How OPE Dealers Can Make the Best Use of Their Showroom

One of the challenges faced by outdoor power equipment dealers, especially those with smaller stores, is making the best use of space in their showrooms.  In order give some ideas to our dealers, many of whom are in rural areas, we thought we’d pay a visit to dealers in an urban area where space is at a premium.

After all, if those dealers can make it work with very limited space, then so can rural dealers with more space to work with.

During our visit to several dealers in the Chicago area, here is what we observed.

Dealers with limited space use literature effectively

 The first and probably the most important thing we observed is that the dealers we visited really make good use of the literature provided by Toro.

At all three places we visited, the Toro literature was in a display rack, well organized and stocked and in a very prominent location.

This stands in stock contrast to many of our rural dealers, who seem to ignore the placement of this information for their customers–something that becomes even more important when they are very busy!

Only display on the floor what you absolutely need

Our second observation was that in their showroom displays, the dealers we visited only have on the floor what they feel they absolutely need, with zero wasted space.

Most of their business is in WPM, and they really take advantage of the vertical racks that Toro manufactures specifically for WPM. They also seem to have a strong understanding of retail merchandising and their showrooms flow very well, even though they are small.

 Make effective use of technology

The third idea we came away with was that dealers with limited space utilize technology very well.

They used tablets and desktop PCs with manufacturer websites all bookmarked on the screens so that their customers could readily browse and find the right machines for them.

Additionally, they were using these for credit applications, which is recommended by Citi but hardly ever done (at least from our own observations).

Also, we noticed the use of the Video Blades, which are screens pre-loaded with Toro information and models that are constantly rotating. It was neat to see people actually stop and look at these while they were there.

In summary, dealers in both rural areas and urban areas should know that even if they have limited space, there is a way to use it effectively.  We are here to help our dealers with layout and merchandising whenever they need it! For assistance or questions, just contact your Kenney Machinery dealer representative.