The color of money

Two years after initiating its enviroLINK program, Do it Best is putting some muscle behind educating members about green products and how to sell them.

All the answers regarding optimizing mix and presentation of environmentally friendly products are not in yet. But many of them are, and Do it Best is pushing the boundaries of knowledge with the help of—and for the benefit of—its dealer members.

The program, which started with about 1,300 products, now boasts more than 2,000 SKUs in such categories as electrical supplies, ventilation, paint, cleaning products and organic fertilizer. In addition, the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA) has heightened interest in environmentally friendly products like tankless water heaters, windows and doors, and insulation, and Do it Best is continually adding to the enviroLINK roster.

“We are attempting to educate members through our intranet site, education seminars and displays at the markets,” said Lauren Wagner, supervisor of category management for Do it Best. “We’re offering display ideas and multiple endcap merchandising solutions incorporating enviroLINK that members can take and replicate in their own stores.”

While all Do it Best programs are voluntary, the co-op is trying to stir member interest through mydoitbest.com , the intranet site, which features a page dedicated to enviroLINK, as well as links to the product catalog and articles that explain the program. According to Wagner, interest in enviroLINK varies from store to store and from region to region. “The movement seems to be the strongest on the East and West Coasts, while stores in many other parts of the country still have a ways to go,” she added.

At the Do it Best fall market Oct. 9 to 13 in Indianapolis, the co-op is featuring enviroLINK displays in the New Idea Room, and members can receive hard copies of planograms as well as tips from Energy Star representatives on hand to answer member questions. There are also marketing materials available to members, including shelf danglers, snipes, POP and gondola display materials. Further, at the Do it Best Winter Conference & Expo in January, one of the keynote speakers will address “greentailing” and how consumers are responding to it.

“Green is here to stay, so we want to educate our members about how to best address the category,” Wagner said.

To be part of enviroLINK, there are five criteria a product must meet: It saves energy or water; it’s made of recycled or reused material; it conserves resources; it supports safe and healthy homes; and it’s Energy Star or Water Sense qualified. According to Wagner, the latter label has been coming on strong in recent months.

“Water Sense doesn’t have the consumer recognition that Energy Star does, but we are the first hardware co-op accepted into a Water Sense partnership,” she said. “When speaking about Energy Star and Water Sense, it’s not just about saving water and energy. The EPA also judges products on quality—they have to pass that.”

The tax incentives available through the ARRA have also been effective in boosting home improvements as well as overall awareness of buying green products, Wagner said. In fact, the incentives prompted her to replace some windows in her own home recently, and the tax credit made the job far less costly than she expected. “We have seen movement of these products out of our RSCs go up, have seen the volume increase on those items,” Wagner said. “It’s bottom-line savings that most consumers can recognize.”

To further support green living, Do it Best is participating in a waste management “lamp tracker” program. Member stores can become collection sites for recycled products, teaming with the Boy Scouts and other civic groups to encourage recycling of CFL bulbs, batteries, paint and Christmas trees.

Yates Building Supply, a Missouri-based store, has made a concerted effort to encourage green living in its community, sponsoring a weekly column in a local magazine while also becoming LEED-certified. Also on board is Meek’s Lumber and Hardware, a chain with stores in Arkansas, Missouri, California and Nevada. Meeks has an “internal green committee” that makes sure certain products are NASC- and FSB-certified.

Elliott’s Hardware has created a 240-sq.-ft. enviroLINK section in the middle of its Dallas-based store featuring CFLs, organic cleaning supplies, tankless water heaters and other products. President and CEO Kyle Walters believes that calling out the products in a separate department is a way to draw attention to them and gives the staff a chance to explain their benefits to customers.

Walters said many consumers resist these products, which often include an up-charge, but that the resistance has been letting up as prices have come down in the last year. “I think people are starting to see results, and they’re willing to pay a little bit more if the products are effective,” he said.

Bart Tyler, owner of Kelloggs & Lawrence Hardware in Katonah, N.Y., finds it works better for his store to market green products within their categories, as people are not prone to buying products like organic insecticides and fertilizer on impulse. “They come into the store looking for garden chemicals, so it’s better to call them out in their own departments,” he said. “Instructive displays can be very helpful.”

Kellogg & Lawrence is one of Do it Best’s most progressive members in the area of sustainability, having carried green products since they’ve been available and embracing enviroLINK in its infancy. Tyler said that widely publicized eco-friendly products like CFLs and organic cleansers have become an easy sell, while products involving a lifestyle change, such as composters and rain barrels, have been slower to catch on.

“People aren’t ready to be inconvenienced yet,” he said. “They talk about being environmentally conscious, but the number of people driving hybrids is still relatively small. Give them a deal on an SUV, and they’re still interested.”

Another Do it Best member, Best Lumber & Building Center in Mesquite, Nev., has been a champion of the green building issue and is planning to hold its first Green Building & Energy Expo in November, where customers can learn about solar, wind and geothermal energy, water and energy savings, landscaping ideas, green building items and common household products.

Best Lumber carries a variety of green products, including FSG-certified wood, low-VOC paint and sealants, and low-flow shower heads and toilets. According to program manager Mike Stergios, however, consumers still have a long way to go in understanding green products. “There aren’t a lot of people who come in at this point saying, ‘I want a low-flow shower head’—maybe one in 50,” he said.

Stergios believes it’s a matter of education—putting blurbs about enviroLINK in the store’s advertisements, setting up displays that demonstrate energy savings and pointing out the advantages of these products. “It’s all about justification of cost,” he said. “People have got to know why they have to pay a little more for these products—and how quickly they’re going to recoup their investment.”