Fall 2018 Hardlines Strategies

MARKET PREVIEW

Starting Smart Make the most of your time at the Market by looking ahead using your customized SmartBook. The booklet, available online or in print, is specific to your store and can help you make smart buying decisions both before you attend the Market and during your time in Overland Park. The SmartBook includes your past purchases out of the warehouse for the past 12 months. It also has ordering amounts for the next three and six months to help better plan your purchases. The booklets showcase three groups of items. The first group is the key-selling “Market Coupon Items.” The second group is any new items that Blish-Mize has added from that vendor in the last year. The third group will be the balance of the items you have purchased, sorted in quantity order.

“We’re always looking for ways to make the Market experience less stressful and more enjoyable for our customers,” says Drury. “The app does both by offering scheduling information, easing registration hassles and keeping our customers on track to accomplish their goals,” he says. The app, which the Blish-Mize team first showcased during the Spring Buying Market, is available for free for Apple and Android devices. Find it in the Apple App Store or in Google Play. When you arrive at the Market, your sales rep is informed, and the app allows you to make an appointment, right on your phone, to meet at the convention center. This works for any Blish-Mize team member and even allows you to add notes on what you’d like to discuss.

Venue information allows you to check on meal times, and it offers notifications for events like product demonstrations. You can even add a personal to-do list to make sure you circle back to a vendor you might have missed or look further into a product to find some more information. Another key tool for your Market experience is the Blish-Mize product catalog app. This lists real-time product and inventory information and has UPC barcode-scanning capabilities and customizable sorting options that show your personalized purchase information. With the catalog app, you can place orders from your smartphone or tablet, at the Buying Market or at your business. Search “Blish-Mize” in the Apple App Store or in Google Play to find these apps.

Assortment Central returns for the Fall Buying Market, showing off some of the hottest items of the season and how they can be displayed to draw in customers and boost sales.

The Blish-Mize Markets app is available for Apple and Android smartphones.

26 Fall 2018 • Hardlines Strategies