A shopping bag is more than just a carrying tool for your customers. It can be an opportunity to get your brand message in front of potential clientele or even a memento for existing customers after visiting your showroom. In the pool and spa world, it could also mean the difference between a chemical spill or your customers getting products home safely. What bags do you use at the retail checkout? Industry pros share their go-tos.
"What shopping bag do you use when checking out customers?"
"Sam's Club has a number of different bag options. They don't have our logo on them, but they get products home safely."
"We use reusable totes with our business name, etc., on them. We get them through BioGuard, and many others have them, as plastic bags are banned in N.Y."
—Bob Colucci
Finger Lakes Pools & Spas | Canandaigua, N.Y.
"We work with a local company, Hammer Printing, to design our shopping bags. As for the chemical bundle totes, we use 4Imprint [an online company that specializes in custom printed gifts for business branding or saying thanks]."
—Cristina Nikolov
Richard's Total Backyard Solutions
Houston, Texas
"I think it's important to recycle, so we reuse product or chemical boxes — and encourage customers to recycle them when they get home."
"We stick to the plain blue plastic t-shirt bags at Valley Pool & Spa. It weirdly became a branded thing in our area for our customers — blue bags mean pool chemicals. We have tried to use different brands and designs over the years but always come back to this one.
As simple as a bag may seem, we actually do testing on bags before we order in bulk, making sure that the thickness and handles can withstand the weight of chemical bottles and sharp edges of shock bags. Nobody wants a chemical spill on their feet or in their car! We have bagging rules that our team abides by for safety when bagging shock and liquids separately, so we go through quite a few bags."
—Kristin Poppa-Rossel
Valley Pool & Spa | Pittsburgh, Pa.
"Dover Pools uses recyclable plastic bags and reusable bags with our logo. We also reuse empty boxes to assist transporting products to customer's vehicles."
—Steve Jost
Dover Pools | Dover, Del.
