BECANCOUR, Que. — The 6th annual Decision Makers Conference by AQMAT, the home improvement industry association of Quebec, welcomed more than 100 people, vendors and dealers alike. The highlight of the first day was the results of a survey of dealers in the province of store metrics. Fewer than a quarter of dealers are engaged in e-retail, according to the survey, and for those who do it accounts for about 3% of sales. Only 14% of dealers said they had any kind of career plan for their key employees, while barely 5% have any plans for renovation or store improvement planned for the next three years.
The conference continues today with a presentation by HARDLINES’ own intrepid editor, Michael McLarney, who will talk about the changes over the past 20 years in Canada, tackling the question of why some retailers survived and some have disappeared.
