|
Safer window covering products benefit everyone, but only when suppliers—from manufacturers to retailers—work together to bring safety concerns and innovations to the attention of consumers. Over the past five years, manufacturers have re-engineered products to make them inherently safer. They did a wonderful job. So much so, in fact, an argument can be made that many safety innovations are so well engineered into newer window covering products that they become nearly invisible to the average consumer. That's where knowledgeable, concerned retailers come in.
In Waukesha, WI, Tom Anheuser of Bazaar has been offering soft and hard window coverings at his showroom outside Milwaukee since 1982. Anheuser is both knowledgeable and concerned, and he notes the same can be said for many of his customers. How does he know that? "We ask," Anheuser says.
"We place an increasing importance on product safety. When the customer is a younger couple we want to make sure that safety is an issue, and we tell them what's been done in recent years to eliminate some of the problems with loose, hanging cords," Anheuser says. He and his sales staff make it part of their discussion with customers to point out the new innovations that have eliminated cord loops such as wand-controlled verticals, cordless shades and the new single-cord control systems. "We like to sell those because each is a safety feature, an added-on benefit."
But Anheuser points out that safety concerns are not limited to customers in one age group or demographic. "We think it's important for older, established customers. People from their mid- to late 40s to mid- to late-50s are concerned with safety too, whereas older customers may be concerned because they have grandchildren coming over. We also relate safety issues to pets," he says.
Safety concerns also have been part of Bazaar's advertising message. For example, when wand controls were added to vertical blinds, Anheuser specifically included it as a safety feature in ads he ran in local and statewide newspapers. "We ran a promotion where we provided it at no charge," he says, "I did that to get the staff used to selling it and to get to know the benefits of it. We got a good response with it," he adds.
Still, Anheuser would estimate that more than 50 percent of customers do not look into the safety features of window coverings while shopping. He advises that it's up to the retailer to bring safety features to customers' attention. "More and more people are getting in tune to it. If we bring it up, and they have situations in their environments where they want the added protection these products provide, we sell it." Anheuser says the issue he stresses with customers is the importance of having safe products in a home during those years when children are present.
Bazaar's commitment to safety concerns goes beyond the showroom floor to cover the full gamut of a customer's needs. "We've been shortening the cords wherever we can for our customers so the cords are not left hanging too low," Anheuser says. The company has its own repair service and incorporates safety concerns in that area as well. "If we do a repair, we try to retrofit safety items to older blinds whenever possible," he says. Anheuser adds that Bazaar also stocks cord cleats and cord tensioning devices for do-it-yourself customers concerned with safety.
Staying Ahead
Anheuser's experience with helping customers with their window coverings and interior fashions needs began 17 years ago when he joined the business started by his parents. At the time Bazaar was a retail fabric outlet, but when Anheuser got involved the company started carrying window treatments.
Today, Bazaar stocks mill-direct drapery and upholstery fabric, high-end wallpaper, coordinated wall covering and fabric lines, decorative accessories and hard and soft window treatments. The hard treatments now represent about 40 percent of the company's overall business.
Bazaar's 15,000-square-foot facility is located just outside Milwaukee. Most of the space—some 11,000 square feet—is retail showroom, which provides plenty of space to stock and display its wide range of decorative products. Advertised as "Your home decorating center," Bazaar features 600 rolls of wallpaper and borders, "hundreds and hundreds of rolls" of fabric and an accessories department that includes custom furniture, lamps, mirrors, artwork and unique decorative items, Anheuser says. In addition, the store sells drapery hardware and all the supplies necessary for wallpapering.
Bazaar's attention to service and its all-encompassing product mix is what keeps it ahead of the big box store chains. "What we've done is stock and promote items they don't," Anheuser explains. "They go for price and we go for value, style and design. There's not a whole lot of businesses that stock fabric and wallpaper like we do," he adds.
As an additional service to customers, Bazaar launched a home page on the World Wide Web earlier this year. Its purpose, Anheuser says, is to provide product information, feedback "and to get people into the store." For now he's not planning to sell product over the Web site directly, but he can see its advantages for his business. "A lot of our customers buy condos in Florida and Arizona, and they've been asking us if we have e-mail. Now they can e-mail us and we can decorate their units in other locations. We plan to do more of that."
Anheuser sees more customers researching products via the Internet before they buy and, no doubt, once they've learned about the many safety innovations made to window coverings products, they'll be heading for Bazaar.
|
