Maytag’s Cooking, Cleaning Up With Demos

By George Anderson


Auto dealers will tell you that a shopper taking a model out for a test drive is as close to a sure thing as you can get when trying to assess if a sale is going to happen.


Maytag stores has obviously decided, in this respect, its car selling brethren are worthy of imitation as it has launched its own “try-before-you-buy” service for appliances.


Maytag shoppers are being encouraged to come to stores to do a load of laundry or a little baking in special testing lifestyle testing areas throughout the approximately 6,000 square foot units.


The company has opened 41 of these concept stores in the past 18 months and it plans to add up to 100 more by the end of next year.


“The environment lets us showcase the product,” Rian Cain, head of business development at Maytag, told USA Today. “It has worked in terms of sales.”


Moderator’s Comment: What are your thoughts on Maytag’s “try before you buy” store concept?


Madison Riley, at retail consultant Kurt Salmon Associates told USA Today, “It’s an opportunity for Maytag to touch the customer and generate the
pull and demand that they may not be able to selling through chain and other appliance stores.”


We wonder how long it will be before chain stores selling Maytag and other appliances decided to follow this example?


We also wonder what impact it has on the prices consumers pay for appliances?
George Anderson – Moderator

BrainTrust

Discussion Questions

Poll

0 Comments
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments