Success looks different for every paint retailer, but each business can still look to its industry peers for ideas and best practices to turn a category into an all-star.
Paint & Decorating Retailer spoke to three paint retailers who have found success in different categories. Discover how City Paint & Hardware has built its full-service paint department into an all-star category over the last 40 years. You can also read about the other categories: wallcoverings and hand tools.
Walking Customers Through the Paint Process
Exiled from his native Cuba in 1961, Manny Reyes worked his way from busboy to manager at a local restaurant in Hoboken, New Jersey, saving money to open his own electrical supply house.
Manny was shopping for supplies for his new business at a Hoboken paint and hardware store,
City Paint & Ace Hardware, when the owner advised Manny that paint and hardware was a more lucrative business to get into. In 1978, Manny purchased City Paint from the same owner who gave him the wise business advice.
Ernie Reyes, Manny’s son and current owner of City Paint & Ace Hardware, was eight years old when his dad bought the business, and he grew up in it, working weekends and summers at the store as a teenager. After graduating from college in 1992, Ernie started full time at City Paint. Since then, he has been running the store with the same high level of customer service his father did.
The store serves a mix of both DIYers and contractors, and employees are well trained to assist any customer pick the right paint for the job. Ernie says he utilizes training programs from his hardware wholesaler and his primary paint vendor, Benjamin Moore.
“Our sales representative leads in-person training and online sessions for us,” says Ernie.
City Paint also carries specialty paints like chalkboard paints, floor and patio enamels, faux finishes and garage floor epoxies, as well as stains, primers and sundries to complete any project.
“Paint is our bread and butter, and makes up about 50 percent of our business, so it’s important for us to carry a good selection of types and colors,” Ernie says. “When it comes to home improvement projects, painting gives homeowners and renters the biggest bang for their buck, especially when moving, so we try to recommend the right products so customers can complete the job.”
Whether a customer is hiring a contractor or painting a room themselves, Ernie says his team strives to guide them through the painting process from the beginning to the end. “Some people have never painted before and they need help from step one, while other customers know what they’re doing,” says Ernie.
“You have to read the customer and help them out step-by-step. That’s what I think we do best—customer service.”
3 Tips for Selling Full-Service Paint
- Educate your employees
Employees who are well-educated in the paint you sell can provide advice for choosing the right product and offer tips and tricks for getting the job done well. Training can come from vendors and wholesalers, with most offering sessions online and in-person. - Make sure to cross-merchandise
Show customers the tools they need for the job and increase transaction sizes by merchandising add-ons like paintbrushes, rollers, pans, painter’s tape and other tools with the paint. You could also provide a checklist of must-have tools for painting jobs for customers to reference. - Offer design consultations
At City Paint & Ace Hardware, customers are encouraged to bring in photos of the spaces they’re painting for the employees to share color and design suggestions. The store also has color-matching services, so customers can find just the right color.
