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As one of the most brand-driven categories in the kitchen, cookware continues to present both challenges and opportunity at retail. After all, it's ideal when your customers walk through the door knowing which brand of cookware they want to buy, even if they don't know too much about the cookware itself — but how do you make sure they walk through your door in the first place?

It's not enough these days to carry the "right" brands — though it's certainly those names that seem foremost in the consumer's mind. Most retailers are pointedly going after the American brand mentality — the redesign seen in the latest Chef's Catalog, with high-profile names in inch-high letters blaring from almost every page, is easy evidence. And that's precisely the point: With the same cookware brands jockeying for position in just about every upscale kitchenware venue, and a few of them seeking out middle- and mass-market venues as well, what are you doing to set yourself apart?

Many retailers understand that developing your niche in the cookware category isn't a philosophy solely rooted in brand. That's just part of the mix. You also have to fold in a heaping helping of service and then stir up some creativity and some trend awareness in your merchandising. We talked to some retailers across the nation who provided some insight into how their cookware strategies result in a category that stays hot.

Cookware Lessons

Education undoubtedly continues to be your number-one defense in the cookware wars. It helps that the specialty channel always has been able to do battle armed with staff knowledge as a key component of service, but these days consumers are more eager than ever to step up with questions and seek some no-nonsense knowledge.

"Our consumer tends to want a lot of education and a lot of grounding in the real function of the product," explains George Whitney, vice president of merchandising for HomeChef, the eight-store specialty chain based in Corte Madera, Calif.

"Certainly cookware trends are partly rooted in brand, especially which brand is hot at the moment, and partly in fashion. We're seeing a strong trend toward stainless, for example, and I think that's partly because of the look. But it's also because we spend a lot of time with consumers discussing cooking on, and the heat conduction of, a stainless surface. And it also has a great deal to do with the fact that we operate both a retail kitchenware store and a cooking school — so I think you can say that we have a more informed consumer because [through our school] we inform them," Whitney adds.

At Kitchen Window in Minneapolis, depth and breadth in some lines and the necessities in others result in about a dozen brands carried by the retailer — and the dedication pays off.

"Cookware is easily our number-one category," says Helene Schmidt, who owns Kitchen Window with husband Jerry. "It takes up about one-quarter of our selling space [3,800 square feet], and it's right in front when you walk in the store. It sort of evolved that way because cookware was in the front of the store when we bought it. But we learned very early on that, in order to be considered a serious cookware destination, you have to be devoted to your lines. Our customers know that we don't fiddle around with it — we back up our reputation with both selection and service."

Schmidt notes that the cookware knowledge exhibited by her staff is a major element in customer relations. "Consumers these days really are looking for information, and we have so many people who leave saying, 'Wow, this is the first time someone has really explained to me why I should own this,' " she says. "Cookware training for our employees can be pretty intensive, but it's a major focus for us to make sure our customers walk out feeling like they've made an educated purchase, especially in a category like cookware. You know, people think nothing of going out and spending $100 on dinner for two in a restaurant, but ask them to spend $125 on a pan they'll own for the rest of their lives and they'll say, 'Omigosh, why do I want to spend that much money on a pan?' So it's extremely important that our salespeople know why, and more important that they make the consumer understand why and make sure the consumer feels good about it."

Put an Accent on Specialty

Changes in the category aren't limited to the mainstream consumer's attention toward higher-end lines and the resulting expansion by manufacturers into new upper-end tiers of product. There's also plenty of consumer interest in specialty pieces. "Pressure cookers are very big for us," reports Tex Harrison, owner of A Cook's Wares in Beaver Falls, Pa.

Indeed, pressure cookers are among the specialty pieces that, as you're reading this, should be figuring in your fourth-quarter holiday plans. "We're definitely forecasting pressure cookers as a hot holiday item," Whitney says. "We haven't planned a pressure cooker class yet, but we are merchandising them very prominently in our stores."

Food trends and technology have combined to inspire newfound fascination in a variety of specialty pieces. Americans seem intensely curious about the entire globe of ethnic cuisines, as well as nostalgic "comfort" foods, and the task of cooking any of them is only made easier by the updates in pressure cookers, asparagus pots, couscousieres, tagine pans and woks that are flooding the market.

"Pressure cookers are really big for us, and consumers seem to be very aware that they're so much safer now," Schmidt says. "Of course, everyone has in the back of their minds the horrors of the '40s and '50s, but it's easy to show them how today's pressure cookers are easy and built for safety. And it helps that pretty much the entire staff owns at least one pressure cooker. I own three, and I'll start rattling off all the things I cook in them — risotto, green beans, stew — and I end up giving customers all sorts of ideas."

