didn’t turn out sowell. In fact, it was a disaster. I actually

destroyed a dozen T-shirts and a few shorts.I was hired to merchandise the outdoor store where

I’d been a loyal customer. On my first day, I saw a big,blank space high up on a wall that I thought wouldmake a perfect display space. I stapled (yes, stapled)shirts in a circle on the wall surrounding shorts that Ialso fastened to the wall with staples (lots of them).

The boss wasn’t happy. Of course the holes in theshirts and shorts were a problem, but he also pointedout that the garments were wrinkled because I hadn’tsteamed them. I learned my first merchandisinglessons that day—always steam items destined fordisplay and throw away the staple gun!

Had I received a little instruction in merchandisingbasics, the destruction of all those shirts and shortscould have been avoided. I had the desire to be amerchandiser but lacked the know-how.

EDUCATE STAFF Developing merchandising skills among your stafftakes a little time and effort, but it’s worth it. Insteadof having one person adept at merchandising, you cancreate an army of merchandising mavens.

Start by teaching them the basics through a series ofweekly clinic sessions. Your store merchandiser, anoutside expert or a merchandising-savvy sales rep canconduct the clinics. Cover no more than one or twoconcepts at a time and have each staff member practiceusing what he or she has learned during the followingweek. Share experiences at subsequent sessions.

Here are some suggestions for creating a month’sworth of merchandising clinics:

» CLINIC #1: FIXTURES: Review the different types offixtures—4-ways, T-stands, rounders, waterfalls,straight arms, gondolas, binning systems, end caps,slat wall—and talk about the function, capacities andpositioning of each with an emphasis on how theyshould be merchandised.

» CLINIC #2: CROSS MERCHANDISING: Show how tocombine products in displays from different areas ofthe store. Some suggested combinations are sockswith shoes and boots, sleeping pads with bags, fleecewith outerwear, maps and cookware with tents. Thepossibilities are endless.

» CLINIC #3: DISPLAY BASICS: Discuss the arrangementof symmetrical and asymmetrical displays. Talk abouthow high or how low to place merchandise and how toeffectively merchandise a wall. Walk through the store

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observing traffic patterns, discoveringgood display spaces and noticing howproducts and areas are lighted and whatneeds improvement.

» CLINIC #4: APPAREL MERCHANDISING:Since this is a large part of your invento-ry, it deserves its own clinic session. Thereare two categories of clothing—technicaland sportswear. Each is gender-specificwith its own set of sales needs so it maybe desirable to divide clothing clinics intomen’s and women’s. Talk about layering,fit, color, sizing and coordination.

MENTOR & MOTIVATE Because there’s staff turnover, prepare a“cheat sheet” of the merchandisingbasics and make it a part of a newrecruit’s job description to read and putthe basics into practice.

Take a few shop employees at a time toother stores in your town. Visit all sorts ofdifferent types of stores—gift shops, cloth-ing stores, kitchen and tabletop shops,grocery stores, etc. Point out which mer-chandising methods used in those storescould be adapted for use in yours.

Identify the best merchandisers onyour staff and ask them to mentor one or

two others. Have them lead by exampleand work one-on-one with their “men-torees” to help them develop skills andgain confidence.

Once your staff has learned the basics,give each person a spot in the store tomerchandise every two to three weeks.Start by assigning them an area in whichthey feel comfortable. The climbing expertmight feel uncomfortable in the women’ssportswear area at first. But, later, mix itup and reassign areas so everyone triesdifferent product categories. Suggesteddisplay areas are your glass cases,cash/wrap area, footwear, climbing,camping, bags and packs, front windows,men’s and women’s sportswear and tech-nical clothing. Additional areas mightinclude bikes, skis, snowboards and boats.

Devote a section of your merchandisingclinics to the evaluation of the displaysthey’ve created (be positive) and, eventual-ly, hold a merchandising contest. Giveeach of them (or a group of two or three)an area in the store in which to create anew display. Set a time limit for comple-tion and ask a panel of customers to judgethe results. The winner and runner-upcould receive a cash prize, a day off withpay, a gift certificate at a fancy restaurant

or whatever seems motivational.Establish a feedback system that rates

the effectiveness of your merchandisingefforts based on sales figures in a giventwo-week period. Ask staff memberswhich displays they perceive are workingand which are not. Encourage sugges-tions for change.

Create an online and in-store merchan-dising library that your staff can access.There are more good books and merchan-dising sites available today than everbefore. My website, www.merchandisingHUB.com , has a listing of the most infor-mative books. Two of the best are“Merchandising Your Way to Success”and, for clothing, “Silent Selling.” For areal eye-opener about customer behaviorin stores, purchase a copy of PacoUnderhill’s popular book, “Why We Buy,”and circulate it among your staff. One ofthe most helpful websites for basic displaytips is www.retailwire.com.

Savvy retailers recognize the impor-tance of merchandising in increasing salesand profits. But there’s more to it thanthat. The development of merchandisingskills raises self-esteem and increasesmotivation among your staff. Just don’tforget to hide your staple guns!

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OOF. If dogs could shop, chancesare, they’d be all too happy to drop

a few bones buying a water bowl or toyfrom an outdoor specialty store. Ofcourse, owners are the next best thing,and since they’re the ones with the buyingpower, dog owners are a market segmentoutdoor specialty shops should be chasingdown faster than a retriever after a stick.

Yeah, we know that many of you carrya dog pack or two, but that’s not reallycatering to a pet owner by even the mostgenerous stretch of the imagination.

Why should a specialty store careabout dogs and all the assorted productsmade for them?

