Customers will enter a lock shop for a variety of reasons in search of a specific item, to gather information, to research options for a future large purchase, or for a specific service such as cutting a key. The presentation of your store’s merchandise can reinforce your customers’ confidence in product choice or cause them to second-guess their need to buy. In a split second, a sale is either realized or lost. Interesting impulse items that are well designed will draw customers further into your store.
Carefully executed presentations promote both shop-ability and impulse sales. Browsers will be impulsively drawn to exciting and provocative presentations that project a “buy-now” appeal. This can be accomplished with dynamic packaging, innovative products, or everyday items that continue to sell.
More often than not, impulse sales take place at the point of sale in a retail store. Customers will scan and review relatively inexpensive and small items for sale at the counter while awaiting the completion of a transaction at the register. Already committed to spending money, and with cash (or credit) already in hand, the momentum for the add-on sale is already established.
Suppliers of impulse-type items aid and abet this process by providing packaging and displays that are colorful, eye-catching, that contain attractively and compactly packaged products and perhaps most importantly, displayed in space-saving and easily accessed countertop units that maximize the very limited space available for the quick checkout area sale.
The Five Most Popular Impulse Displays in a Lock Shop are listed below.
Remote Skins™
The award-winning display box is designed to fit into a small footprint of only 6”W x 3”D to conserve valuable counter space. This innovative product appeals to anyone with a car remote, and especially to those who have known the cost to replace an expensive car remote. Like a wetsuit, Remote Skins® are made of soft, flexible neoprene to resist water damage and fraying. The tough, clear vinyl window allows for visibility of remote buttons and protects them from wear. Simply slip the cover over a broken remote to make it usable again.
Remote Skins are available in three models: GM, Ford & Universal (fits most Toyota and Honda remotes). Alternate retail packaging is available in packages of five. The small counter display pictured (No. 48800) holds four each of all three models.
2. Sprinkler Key Hider™
A well-established product like a key hider gets a new twist! Simply unscrew the cap to open or close and keep spare keys safe. This novel key hider looks like a regular sprinkler head. This tough, water-tight plastic case holds multiple keys and pushes into the dirt around shrubs or walkways. Our Sprinkler Key Hider™ is water-tight and virtually indestructible. It is available in one per card (Lucky Line No. 91901, 3 per/inner pack), 12 per display (Lucky Line No. 91961) and individually UPC’d display refill packs of 20 (Lucky Line Item No. 91920).
3. Key Tags
Today key tags are a staple of every lock shop in America thanks to Ray Howard, the founder of Lucky Line. In 1961 we sold one product, the No. 101 Key Tag, to car dealers. Ray held the key tag in his hand and asked, “Who else needs this item?” Without any doubt, he knew: “locksmiths.”
His certainty did not catch on immediately. It took years of phone calls, trade shows, and door to door sales calls to convince the locksmith industry that a key tag was a natural impulse sale item for every lock shop. Cut a key, sell a tag.
4. Key Identifiers
Like Key Tags, a variety of key identifiers have been little “profit centers” for years at the check out counter. It would be odd to walk into a lock shop today and not see an offering of Key Caps and Key Identifiers.
The important feature to look for in these items is quality. Many imported products tear and break too easily. Poor product quality will reflect on your store image in the eyes of the shopper. Nothing is worse than leaving a bad impression on a customer, especially in the area of quality. If a little product like a key identifier won’t deliver as expected, then your customer could be led to believe that you may not pay attention to other details that are critically important, like installation work or access systems.
In addition to the standard identifiers, an item like the House Key Cap™ can elevate the level of your store’s offering because of its unique shape and function. The House Key Cap™ was designed with a special cutout inside to accommodate both Schlage and Kwikset keys.
5. Split Ring Display
This display packs a lot of options in a small area and has been a staple in the lock shops for over 30 years. The Split Ring Display continues to sell year after year, given its natural affinity to key cutting. The split rings on the Lucky Line display are tempered steel, which will retain key ring memory much longer than a non-tempered ring. A simple pull on the opening will determine whether the split ring is tempered or not. If it does not bounce back to its original shape, then the ring is not tempered.
For more information on Lucky Line products, contact your local locksmith distributor or Lucky Line, telephone 800-654-6409 or web site www. luckyline.com.
