Lowe's Unifies Designs

In eschewing manufacturer's own display materials, Lowe's Cos. has taken on the task of creating a unified look for all of its departments. The category-management approach to design began last year with its Tool World department and has spread to its Carpet department in 1998. The catalyst for the new approach was the move of the tool department to the front of the store. "We've never been satisfied with the look of that part of the store," explains Vaughn Hayes, vice president of store planning for the North Wilkesboro, N.C.-based home improvement chain. "It's always been seasonal items, which meant at the beginning of the season it was bulked up and at the end it was a little skimpy. We asked ourselves if there was more we could do with this area, and Tool World was our solution."The department features a unified look with yellow backgrounds for black lettering on the wall signs and yellow lettering on black vertical wall banners to signify each type of tool. Overhead banners showcase key manufacturer's logos reversed out of a black field. Within each area, all manufacturer's products are combined into one display, including some innovative presentations. AG Industries, Cleveland, produced the fixtures for the retailer.One example is the multi-level drill-chuck holder, which will hold any type of drill in a "holster" format, so customers can pick up the product and try the grip and heft on several competitors' products in one spot. A similar multi-purpose tool cradle was developed to display reciprocating saws and other types of drills."Once you explain the concept and the goals and benefits to vendors, they're willing to go along," Hayes says. "We don't want the first impression a customer has coming into the store to be just a collection of vendor displays. We want the whole store, not just departments to hang together." The company worked closely with vendors over time to refine the presentation, he adds.Moving the tool department to this space and out of the center of the store, which Lowe's calls the "infield," provided additional benefits, he notes. Having these high-shrinkage items up near the registers has reduced pilferage, and it's also allowed the retailer to expand the home-decor department in the middle of the store. "That made more sense for us, adjacency-wise."That home-decor section is next up, with carpet the key focus. The new look includes a waterfall design for samples and fixtures that resist breakage, assemble quickly and use existing signage. The program was tested in Cape Coral, Fla., in February and, after a final critique, is now rolling out.Next up will be the millwork department, he adds. "It's a matter of constantly looking at the stores and the return on space that we're achieving, and saying, 'Can we improve on that?'"

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