Go On, Be a Sell-Out!
Use a few merchandising tricks to get lobby sales moving

By Rami LaLena

It's easy for a customer walking into your lobby store to be overwhelmed with a wide variety of items. But if you carefully plan the layout of the store and do research to find out what your customers are likely to buy, you can do some very efficient merchandising in the space you have.

When assessing the potential in a location, remember that the most important thing about a location is the population itself. In our area, items that sell well in Brooklyn will not sell as strongly in Long Island. In some areas people buy more than one air freshener, and in these regions the three-pack or six-pack will sell 10 times more than in other areas. In Connecticut, the single air freshener is going to sell much better than the three and six-pack.

When choosing items to stock in your location, the important thing is to just give an item a try. Some companies offer a guarantee on their items--in our company we have a service called 100 percent guaranteed sale. Basically, if a customer tries to sell an item we provided and it doesn't move, we will take it back and try a different product. Some items may fly off the shelves, but some may sit there. It's in the hands of the people who come to the carwash--they are the people who make the decision on what to buy.

Strategic store layout

Think of the big supermarkets and the way they sell the milk. Items like milk, eggs and bread are always located at the back of the store. There's a reason for this--these are the items that almost everybody buys, but there is not a lot of money to be made just selling those items alone. By placing the milk in the back of the store, they can get you to walk throughout the entire store on the way to the dairy case, where you'll see other items along the way and end up putting them in the shopping cart.

So when we design stores, we put everything on the shelves and we make sure that the popular items everyone is interested in are situated in the rear of the store.

The key behind making items sell lies in the hands of the operator, not the distributor. Overall, it is up to the operator to make the selling area comfortable. Some carwashes think that just having the items in the lobby area will be enough to make them sell. But it takes a lot more effort. If you make it nice with lights, nice music the customer feels more comfortable and he is in the mood to buy. Remember, that customer is holding the $20 in his hand anyway. Everybody likes to buy. You give them a nice variety in a nice setting and they will buy.

Keeping up on trends

When it comes to figuring out what items will be next season's trendy item, the rules are, there are no rules. If somebody could predict trends, they would be a multi-millionaire and make a fortune on the stock market. In some areas of the country, particular items will sell better for a period of time and you can track that to a certain extent.

Right now, everything with the Warner Brothers character Tweety is hot all over the country. Cartoon characters on air fresheners, window shades and keychains are all strong sellers, but the number one character in popularity is Tweety.

Another new item that is very hot is steering wheel covers with animal-print designs. This is a hot trend in clothing fashions, and we are reflecting that trend in the carwash lobby.

Since the look of the store is of great importance, make sure that it is regularly maintained in order to optimize sales. On slow days, have the cashier regularly walk around the selling area and check to see that all items are in their proper places. Any time stock is moved, you eliminate variety. And when you eliminate variety, you lose.

Rotate stock and keep it clean. In carwashes there is a lot of dust, and even though the items are still fresh, they won't look appealing to the eye if they're dusty, and people won't buy.

Also, make sure the price tag is not covering up important information on the air freshener. For example, it's important not to put the sticker over the scent name. It's better to put the price on the side so that all the information on the items is going to be clear. People need to see what they are buying.

The key is don't forget you're a carwasher first, but take the time to put forth the effort. Take care of the store because it has the potential to be a money-maker with very little aggravation. There's no need to buy soap, different brushes or waxes. You just need to know how to properly merchandise.

Rami LaLena is the president of R.R. LaLena Corporation in Long Island City, NY. For more information call 1-800-R-LALENA.

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