Office Depot Lets Shoppers Try and Buy

Boca Raton, FL -- With 24 colors and 60 total types of product, Sharpie -- a division of Sanford, a Newell Rubbermaid Co., Shelbyville, TN -- has a lot of variety in its retail line. Take that breadth of product and try selling the markers individually, and shoppers could potentially be overwhelmed. Office Depot answered this call with a customer-friendly, experiential in-line set.Office Depot's "Try and Buy" center is a reconfiguration of the Sharpie aisle in more than 1,100 stores nationwide that began rolling out in mid-December. The center includes sample markers of all four tip styles -- fine, ultra-fine, retractable and chiseled-point -- as well as permanent, dry-erase and highlighter pens.On a shelf just below the rows of pens is a white spiral notepad attached to the unit. This way, customers can test the markers for themselves and compare the colors and tips before making a purchase."They're organized by use as well as color; it's got that rainbow effect to it," says Wade Eveleth, Office Depot USA's divisional merchandising manager for supplies. "We wanted to make it really easy for the customer to walk in, see the display and make a buying decision. This way, when they come in and they have an idea of what they want -- say, a pomegranate, fine-tip Sharpie -- this display helps them find it easily. "Otherwise, this helps them decide. With the pad, the customer has the chance to test it out, write with it and see if it's something they want to go forward with."Eveleth says the new displays grew out of brainstorming sessions between Office Depot and Sharpie at the latter's Tennessee plant, first discussing ways to sell smaller packets of Sharpies rather than the standard 10- or 20-pen packs. When the subject turned to effectively selling single markers, the "Try and Buy" center was born."Office Depot is a terrific retail partner, and we are very excited to launch this innovative solution across their entire chain of stores," says Ed Cooper, vice president of sales for Newell Rubbermaid's Office Depot division. "Whether it's a teacher looking for a specific Sharpie color for a class project or a busy professional who needs a Sharpie Retractable to 'click and mark' on the go, customers can now actually try the Sharpie marker before they buy it." In deciding which colored markers to stock most heavily for December, Office Depot and Sanford selected a specific, seasonally popular color palette, with plans to rotate the inventory twice annually. The displays are intended for long-term use, and Office Depot will use sales figures to determine their effectiveness. Samaritan Display Group, Schaumburg, IL, produced the in-line units."We're hoping to use these displays for the foreseeable future," Eveleth says. "We want to see if this is what the customer wants, and they'll let us know by buying it."The signage, which is currently unique to Office Depot stores, can also rotate as needed within the existing units. The display is the height of a full retail aisle, with a banner at the top denoting it a "Sharpie Project Center." Below that, signage includes photographs of shoes, aprons, cups and other materials decorated with Sharpie markers. "Without putting verbiage on there," Eveleth says, "it kind of puts the idea in the customer's head that they can use the Sharpies for all these art projects -- on metal, on paper, on cloth -- and why you want to buy this array of colors."Underneath those banners, rows of rectangular slots hold single pens arranged by color and tip. Semi-circular labels of matching color above the slots identify the colors -- from standards like red and blue to exotics like hibiscus tea and earl grey. The shelf holding the notepad is situated below those rows.To the side of the "Try and Buy" section, the displays have racks that hold packets with anywhere from two to 20 pens. Other side sections house highlighters and the Expo brand dry-erase markers.

Office Depot Lets Shoppers Try and Buy

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