Heavy Duty: Treating Truckers Like Shoppers

In jobber stores big and small, the ubiquitous “light board” has been a part of the scenery for decades. Judging by the new approach of lighting suppliers to this market, this is about to change.

In detail, this approach involves taking the burden of the display work away from the long-trusted light board–usually located above and behind the counter, like a sentry guarding the stockroom, as often as not shot full of holes when stocks ran low–and placing it on a new merchandising approach, new for this product category anyway.

The idea of taking product, packaging it, and putting it in the showroom is not new, but understanding why it is coming is at least as important as the “what” in this case.

“Look at any truck stop on the highway,” offers Mike Marchese, regional manager for central Canada, Grote Industries. “There is fuel and there is food, but there are also goodies. These guys love to buy things for their trucks. At any truck stop, lights are front and centre.

“We always referred to our line as ‘touchy feelly.’ Looking at 10 to 15 lights on a board at a retail store just doesn’t cut it. Truckers are shoppers, too.”

Frank Dunnigan, president, Techspan Industries, which is just launching into the truck lighting market, agrees with this basic assessment. “By having the product merchandisable,” says Dunnigan, “it’s a little more user-friendly. We have everything in hanging vinyl bags, so it can be merchandised in a showroom as well as a storeroom application. Let’s face it, customers want to pick it up and see it.”

Dunnigan says that planning the move into the truck lighting market–Techspan had been in the wire and cable business for a number of years–required the realization of some important factors.

“You’re starting to see a blurring of the lines between large WD and retail,” he offers. “We try to make the line as retail-friendly as possible, without going overboard on the cost of the packaging. And, of course, there is only one quality of product that is acceptable, and that is ‘perfect.’”

In a world where items like the aforementioned light board have been nearly the sole method of promoting the line to a customer who is a unique amalgamation of retail and trade, consumer and business, reaching those who buy lighting products requires a multifaceted approach.

“Until the advent of LEDs, you could cover 90% of the trucks on the road with five lights,” says Mack Gregory, manager of WD sales for Peterson Manufacturing. “If you are a retailer, or come from a retail background like we do, that certainly sets your mind going.” Low SKUs plus high vehicle population equals possibilities, he explains. Add a dose of savvy retailing, and you have the makings of a whole new way of thinking about the trucker as a customer.

“For most of the customers who purchase these lamps, it’s a remembered process. It’s a simple replacement, something they can do on the fly.

Before, we never really tried to push it [at retail]. We were surprised how well they sold when they were out there in the showroom where everyone could find them.

“It follows the same path as the retail product,” he says, sharing what he has learned about the trucker as a shopper. “He’s a DIYer, but the guy doesn’t own a car, he owns a truck. I think that when they are encouraged to [act like retailer customers] they do.”

It is a philosophy that has been rolled out to the dedicated heavy-duty market for a year or two, and as it is starting to hit the automotive distribution network in significant numbers now, it is worthwhile to look at its impact on sales to this point.

According to Marchese at Grote, those who have experimented with merchandising truck lighting, along with connectors, pigtails, and the assorted grommets and reflectors that go with them, have been equally surprised at the success of the approach.

“Any of our distributors that have gone the way of retailing the product have seen growth in sales,” he says. “There are stores that I had to convince to give me a four-foot section who now have a 30-foot section in the same store.”

Dunnigan, whose new retail approach hasn’t had time to gain much history, expects that it will nonetheless build the average sale. “One of the big things is having a complete line. Adding some terminals, cable ties, and heat shrinks, it’s easy to get a decent-sized order.”

All of this seems to agree with Peterson’s experience in the U.S. “In some of the agricultural store chains in the U.S.,” which remind Gregory of Canadian automotive jobbers in terms of the variety of products they carry, “we have seen a 100% to 150% sales increase. We included a lot of items that were traditionally behind the counter, like plugs and grommets. If you have that all out front, the customer can buy a kit and sell himself up to it.”

That is definitely something worth considering when a trucker hustles into your store looking to replace a few lamps on his way out on a run (and avoid the wrath of a truck safety blitz), as well as the more considered purchasing habits of the fleet customer. Virtually total coverage–incandescent lights, LEDs, terminals, pigtails, and related items–can be had with just 135 part numbers.

Of course, any retailer or wholesaler has to use his head when pricing up kits and combinations of products. Simply taking the aggregate price of each individual item if sold separately will drive the average sale down. You need to provide an incentive. “I remember talking to a large retail chain about this,” says Gregory. “He had very preferential pricing on the tail lamps versus the kits. Move the tail light pricing up 75 cents and the kit price down, and suddenly the customer sees he can save a bit of money by buying the kit. So, instead of walking out the door with one tail light for nine bucks, he’s walking out with the trailer kit worth $30. What’s wrong with that?”