Don’t let the box stores reclaim their share

By Rich Lindblom, AVB Marketing

Over a year ago I warned that the big box stores were smart enough to eventually figure out the whole pandemic/supply chain issue. And as much as I hate to say it, I told you so.

See: Sooner or Later, the Box Stores Will Figure it Out

BrandSource members have had a fantastic two-and-a-half-year run, during which your ability to turn on a dime to keep the product flowing has kept the customers coming to your stores.  But, as I predicted, the big box stores have started to figure it out and over the course of the second half of the year, they have begun to chip away at the market share gains our members have made since the pandemic began.

You may be asking yourself, “What has changed? Why is that happening?” There’s actually a two-part answer to those questions.

The first part is that the box stores have gotten a lot more aggressive in their advertising, particularly during the heavy promotional holidays like Labor Day, Memorial Day and Black Friday. The second part is that at the same time the box stores got more aggressive, many of our members pulled back on their advertising.

Now don’t get me wrong; business for many of you has been so good for so long that you have understandably cut back on your advertising expenditures because you literally had more customers than you could handle.  

But those days are over, folks, and the pandemic-related demand has started to ebb. So despite the slowing of demand, and because of their increased and well-timed advertising, the box stores are starting to chip away at the market share you took from them.

The choice is yours. You can let them take back their share without a fight — or you can fight back and retain the gains you’ve made!

It’s time to start fanning the marketing flames, argues the author.

How do you fight back? You stop sitting on the marketing sidelines and get aggressive with your advertising again.

Fortunately, AVB Marketing saw this trend coming and they’ve got plan: Tweak your marketing and concentrate your ad spend on those same promotional periods during which the box stores have been beating you. Let your AVB digital marketing rep help you get set up with a customized marketing plan that will not only stop the bleeding but also help you continue growing your market share.

See: AVB Breaks Q1 Ad Campaign

At the end of the day, the choice is yours — fight to keep the gains you’ve made or let your competition steal it back from you. I know which one I’d be doing.

Rich Lindblom is a past principal of BrandSource member Advanced Maytag Home Appliance Center and now brings his 40-plus years of hard-won retail experience to bear for the group as a YSN columnist and product manager of AVB’s new SYNC point-of-sale system. You can reach Rich at rich.lindblom@avb.net.

Upcoming Events