Dollar General to ramp up store-specific merchandising

HTT Staff -- Home Textiles Today, 6/26/2012 12:18:31 PM

Nashville - After testing the concept last year, Dollar General planning to roll out a merchandising program that will allow it to expand or pare back certain merchandise categories based on the geographic and demographic of its individual stores.

In last year's test, DG dropped some 5,000 independent merchandise sets into approximately 280 stores, evp/divisional president/cmo Todd Vasos said during the company's annual Analyst Day presentation here this morning. When the rollout is complete - a three-year process - DG expects to deploy 45,000 to 50,000 individual sets across its store base, he said.

"There's no complexity," he said. "These are planograms that already exist. It's about making sure the right planogram goes into the right store."

In terms of store growth, chairman and ceo Rick Drelling said DG can add another 8,800 units in its exiting markets - where is already operates 10,100 stores. It sees the opportunity to establish 1,200 units in new markets.

One of the biggest opportunities: California, a market the company entered recently. DG will have 50 stores in the state by the end of the year and believes California could rival Texas, where DG operates more than 1,000 stores.