Timber products have similarities with many other goods when it comes to selling them. If you can display your full range attractively and conveniently, you increase the chances of clinching the sale – whether that is of a single piece of shelving to a DIY enthusiast, or a major contract for flooring from a national housebuilder.

One major difference to selling most other goods is the fact that wood is heavy, bulky and long.

Specialist ranges of timber-carrying shelving and display equipment are available. The best are those that have been designed by specialist manufacturers working together with timber merchants and retailers, producing a solution which exactly matches their needs.

Naturally this equipment has to be robust, but it must also attract attention to the product and display the goods to their best advantage.

One major consideration has to be whether the purchaser will choose from the product range in the store, leaving an employee to actually assemble the order, or whether the customer picks their own requirements. Self-selection is less labour-intensive but may require a bigger sales floor and definitely requires more measures to deter thefts of stock.

Racking

One of the simplest ways to display timber is in racking. Key features here are strength, safety, flexibility and visibility of goods. Flexibility is vital. Products will vary in shape and size, some will go out of fashion and suppliers will change their specifications. Unless you can adapt to these by adjusting the height and weight carrying capacity of your racking, you will end up with, at best, an inefficient use of space and, at worst, a redundant racking system.

Every timber merchant will use A-frames to display longer lengths of timber. The wood stands end-on, maximising the efficient use of space, yet leans back gently for safety.

Even with such a basic product, there are important features to examine. It would be wasteful to have all your A-frames the same size. The best solution is to have a variety of sizes.

Dividers can also be important in keeping stock orderly, saving sorting time for both consumer and merchant. They should be adjustable left-to-right to cope with different stock combinations.

Smaller goods

The display of smaller goods is at least as important as that of big ones – they can easily get ‘lost’ in inappropriate shelving or stacking.

Ideally, the merchant is seeking maximum accessibility to the product while maintaining a high storage volume. Fixed pitch arms need to be easy for the store to adjust and, again, they should be capable of adjustment into infinite combinations to suit different demands.

Displaying doors poses a number of problems, particularly as many different types are needed to cater for differing consumer preferences.

The optimum solution is to have the whole range on display, but this could take an enormous amount of space. However, many timber merchants and retailers do just this, but at above head height.

This overhead display technique maximises the use of space which is too high for customers to pick stock from.

Once the style has been selected, the consumer can then either ask a warehouse worker to fetch the desired model from the stores, or pick it themselves from a rack on the sales floor.

Timber merchants and retailers need to maximise the use of their floor space in an industry which, by its nature, deals in bulky goods.

Increasing land prices and business rates are a constant reminder of the need to get the most out of a business’s fixed assets, and the right storage and display equipment can increase the amount of stock available to purchasers.