Editor's note: Darren Schulte, NATSO vice president of membership, frequently visits NATSO members to review their locations and offers impactful merchandising and operations improvements. Contact Schulte at dschulte@natso.com or (915) 526-5820 to learn more about the costs and details of this service.
Apparel is a growing category for many NATSO members, and Dodge City Petro in Dodge City, Alabama, has created a successful apparel program.
Keith Wade, operations manager for the location, focuses on the appearance of the store, and even little things add to the overall experience and make clothes shopping easy for his customer. For example, when you look at his apparel, he doesn’t have different color hangers. Things aren’t thrown together and that is what makes apparel sell.
Pricing on apparel is important and can drive additional purchases, and Wade uses it to his advantage. He understands that customers will respond to value, particularly value from buying multiples. However, the savings must be great enough to spur multiple sales. Offering something at $3.99 for one item or $10 for three won’t do the trick. Wade will make the value obvious, such as $7.99 for one or 3 for $10. He knows there is a benefit that comes from driving the multiple purchases.
A lot of times people are stuck on a template that tells them they need to get a certain margin, but that isn’t always the case. He fully understands what the market will bear. He might sell one product at a lower price because he has to but he can sell another higher because the market will bear that. This applies to all of the store and not just apparel.
Wade’s emphasis on apparel shows how committed he is to being an overall retailer, and that is important in our industry today. Stores that are good retailers are going to keep putting pressure on NATSO members, and to stay competitive, we have to play the retailing game.
To learn more about how Wade excels in other parts of his store, read part one of this post on Wade’s overall retail strategy and part two on Wade’s use of departments and themes.
/// Did you know most weeks can find Darren Schulte, NATSO's Vice President of Memebrship,visiting a NATSO member truckstop location, spending three to four days, using his merchandising and operations expertise to help them grow their business? Learn about NATSO’s Profitable Retail Review program here.
Photos Credit: Darren Schulte/NATSO
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