Indeed, it's possible to use specialty pieces as building blocks in your cookware niche — Sur La Table's accent on ethnic cuisines and the vessels required to cook them, as well as French copper, is an example that comes quickly to mind. Whitney's HomeChef, on the other hand, tends to focus on specialty pieces that work hand-in-hand with its schedule of cooking classes — which, in turn, are geared toward the holiday schedule.

"We definitely view some specialty pieces, especially those that are line extensions, as having a lot of gift appeal," Whitney says. "We do Asian classes, and so woks get heavy play in that situation. But [in tandem] we look at those pieces that consumers will be using at specific times of year. Right now [in mid-October], for example, we're putting a big focus on upscale roasting pans, since those will be showcased in holiday cooking classes that we've got upcoming."

Ultimately, specialty pieces prove to be the key for retailers such as Harrison when establishing a niche and a presence in the category. "Cookware is a really delicate balance these days, and it's getting a lot more difficult," she says. "You have to find pieces that not everybody has, yet at the same time maintain a dedication to certain brands and a dedication to your overall philosophy. It's most definitely a juggling act, but specialty pieces really help in putting together the right equation."

Building Pride of Ownership

In getting your salespeople savvy in the ways of your cookware, one of the best methods is to get the pots and pans into their hands — not in the store, but in their own homes. All of the retailers interviewed pointed to vendor nights, specialized training sessions with manufacturer reps, and staff meetings as key education techniques; but all are quick to agree that no sales pitch works as well as, "I use it myself, and I love it."

Kitchen Window put together an incentive program which awards employees gift certificates based on monthly sales increases. "We believe that sales, especially in cookware, really are a team effort," Schmidt says. "By the time customers come in to buy, usually they've been in three, maybe four times before, because it's an investment, so they need to mull it over, or bring somebody back with them. So one person might spend more than an hour with them, explaining every aspect of a line, its heat conduction, or other features, and then the person will come in that evening and buy it after five minutes with a part-time salesperson. So we don't believe in commission; sales are a team effort, and employees are rewarded as a team. Gift certificates are based on the percentage increase in sales, and employees often will use them for cookware that they've had their eyes on. And once you use it, it's so much easier to sell it."

Harrison agrees. "I think one of the things that sets us apart is that we strive to keep a lot of salespeople on the floor — on any given day it's usually seven or eight [in a 4,000-square-foot selling space]," she says. "And it's important to us that every single one of those salespeople is always honest with our customers. When we tell people, 'This pan works really well,' we're putting both our personal experience and our integrity on the line. It's the best feeling when a customer comes back and says, 'I never knew one pan could make such a difference.' "

Such a philosophy is also inspiring the increase in open-stock purchases. "If a customer buys an expensive pan and doesn't use it, they can feel they were sold a bill of goods," Schmidt adds. "We're asked the same question all the time: 'Which pan would you use?' But because we feel that not one cookware is right for every job in your house, that one cookware line isn't the panacea for everything, we turn that question around: 'Tell me what you're going to make, what you're going to cook the most.' Cookware purchases need to be individualized, and that philosophy has really helped to build our open-stock business."

Hot Pots — and More

There is a wealth of tools available to you these days when putting together your cookware niche — from staff education to product selection, from open stock to sets, from catalogs to newsletters to Web sites, from employee incentive programs to such consumer incentives as exclusives and trade outs.

Also high on your list of tools just might be … kitchen tools. "The American consumer is extremely brand-oriented, because brand offers an assurance of quality and a level of prestige," Whitney notes. "What that means increasingly in the cookware category is the introduction of items beyond the cookware itself — items that offer the same fashion and the same level of quality. A well-designed brand means there's a common look to the product that can be very dramatic when it's all laid out in the kitchen. Ultimately it fosters a collector mentality that's beneficial in the long run to both retailer and manufacturer."

Of course, servicing a collector mentality is yet another component in what is becoming an algebraic equation: in other words, a bunch of factors you might initially struggle to balance, and yet you have to solve for X, the consumer. But don't get bogged down in complexities. Instead, retailers maintain that the best success is in keeping your strategy simple and straightforward. "The better cookware industry — the professional, commercial-quality lines — has been on a long-term upswing that stretches back 20 years," Whitney says. "People are jumping up and down, waving their arms and throwing around terms like 'retro' and 'millennium,' but when you step back and look at the big picture, it hasn't changed. The economy is very good, people are continuing to invest in their homes, and the kitchen has been an enormous recipient of that investment."

And cookware has been among the categories to benefit most. "I think it just keeps getting stronger," Schmidt says of the category (indeed, Kitchen Window opened its cooking school in mid-October, and this added component of the store's services, Schmidt says, promises to only enhance cookware sales).

"I look at how many cooking shows there are," she adds, "and how popular they are, and the common theme seems to be that there are a lot of different types of cookware out there that are being used and showcased. Sure, that makes our job a little harder, but in another sense it makes our job easier — and in the long run, everybody wins."