The hand tools, knives and blades category at every independent paint retailer presents challenges and opportunities to increase sales and retain customers. From thoughtful merchandising and selective store layout to picky product selection, this category balances meeting consumer demands while maintaining your bottom line. Here is how two retailers created a compelling product selection and maintained vendor relationships in this category.

Merchandising Drives Sales

Colors Inc. in Durango, Colorado isn’t a big store, but it doesn’t need to be. Manager Matt Zimmerman has worked at the store for over 20 years and in his time there, he’s found the best formula for merchandising his hand tool category.

His store is split in half between automotive paints and industrial paints and coatings, with about 500 square feet dedicated to each industry. On the industrial paints and coatings side, Zimmerman says his hand tools are centered around two large shelving units prominently displayed in the middle of this part
of his store.

“You can stand in the middle of our store and see every hand tool we carry,” Zimmerman says. “I designed
this category for speed because when my contractors come in right when we open, they don’t want to have
to hunt for what they need.”

Colors Inc. serves an even mix of contractors and homeowners so making his store and his hand tools category easy to shop is important to ensure his customers have a streamlined shopping experience.

“Time is money for many of our customers,” Zimmerman says. “If they can walk down one aisle, make a circle and grab everything they need quickly in a few minutes, it’s a better experience for them.”

Since Zimmerman has worked at Colors, the design of the aisle for hand tools hasn’t changed, and it’s
something he doesn’t plan on changing in the future.

“I may have moved a few products around here and there, but ultimately the customer who’s been shopping here for 10 or 15 years can walk in and know exactly where the product they need is going to be,” he says.

“It may be slightly to the left or right but it’s in the general vicinity of where it’s always been.” Zimmerman has found that consistent merchandising helps his customers shop efficiently. Moving products around your store can confuse regular customers, so your employees must show them where the product
has moved.

“It can be frustrating for our customers and with our contractors. The majority of the time, they’re in and
out and they know what they want,” Zimmerman says. “If you’re trying new merchandising for a product
and you move it, that customer’s time in the store is longer and it’s a more difficult experience.”

Zimmerman uses planograms only as a starting point, tweaking his merchandising so it will best attract the attention of his customer base.

“It’s not just about having products on the shelf—it’s about presenting them in a way that makes customers excited to buy,” he says.

Personalized Product Selection

One of the biggest challenges independent paint stores face is inventory management—ensuring they have
what customers need while avoiding excess stock.

Zimmerman says he’s selective in bringing in new products and when he does, it’s only out of a request from the customer—but he’s not out of the loop on new products.

“When I see a new product, I don’t inquire about bringing it in until I have one of my regular customers ask about it,” he says. “For my customers, whether they’re new or they’ve been shopping here for the last 15 or 20 years, if there’s something I don’t have and they’d like to see it in the store, I have no
problem bringing it in.”

Zimmerman says being picky about his hand tools product selection also helps him not overspend or overcommit to a product that won’t sell well.

“I’ve made mistakes with purchases in the past, but I’ve learned from my mistakes and I’ve learned not to say yes to every salesman coming into our store trying to sell us the next best product,” he says.

Zimmerman says his hand tools category isn’t stocked with the latest and greatest products from his various vendors—it’s stocked with what his customers want.

“If I bring in a new product and it works well for my customers, they’re the ones making purchases here and providing for my family,” he says. “I want to make sure they’re getting the tools they need.”

At Anderson Paint, which operates two locations in Ann Arbor, Michigan, balancing inventory and avoiding overcommitment is a strategy general manager John Rudolph also utilizes in his hand tools,
knives and blades category.

“Sometimes a sales rep comes in with a new product and says it’s better and cheaper,” Rudolph says. “But if we bring it in, we risk splitting our volume among multiple vendors, making it harder to hit minimums and potentially inflating our inventory.”

Rudolph says he checks to make sure a new product doesn’t conflict with current inventory items before
bringing it in.

“If a customer asks for a specific type of tape and you bring it in, then another brand releases a similar product with slight variation and you add that too, and before you know it, you have four different products that all serve the same purpose and take up shelf space,” Rudolph says.

Ann Arbor is located in the second-wealthiest county in Michigan, and Rudolph has curated his hand tools category to fit the caliber of contractors who visit his store.

“Our contractor customers want the best tool and we’ve adjusted our inventory accordingly,” Rudolph says.

Vendor Relationships

Having a productive working relationship with vendor representatives plays a major role in how Rudolph selects products and stays on top of industry trends.

“We have vendor reps visiting our store about three times a year, sometimes quarterly,” Rudolph says. “manufacturers introduce new products, and we evaluate them based on quality and price. But trade shows are where we get a sense of what’s out there.”

Rudolph regularly attends trade shows for his distributors, and he says he values traveling to shows because he’s able to speak with his peers on products at booths to get a real sense of how the product and the vendor are.

“At a trade show, I can talk to fellow independent store owners and ask if they’ve had success with a product,” Rudolph says. “I trust their feedback more than a sales rep who is naturally inclined to push their products.”

Trade shows allow Rudolph to make smarter purchasing decisions.

“A vendor might have a great product at a lower cost, but if switching to them means we have to split our purchasing volume and struggle to meet minimum order requirements, it may not be worth it,” he says. “Managing supplier relationships effectively means knowing when to say no.”