Join HomeCare at Medtrade 2004 and learn to Create Stores that Sell

“Although the term ‘showroom’ has traditionally been used to describe HME stores, you should realize that you are really trying to create a successful retail space,” says Ed Lemar, vice president of Gladson Store Design, Lisle, Ill.

According to Lemar, the design of any up-to-date and successful home health store is based on the individual image that an HME provider wants to convey. It sounds easy, but there are any number of design principles and customer requirements that must be considered — not to mention building codes and budgets.

“Stores should communicate the caring, warmth, convenience and information that customers are depending on you to provide,” Lemar says. “These attributes can be achieved through store layout, product variety, decor and knowledgeable personnel.”

At Medtrade Spring last April, Lemar and Jack Evans of Malibu, Calif.-based Global Media Marketing, two of the HME industry’s leading retail design experts, explained much about retail philosophy in a hands-on store design workshop. Nearly 200 providers crowded the room as the two explained the basics of creating showrooms that make the best use of every square foot of floor space.

Using these key components, session attendees worked to create their own “perfect” showrooms. “It’s clear providers have a long way to go to optimize retail sales,” says Evans, “but it’s also clear that, with a little effort, providers can easily increase their cash business.”

If you missed the spring workshop, you’ve got another chance. Join HomeCare once again for this special Medtrade session to see what successful home health retail stores look like and how they:

• Create a great first impression
• Utilize effective store layout
• Make shopping a comfortable and educational experience
• Set traffic patterns that draw customers through the entire store
• Use better displays
• Meet their customers’ home health care needs

Learn how to increase add-on sales and sales-per-customer by merchandising to meet 100 percent of your customers’ needs in any category. Toss out your old fixtures, open up your aisles and see how your showroom can stimulate customers to touch, try and buy.

The retail design workshop will be held on Tuesday, Oct. 26, from 10:00 a.m. – 12:00 noon. For more information, visit www.medtrade.com.

Ed Lemar says:

“The results of designing an intelligent store layout and providing a high level of customer service are obvious. Store owners and managers who do so will see increased sales and improved return on investment.”

Think about the basics

• Guide your customer through the store
• Enhance product visibility
• Create a customer-friendly shopping environment
• Store security
• Employee efficiency

Devise a traffic pattern that

• Pulls your customer deep into the store
• Predicts where they will travel
• Exposes customers to more merchandise
• Maximizes in-store time

Take the physical needs of your showroom space into account

• Ancillary areas
• Storage (clean/dirty)
• Office area
• Consultation area
• Repair area
• Fitting room
• Seminar room
• Customer service

Figure space correctly for every department, including any additional areas

• Uniforms
• Kids’ area
• Media center
• Health foods
• Aromatherapy
• Nutritional/supplements
• Women’s health
• Diabetic shoes

Consider layout and display requirements, and keep these general notes in mind

• Minimum of 4′ wide aisles
• Minimum of 4′ wide walk space behind service area
• Minimum of 5′ wide aisle along slatwall to allow for product
• 5′ wheelchair turnaround required for enclosed spaces (such as fitting rooms and restrooms)

Jack Evans says:

“A successful and profitable retail showroom is not something that magically appears out of thin air. Rather, it is the result of careful store layout, a thorough understanding of customers’ wants and needs and aggressive salesmanship.”

Remember the 80/20 Rule

• 80 percent of your profits are generated by 20 percent of your customers.
• 80 percent of your sales are generated by 20 percent of your salespeople.
• 80 percent of your sales are generated by 20 percent of your products.
• 80 percent of your sales are generated from 20 percent of your showroom (i.e., the front).

One size = all

• We are not selling Big Macs!
• Medical conditions and health care needs vary from population to population.
• Demographics are unique to every community.
• Seniors and baby boomers buy completely different models of the same products.

Think about good, better, best

• Retail consumers make their purchasing decision based on product comparisons.
• A choice of options, personal benefits and price points enables consumers to choose the product that best meets their own needs.
• When retailers “sell high,” more than half of retail consumers purchase an upgraded product.

Products should be easy to touch/try/buy

• Home health care products need to be demonstrated and tried before they are understood (and bought) by the average customer.
• Consumers who touch and try a product are two-thirds of the way through making their purchasing decision.
• 70 percent of consumers decide to buy a product after they are inside a retail store.

Put demand products in the back

• Retail consumers usually take the same path from the front door to the demand product to the cash register.
• Placing demand products at the rear of a showroom directs traffic through your other related and impulse product categories.
• Cross-selling results when related products are displayed adjacent to demand products.