Building Materials Products Channel Marketing Advertising Blog » sales

Housing Recovery is Full of Surprises

Mark Mitchell — Thu, 07 Apr 2011 20:34:50 +0000

Home prices are down 60% in Las Vegas. There are 9,517 brand new unsold homes. 5,600 homes were repossessed in the first quarter of 2010. And yet builders are working on 1,100 more new homes and looking for land to build more! It makes no sense yet it’s happening. What are you doing as a building material manufacturer to be part of this opportunity? What other unlikely markets are showing activity? Read the whole story in the New York Times.

Home Depot Improves Cross Selling

Mark Mitchell — Sat, 29 Jan 2011 10:08:19 +0000

Home Depot has recently added a line of Martha Stewart products in an effort to be more appealing to women. This is an effort by Depot to catch up to Lowe’s who has traditionally been more friendly to women. As large ticket sales which signal a major remodeling project have slowed, this effort is designed to spur more small project sales. The really big news from this effort is the introduction of selling across categories, in which women are shown which product from one category goes with which one from another category. Both Home Depot and Lowe’s have done a very poor job of selling across categories. Category managers who are rewarded mainly on the performance of their category have little incentive to grow overall sales or increase customer satisfaction by featuring related products in their aisle. When you buy materials, you won’t find a reminder about the tools you’ll need. When you buy a door, you have to think for yourself that you night want some new hardware. Hopefully this Martha Stewart effort will help both Home Depot and Lowe’s realize all the dollars they are leaving on the table by focusing solely on each category and not the project. You can read more about the new Martha Stewart program in this New York Times article.

Traditional Media Advertising is Dead

Mark Mitchell — Mon, 20 Dec 2010 01:50:59 +0000

The majority of today’s shoppers first look online and then in store. Combining these two provides a more powerful and cost effective way to make a sale than expensive and ineffective paid media advertising. Building material manufacturers who sell to big box retailers like Home depot and Lowes should get on board with this trend. Their current advertising agency or internet agency may not be able to embrace this new method of growing sales. You can read more about it in this New York Times article.

How to Promote DIY Home Improvement

Mark Mitchell — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 12:20:10 +0000

Many building material manufacturers forget that the best way to sell their product is by selling a project. This article in the New York Times is an excellent example of how to get more people buying paint and the related items needed for a paint project. There are several reasons why this example is so great. First, it’s in the New York Times which gives it credibility and maybe even a little status. More importantly it is reaching people outside of the store which will drive more traffic at stores like Lowes and Home Depot. Another reason is that it’s written from the perspcteive of several different experts who are giving you confidence to do the project by telling you how. They do this without blatantly promoting their brand. A final very effective touch is that they have an excellent photo of the products with captions so you know what to look for in the store.

Game Changer – Price Comparing Phone Apps

Mark Mitchell — Thu, 16 Dec 2010 08:12:16 +0000

The growing use of smart phones and their many apps are now starting to change the game for retailers. Everyday more and more shoppers are using their phones to comparison shop prices of other outlets while in store. See something you like at Home Depot? Take a photo of the product UPC and you may find out that the same product is available at Lowes or even Amazon at a much lower price. It will now be harder to draw people in with a deal in the hopes that they’ll buy an additional item at a higher margin. Major retailers will have to rethink their strategies. Weaker retailers who can’t compete on price and don’t offer anything else will be left in the dust. You can read more about this in this WSJ article.

Builders Can Use Man Caves to Draw Traffic

Mark Mitchell — Sun, 14 Nov 2010 10:52:09 +0000

The growing popularity of Man Caves represents an opportunity for builders. In a time when it’s harder and harder for builders to differentiate themselves a Man Cave in a model or parade home can create a lot of action. People who view the Man Cave in a model home will talk about it generating word of mouth and more traffic. The Wall Street Journal recently ran an article on the world of Man Caves.

What you can learn from Halloween

Mark Mitchell — Sun, 31 Oct 2010 03:06:16 +0000

Halloween is the fastest growing holiday. One of the big reasons for this growth is people’s love of and need for experiences. If you are a builder, how could you ramp up the experience for a consumer who deals with you. I also haven’t seen any new experiences coming out of store visits to Lowes, Depot or Mennards. There’s a real opportunity here that doesn’t have to cost much.

Housing is Still a Good Investment

Mark Mitchell — Sat, 04 Sep 2010 07:23:23 +0000

Karl E. Case’s recent OP-ED piece in the New York Times offers a contrarian view from today’s headlines about the value of home ownership. He makes several good points about why home ownership still makes sense. A good read for builders and manufacturer’s of building materials.

Consumer Technology Spending Rises

Mark Mitchell — Thu, 05 Aug 2010 07:36:38 +0000

A recent article in the WSJ shows how consumers are shifting their spending away from improving their homes to purchasing high tech toys. Retailers like Depot and Lowes can embrace this shift by featuring the growing number of technology products that they carry. There’s no reason for consumers only to think of Best Buy for technology. Perhaps a “Technology Days” promotion or even their own Geek Squad would gain these sales. They also should more actively reach out to early adopters of technology like the readers or Dwell and Wired magazines.

Existing Home Sales Continue to Rise

Mark Mitchell — Sun, 16 May 2010 06:20:30 +0000

Existing home sales showed a 7.6% increase to an annual rate of 5.77 million homes in April. Existing home sales are expected to continue to outpace new home sales growth until the employment level improves. Building material manufacturer’s should continue to focus on the remodel and repair market and pay special attention to those fixing up their homes for resale and that key period of the first six month’s after a new home owner moves in. Read the article in the WSJ.