Response Magazine

DR Hits the Nail on the Head

direct response is all about empowering consumers to take purchasing decisions into their own hands — something the hardware space has long seen its customers do, and then some. As more people take back their own yards from hired services and embrace cordless, energy-efficient products, DR is proving to be the perfect tool to showcase demonstrable, do-it-yourself hits.

U.S. demand for power and hand tools is on the rise, with 4.1-percent annual growth expected through 2014, and the industry could be worth as much as

$14 billion by next year, according to market research.

“The landscape of the hardware industry is drastically changing and has been doing so during the past five years,” says Art Wing, president of Little Giant Ladder Systems. “To keep the successes coming, the key to any marketing approach is multi-prong. Within direct response, there are social, business-to-business, business-to-consumer and PR elements that all come into play, and you have to carve up your budget to hit them all. The days of putting all your eggs in one basket are gone.”

Handing Over the Power

The increasing rate at which consumers are diving hands-first into self-improvement home projects has been a particular boost to cordless electric models like saws, sanders, polishers and grinders. Positec USA and the WORX brand have been quick to respond to consumer demand with a variety of inventive products pushed through DR channels, including the WORX JawSaw, the

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WORX TriVac All-in-One Compact Blower/ Mulcher/Vac and the WORX GT Trimmer/Edger.

“These types of products were huge in 2010
and we’re continuing to see them perform excep-
tionally well this year,” says Craig Taylor, vice
president of marketing at Positec USA. “A lot of
people are buying these cordless products because
they’re starting to do this type of labor them-
selves.”
The WORX brand has seen a tremendous
amount of success through DR models, not only
via growing revenue but also through advancing
brand awareness at retail. Though the demon-
strable benefits of long-form still reign king for
WORX, which was ranked among the top- 50
infomercials of 2010 by IMS, the brand has also
utilized short-form and dedicates a significant
amount of digital and ad spending on the Internet
for E-commerce.