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Of all the definable sales categories of aquatics products, tanks, filtration, medications, foods, lighting'¦. there is none as profitable as decorative accessories. If you disagree with me on this statement you should read and heed the following carefully. Backgrounds, ceramic, resin and plastic ornaments, real and faux corals and shells, all sorts of artificial plants and oh so much more are the epitome of add-on sales. These things don't require feeding, special display/habitats, and best of all, don't "go bad" or die! What's more, with careful buying, many lines of purposeful aquatic decoration have very wide profit margins. Here's my take on how to merchandise, how to sell, and how to select what's hot and new in aquarium decorative accessories. The Cause & Celebration: Think of a fish tank without decorations; boring! And not a very healthy situation to live in either. The physical break-up that décor affords is of real biological and psycho-social significance to livestock, granting hiding space, substrate for food and beneficial microbe activity, and habitat for interaction and expression. Besides all these important ways that ornaments improve an aquarium functionally, are the aesthetic and hobbyist ones'¦ they're good-looking and fun to arrange. As a retailer all this is very good news. Indeed, I have visited (and owned/managed) stores that had a substantial (more than ten percent) of their net income from "décor". On the other hand, a dear friend refused to offer any "phony" ornamentation, even colored gravel in his fish-only retail outlet. His business ran for some four years, never with a profitable month. "Hello", "this is business" as in, "give the customers what they're looking for, otherwise might want". Including everything from the mundane to realistic to the bizarre in aquarium decoration. Merchandising: It amazes me to no end that so many stores, especially the big chains and mass merchandisers put so much thought and effort into their product assortments and fixture/racking for displaying ornaments and yet miss out on the single most effective way of displaying them'¦ IN ACTION IN THEIR AQUARIUMS! Besides the tremendous boost in sales these demonstrations spur, there is a commensurate benefit in highlighting your livestock while improving vitality. Here's a rundown by category of the major groups of décor accessories with specific suggestions on their effective retailing. We used to sell absolutely massive numbers of aquarium décor items by strategically placing them in our livestock display tanks'¦ of appropriate size, contrasting gravel, with a novel or striking theme'¦ as in "telling a story". A "standard" in the trade has got to be the fisherman (replete with pole), no fishing sign, and floating fish on weighted lines. Try these thematic displays for yourself, you'll see. Belching Clams & Treasure Chests: A real favorite and effective display is a weekly rotation of new varieties of the myriad bubbling and air actuated action ornaments. Do you consider these too much of a challenge to have in a tank you'll have to fish livestock out of? Me too. That's why we dedicated a non-livestock tank to their display. Spacemen/persons, submarines, the original burping hippo'¦ or latter day clams and treasure chests of multiple sizes, frog on a frog on a log, novel and straight airstones galore'¦ this should be a bubbling extravaganza with as much lighting as you can get onto the tank. A free standing display of these bubblers is easily maintained with a few drops of bleach on a weekly basis and an outside power filter to remove particulates. Background: Pre-printed pictures of fresh and marine scenes, paint-on materials, foils of all sorts, mirrors and cork stock'¦ and some really unbelievably beautiful realistic in-tank dioramas from Europe'¦ these and more should be effectively displayed on and in your tanks as well as stock or custom racking. A very strong suggestion here for factoring in an easy to use measuring device for stock sold by the foot along with a cutting mechanism that can't hurt humans (like the enclosed-razor type letter openers). Some stores have really gotten their act together and constructed a full-blown "aquarium background area". Think about it. Once more, how would you best highlight what backgrounds you offer and what they'll look like on your customers tanks? Of course by using them on your own! That's right, all makes and models. Rocks: There are appropriate sandstones, volcanic and metamorphic rock types (heck even plastic stick-togethers) that either exert no chemical effect or positively influence water quality for the type of systems there intended for. When, where in doubt as to a type of rocks suitability, leave it out. Dripping an acid on an unknown sample does not tell the story as well as a bioassay (crushed sample in the presence of livestock over a period of time) does. Go with rock of known qualities. And no, you won't have to become a geologist in the process; there are many kinds of suitable tufa, igneous, silicious (aka petrified woods), and for marine, brackish and African Great Lakes systems calcareous "base" rock that are readily available for resale. Most rocks are either sold by the pound others alternatively, the piece. Some are entirely natural, others contrived, with holes to entirely artificial construction. Fancier, specimen pieces might be actually shrink-wrapped (always a nice touch), "holey" products are best attractively racked on a hat-rack look alike fixture. Lower priced, bulk items usually are sequestered in low placed tubs'¦ hopefully with a heavy duty scale near by. One idea I'd like to mention for larger volume stores with big tank sales is offering a price break at increasing intervals for bulk rock (e.g. 69cents a pound up to 25 pounds 49cents thereafter'¦). This is a great incentive for large purchases. Driftwoods: Be they self-sinking or weighted, the same criteria of chemical and physical inertness as for rock goes for driftwoods. They're only for freshwater systems that appreciate the slight to greater organic addition, lowering of pH and hardness that these natural products imbue. These ornaments are very widely sold and used in places other than the United States. Here they're sold much like expensive rocks, by the piece or pound. By all means hand-select and utilize driftwood in your plant tanks (particularly for terracing), discus, South American characoids, loricariid catfishes (Plecostomus, Farlowella, Ancistrus'¦ great for keeping them alive, displayed and as a nutritional adjunct'¦ yep, they eat it) tanks. Large freshwater display tanks of all kinds scream out for these ornaments. Regarding the issue of offering unseasoned, i.e. non-cured woods or attempting to cure your own acidic woods for resale: my advice, don't do it; not worth the time or the liability. Mopani woods et al. are readily available year round that are perfectly suitable for aquarium use. Absolve yourself of potential liability by letting your wholesalers (drygoods and some livestock) supply you with fully cured driftwoods. Corals and Shells: Of natural marine source should be confined to that use, that is, in saltwater tanks. Even thoroughly cleaned and coated, these items are still too sharp to be safe with most freshwater fishes. Instead, and to augment the real thing, look to the gorgeous plastic, resin and ceramic cast equivalents of corals and shells. Marbles: With a little imagination in display (underwater or dry), whole, circular to flat, marbles and crushed (tumbled, i.e. non-sharp) glass can be very big sellers. Though such materials do not serve well as actual biological substrates, glass materials add excitement and color like nothing else. End cap displays near small tank set-ups are their best selling spots. Faux Natural Decorations: What's this, another oxymoron like jumbo shrimp? Don't scoff at the seeming bizillion types of fake rocks, logs, shells, coral, ships et al. that make up a chunk of your wholesale suppliers books and shelves. The reason there's so many to choose from is they sell. Don't be set aback by the apparent high cost of the super-realistic resin made pieces (versus ceramics). There is a discerning market for these and they really help sell the more easily broken cast pieces. A few very helpful merchandising tips? Do stock at least two pieces each, "one to show and one to go", of more than one size, "small, medium, gargantuan" where possible, and stock them in a systematic fashion (left to right, up/down'¦) near each other (yes, irrespective of manufacturer) on your shelves. Placing a big order? Don't be shy about asking the purveyor or their representative for a few in-tank for-display-only pieces. Plastic Plants: Though they deserve an article by themselves, the phony plant part of aquarium decorations being the biggest dollar draw, I'll just mention here that the big three manufacturers (Tetra/second Nature, Penn Plax and Hagen (Living World)) and some smaller makers do a really excellent job in fabricating and packaging these artificial wonders. Do create and maintain peg-board facings or racks of a complete (thematic and/or biotopic) line of sizes and types of these plants'¦ And though he's not around to promote it any longer, take heed of Alan Willinger's suggestion of a super-stocked, brightly lit, plastic plants display-only set-up. Lastly a kudos to the Hagen's for resurrecting the marine plants assortment of Living World "¢; these plants (and a few of the freshwater-marine look alikes, e.g. Sagittaria-Turtle grass, Vallisneria-Zostera) are really great for saltwater use and sale. Higher Tech. Ornaments:Cloze Cascading in-tank sand waterfalls, rotating spheres, underwater light contraptions, surface fog machines'¦ don't laugh, these are the/your market, given the one proviso hammered over and over here. SHOW WHAT YOU SELL. Stock and sell the sizzle of what brings most hobbyists into the interest'¦ fun. Ceramic Ornaments Query
7/19/11 Supply the highest quality of the aquarium
and gardening decoration products
6/23/11 Supply the highest quality of the aquarium
and gardening decoration products
7/19/11 Clever Captions & Pix: Row 1) Plastic (Polyethylene) Plants. Great for colonizing a new tank with beneficial microbes when sold "used". Many, many makes and models, better than real to fantastically fanciful. Don't let your personal preferences blind you; stock, display and you will sell, the fluorescent and glow in the dark other-worldly varieties in large numbers. Row 2) An effective demonstration of real wood roots submerged and emerged in a large (here public at the Wilhelma, Stuttgart) aquarium. Gorgeous and oh-so natural. Row 3) Several types of aquarium-safe rock are available through "sand and gravel" plants; here is a type of pink quartz at this years Interzoo. Row 4) Backgrounds; stock the bulk plastic coated foils and pre-prints if you can, as well as the designated size, pre-cut products. Perfect complements. Do check out the new naturalistic inside-the-tank backgrounds (here one from Aqua Décor, Belgium); very nice. Row 5) Are you losing your marbles? Sell these in measure pre-packs; best displayed in proximal location to your mini-tank resale display.
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