As consumers pinch pennies and competition from big boxes and e-commerce companies gets tougher, the need for independent retailers to differentiate their operations is even more important. One way local operators can become the place to be is to enhance the service side of the business. Paint & Decorating Retailer editors have collected these stories from independent home improvement retailers who are leveling up in the service game and offering more to their customers. While some of these services are additions to common hardware categories, others are focused on community.
Convenient Design
Simple in its design but highly effective in practice, the Decor Fusion Benjamin Moore Dealer Version system in place at Triboro Paint Center has saved employees time and effort. The operation added the program to the store in Warwick, Rhode Island, as a pilot in October 2021. Soon after, store manager Brooke Robison says they implemented it in the other two locations in North Attleborough, Massachusetts, and Foxboro, Massachusetts.
When a customer purchases paint, the tinting machine sends the formula to the point-of-sale (POS) system. The paint formula prints on the receipt and is stored in the POS system for easy access the next time the customer wants that color.
“When we scan the receipt, the formula pops up on our computers, and we can mix the customer’s color,” Robison says. “When we have the original formula, it makes it easier to tweak the color for the customer as needed.”
With the tinter-to-POS system at Triboro Paint Center, every paint formula prints on the customer’s receipt and all are saved in the POS for easy future reference.
Samples Get an Upgrade
In an effort to help customers choose paint colors, Adelaide’s Paint & Decor on St. Simons Island, Georgia, offers paint board samples. Customers can choose any color, including custom match colors, and the staff at Adelaide’s Paint will paint the colors they choose in 1-foot squares on a foam board.
Customers can take the sample boards to the space they’re painting to see how each of the colors will look and compare similar colors to each other. The most common colors customers choose for the boards are various shades of white, but employees love creating fun color combinations, says sales associate and warehouse manager Kenny Newton.
An Array of Color Options
At the Redwood City location of Gray’s Paint, which has four stores in the Bay Area of California, customers taking on painting projects can purchase 2-oz. paint sample jars to test colors before buying a larger quantity.
“We have the largest collection of sample paints in the area, and it’s only 85% or 90% of Benjamin Moore’s colors,” says Daniel Engels, manager of the Redwood City store. “We spend a couple of hours daily filling them. Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays are always big fill-up days because we have to recover from the weekend.”
A third-party company previously made the samples over 20 years ago, but when they stopped, the store’s employees started making the samples themselves because they were so popular with their customers.
“It allows our customers to get six 2-oz. paint samples for the price of two quart-sized samples,” Engels says. “We’re often shocked at how popular this size is, and our offering is unique because paint companies can’t make them in small enough increments accurately.”
The sample jars are neatly organized on several floor-to-ceiling shelves spanning one side of an aisle.
“We can match any color brought to us,” Engels says. “So if a competitor is out of sample sizes and a customer brings the color to us, we can provide that sample.”
