CHICAGO — Thousands of hardware and home improvement dealers from around the world descended upon the show floor at Chicago’s McCormick Place yesterday for the start of Orgill’s 2019 Fall Dealer Market. Attendees explored 800,000 square feet of show floor, discovering new products, special pricing and networking opportunities.
As Orgill continues to expand its footprint in the Canadian market, dealers from north of the border continue to show up in large numbers, as well.
One popular topic in the industry is e-commerce, as retailers strive to find the best ways to compete against large online merchants. Orgill has hosted an eCommerce Symposium for the past two years on the Wednesday before the dealer markets providing its customers with an environment to share and guide the development of e-commerce solutions that they need.
“The eCommerce Symposium is a unique gathering of some of the top independent retailers in our industry working together to share insights, solutions, and tackle common challenges as they work to build or improve their eCommerce solutions,” says Boyden Moore, president of Orgill. “This meeting sharpens our focus on Orgill’s Integrated eCommerce solution and how we can help our dealers be successful in their online initiatives.”
The debut of new program Hot Buys allows customers on the show floor to receive notifications on their mobile devices about limited-quantity deals on products across all categories throughout the day during the show.
New merchandising and inventory ideas were featured in Four Seasons Hardware, a 12,000-square-foot model stores that space-saving techniques for dealers, including a single-queue checkout that drives impulse sales and suggestions for expanding product offerings out to the retailer’s sidewalk space.
“Our Dealer Markets offer customers buying opportunities that they won’t find anywhere else,” says Phillip Walker, Orgill’s senior vice president of merchandising services. “We want to give them the chance to find products at phenomenal prices, access to special areas that will show them what items they could add to their offerings, and ideas for these items could be displayed.”
The show runs through Saturday, August 24.
