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 Merchandising
Merit
Feathering
the bottom line
Floral department gobbles up Thanksgiving sales with oversized
turkey stuffed with mums.
Beautiful flowers inspire display ideas. Or sometimes it’s a
giftware item, a balloon or a floral wrap. But occasionally a
merchandiser triggers an idea. When Audrey Eastman, floral
manager at Schnucks, store No. 123, in St. Charles, Mo.,
received her new merchandising tables, an oversized turkey for
her Thanksgiving display came to mind.
THE SETUP
Ms. Eastman’s new glass-top, gray metal tables came in three
heights and rectangle and square shapes. To create her turkey,
she used the rectangular tables in different heights. She placed
the two tallest side by side, with the long sides together. On
each side, she placed the other two sizes of rectangular tables
in descending heights.
TALKING TURKEY
To pull off Ms. Eastman’s giant turkey display, she needed a
cardboard turkey head. She approached the grocery department,
which supplied her with an extra Pepperidge Farm cardboard
turkey from a stuffing display. She placed the back of it
between the tallest tables, so that only the head extended out.
FEATHERING THE BIRD
Ms. Eastman filled the tables with 4-inch and 6-inch orange,
yellow and red potted mums to create the body and tail of the
turkey. She placed additional mums around the legs of the
tables.
EXTRA TOUCHES
Over the “turkey,” Ms. Eastman floated a turkey AirWalker®
balloon and several fall leaf balloons. Near the head of the
turkey, on one of the tables, she also merchandised colored
Mason jars for tea-light candles and pilgrim figurines. Next to
the display, she placed pumpkin picks for inserting into the
potted mums.
Ms. Eastman put up the display—her first since becoming the
floral manager—in mid-October, and it remained through
Thanksgiving. She says a steady flow of customers visited the
display, which she entered in the 2005 “Merchandising Award of
Excellence” contest, sponsored by Super Floral Retailing and
Börgen Systems. She replaced “feathers” every day, using the
plants around the bottom. When new mums arrived twice a week,
the bottom of the display was nearly empty.
Not only did the mums sell exceptionally well from the display,
but Ms. Eastman says it also drew attention to the Thanksgiving
giftware, which sold well, too.
You can reach Merchandising Merit writer Monica Humbard at
mhumbard@superfloralretailing.com or (800) 355-8086.
To enjoy the rest of this
issue, please go to the
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