“If one has to ask, one must be dogless,”said Wendle Wirth, owner of A Tail WeCould Wag, founded in 1989. “I don’t knowif people go outside because they have adog, or get a dog to go outside. Either way,by adding pet products to your store,you’re adding customers (ones you proba-bly don’t have now) and connecting moredeeply with your current customers.”

Jerry Lloyd, vice president of businessdevelopment for Cascade Designs and theone behind the company’s new line of petbeds, Camp K-9, told GearTrends thatmore than half of all shopping for pets isstill done at the specialty level.

“Specialty is still alive in this market.Dog owners want to talk to experts, somake your store welcoming to dogs andtheir owners,” said Lloyd, himself anowner of a camping pooch. “In a recentfocus group for Therm-a-Rest, I notedthat out of six members, three talkedabout taking their dogs hiking with them

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and one offered up how the dog got his old Therm-a-Rest when he got a new one.

“Stores should be aware of how many customersown dogs and take them hiking with them,” Lloydadded. “Start polling your customers, ask them to talkabout their dogs—dog owners really get off on that.”

Still not convinced? Numbers don’t lie, so considerthis my still-skeptical friends—39 percent of allhouseholds in the United States have at least onedog—that’s 40 million households. According to asurvey by Ralston Purina, over 67 percent of dogowners exercise with their companions on a dailybasis, including biking, hiking, walking or jogging.

We’re not done yet. According to the U.S. PetOwnership and Demographic Sourcebook by NewStrategist Publications, 28 million pet owners buyChristmas presents for their pets. Another related studyof the worldwide pet market discovered—and we’re notquite sure what this says about the strength of mar-riages—that 28 percent of pet owners spend more onChristmas gifts for their pets than theirspouse. Ouch!

Still scratching your head?OK, hard case, then try this

on for size. Morespecifically tar-geted to the out-

door market is the

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CATERING TO FIDOWITH A FULL SELECTION OF PETPRODUCTS DESIGNED FOR ADVENTURINGMUTTS AND THEIRHUMAN PARENTSCOULD HELP TOREALLY BOLSTERYOUR STORE’S BOTTOM LINE THISYEAR.

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fact that surveys have shown 68 percent(up from 58 percent in 1995) of all dogowners travel and recreate with theirfurry friends, including camping, boating,backpacking and cross-country skiing.

Now, combine all of the data abovewith buying data from the Pet ProductNews Buying Guide for Spring/Summer2002, showing that collars and leashes,clothes and accessories, snacks and treats,bowls and dishes, toys, beds and miscella-neous products accounted for $572.8 mil-lion in sales in 2001, and you can hear thecash registers ring from here.

And what that means is if your storedoes not have an established and well-merchandised area full of assorted dogpacks, collapsible bowls, various toys, aswell as collars and leashes, you’re miss-ing out on one category of sales that con-tinues to soar, even in a flat market.

“Take a look at the bottom line. Theoutdoor pet market is one category thathas shown consistent growth during aperiod of relatively flat sales in all otheroutdoor categories,” said Patrick Kruse,owner of Ruff Wear, founded in 1992.“Dogs have come out of the backyardand into our lives, accompanyinghumans on our adventures.”

“Pets, nowadays, are not just a pet, butare part of the family,” Stephanie Volo,president of Planet Dog, founded in 1997,added. “People do everything with theirpets—travel, sleep, play, swim and more.”

Those observations are supported bydata from the American Animal HospitalAssociation study that surveyed pet own-ers about their habits and feelings whenit comes to their pets. In 1995, for exam-ple, 55 percent of those surveyed calledthemselves their pet’s mom or dad. Sevenyears later, 83 percent now refer to them-selves as a pet’s mom or dad. In thatsame survey, pets and spouses ratedequally at 48 percent when asked howoften you say, “I love you.” (Now we’rereally beginning to wonder about mar-riages and pets, but that’s another story.)

As a result of the demographic shift inattitude toward pets as part of the fami-ly, products for dogs are themselvesbecoming more lifestyle-oriented and,believe it or not, fashion-focused. Voloand Wirth both say their companiesstudy retail trends including colors,styles and patterns. After all, it is thehumans buying the products.

Convinced now, but still not sureabout how you should best cater to thosehumans who are as proud of their furrychildren as they are of their spouse?

Volo, Wirth, Lloyd and Kruse offer upthe following tips:

» Do not attempt to sell the same $4.95toys seen at mainstream stores, like Petco.

» Sell the fun of recreating outdoorswith your dog by making your store dog-friendly because dogs sell dog gear. Havetreats to give dogs when they come in.Keep a full dog bowl of clean water nearthe front door. Sell books on places totake your dogs hiking, and offer up a fewclinics on how to take your dog hiking.Encourage your sales staff to bring theirown dogs to work—as long as theybehave, of course.

» Merchandise the category, and we’renot talking about tossing up a few dogpacks on a pegboard with a few bowlsand a leash or two thrown in for goodmeasure. No sir. Create an area in yourstore with POP displays, and enoughproduct selection to say, “We’re seriousabout making sure your dog is well-out-fitted and happy.” Pet blankets, pet beds,collapsible water and food bowls, collars,leashes, dog packs in a variety of sizes,PFDs, and a selection of higher-end toys.

» Train your staff. Fitting a dog pack isjust as important as fitting a human pack,and requires some skill and training to doproperly. Same for fitting PFDs whichyou should also carry if you sell boats.

» Work with a manufacturer that knowsand understands the outdoor market, asall four interviewed for this article do.

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