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Window Treatment Advertising

Discounts Dominate Long Season
Ads offering 30 to 70 percent off spur sales, while other incentivs are seldom used.

By John J. Lichty

The endless, tiresome, commercial Holiday Season finally expired sometime in February. Credit cards had been maxed out; shoppers were spent out in money and spirit. No wonder. The special, super-everything overkill ads during the commercial season ran about four months long. That’s one-third of a year for Christmas pre-, post- and today’s sales.

Our mailboxes were filled, even before Halloween, with “seasonal” discounts. Santa competed with Halloween candy sales.

Multi-page, full-color inserts, courtesy of your major discount outlet, offered discounts ranging form 30 to 70 percent off. (The original price was not always mentioned.) The percentages off soared upward as Christmas approached, reaching the top during New Year sales periods, then declined slowly through January. Prices seemed to reach a final, inflated plateau during February. These new, higher low prices will be the basis for spring and summer promotions.

In October 2005, after the super discounts for September “Home Decorating Days,” the pre-Halloween, pre-Christmas sales and huge discounts will begin anew. Discounts may be much greater. Maybe some year, retailers will offer free products with just a 20 percent handling fee.

CONDITIONED RESPONSE

We American shoppers are now pre-conditioned. We react only to the stimulus of “unbelievable” discounts or rebates.

Window coverings ads were mostly absent during the season. Some of the inserts showed various products with large discounts. Apparently, the large-volume retailers believe that only low prices will sell window coverings.

As a veteran ad man whose company helped pioneer the concept of “window beauty for homes,” I’ve been discouraged by the reliance on discounted prices as the only advertising and sales feature for window coverings.

True, the reality of low-price merchandising is important for our continued response, but for many homemakers the image of beautiful window styling in their homes is just as important. Maybe it’s time to review our appeals. The basic reasons, other than price, for purchasing window coverings still are home beauty, energy savings, light control and color accents.

COMBINE BENEFITS

Are there ways for window coverings retailers to compete against the goliath of price savings? Most of the small retailers who tried to match big-store discounts head-on are now out of business. Or they have settled for lower-volume sales based on customer service and information marketing.

Occasionally, almost hidden among the many inserts, I would see a small, single-page mailer, quarter-page newspaper ad or a radio commercial in which the old end-use appeals were mentioned. Such ads were good to bring in-store or in-home leads.

Also, as usual, JC Penney and other high-style department store retailers used ads, large and small, combining full-color window treatments and discounted price quotations. Such ads have worked for years. Designer/decorator ads are much the same. They feature custom window stylings for home and office. Minimum copy is used, just a number to call. The ads are intended for the audiences of design and interiors magazines.

In window coverings trade magazines and special shelter magazines, Hunter Douglas often leads the way. Flair promotions use impressive, beautifully designed multi-page brochures and full-page color advertisements. The ad campaigns focus on settings featuring the company’s various products and dealer sales-promotion materials.

Beautiful windows and how to utilize window coverings to promote sales is naturally the theme of industry magazines. D&WC runs a monthly colorful portfolio of window decorating for various rooms in the home (see page 38). Also, of special interest is a “successful retailer” series. Each month a detailed article reports on how one window coverings retail owner has achieved a measure of success with varied communications and selling programs.

NEW LUXURY MARKET

Promoting your store as a “window beauty” headquarters can work. As the new luxury home markets expand as incomes increase, the interest in interior design products and uses grows as well.

“Window beauty” is just one appeal. With fuel prices at all-time highs, so is energy savings, tie-ins with classic designs, lifestyles and new window coverings products. “Window charm,” “Extreme makeover for your windows”—there are many themes to consider.

All you need is some extra thought and enthusiasm plus, of course, a budget to make the needed investment. It’s all easier said than done, but there are roads to take to achieve increased sales other than discount pricing.

PERSONALITY APPEALS

In years past, our staff here at D&WC created and produced a series of suggested advertisements to use in local ads and other print materials. We called them Ad-a-grams. In all, for more than 12 years, we distributed more than 400 different small ads to our subscriber retailers. We used all kinds of window coverings products and sales themes in the ads.

According to our records, the most popular ads were “personality” ads. In them, we tied in individual preferences and personality types with products and decorating themes. Years later, we still receive an occasional request for the most desired ads.

No subject is more intriguing to a person than another person. We watch TV personalities and their guests. We study people in public places. We try to guess what other people are like. Most of all, we are interested in ourselves.

Smart advertisers use themes that associate products with desirable traits and behaviors. Most often, they try to tie in sexy behavior with product appeal. If you want other ad appeals, try to associate window stylings with personality themes.

Windows, too, can become sophisticated, lovely, pleasing, warm, happy, luxurious, plain and simple, cheerful, cool, classic, smart. They can reflect your lifestyle in many ways.

Think about it. As noted before, “There’s more to your style and home than inexpensive window stylings.” More on this theme next time.