S T. JACOBS, Ont. ― Kevin Macnab, president and CEO of Home Hardware Stores Ltd., is just six months into the job, but he’s already created a clear strategic focus on building the fundamentals of the company.

It’s all part of an effort to support the dealer-owners who are both the customers and the shareholders of Home Hardware. A big part of that focus is on e-commerce. Macnab is determined to push Home Hardware along to be more effective on this front. That will include making it easier for customers in the store to access digital tools to complete their purchases.

In fact, Home Hardware has hired its first director of e-commerce. Chris Parsons starts in May, says Macnab. Formerly the e-commerce director for a chain of pet supply stores in Southern Ontario, Parsons has the kind of digital experience the company is looking for.

As the economy remains slow in many parts of the country, Macnab wants to make sure head office is doing everything it can to support its dealers and expects e-commerce to play a significant role. He promises that there’s “more to come” as Home Hardware increases its online presence. “We need to expand what we are doing and be at the leading edge.”

Macnab himself brings e-commerce experience from his time leading toys and children’s wear retailer Toys “R” Us, both overseas and in Canada.

Efforts like expanded online access for Home Hardware customers is just one of the ways Macnab believes the company is helping its dealers improve the customer experience and weather a soft economy. “We’re confident of the outlook for our business for the year ahead,” he adds.

LONGUEUIL, Que. ― A new program to educate do-it-yourselfers and contractors on Canadian-made hardware and building products was launched last week. Called Well Made Here-Bien fait ici, it kicked off with the distribution of five million leaflets at 2,404 affiliate and corporate stores belonging to 10 banners: ACE, BMR, Castle, Home Hardware, Lowe’s, Patrick Morin, Reno-Depot, RONA, TIMBER MART and Unimat.

The program is the brainchild of Richard Darveau. He is both chair of the new not-for-profit organization and president and CEO of the Quebec home improvement association, AQMAT. The campaign has steadily been gaining traction, with participating banners actively promoting it―as Home Hardware did at its recent dealer market in St. Jacobs, Ont. (Shown here: Audrey Dagenais, director of development and supplier services for Well Made Here; and Landon Hall, a merchandise associate with Home Hardware Stores.)

To be accredited under the Well Made Here program, manufacturers must be able to demonstrate that 51% or more of their manufacturing costs are incurred in Canada, excluding R&D, design and freight. They must also meet construction code rules and several other prevalent industry standards.

More than 70 manufacturers have signed up for the program so far and nearly 400 product lines representing 4,000 SKUs are now in the system.

BARRIE, Ont. ― CanSave has come a long way from its beginnings in 1982 as a specialty building materials wholesaler shipping out of Central Ontario. Back then, it didn’t have trucks to ship product, relying instead on couriers to deliver everything. There was a time that the company claimed it was the biggest Purolator customer in the province.

Over time, its reach has expanded, and so has its product offerings, with the addition of cabinet production and door manufacturing. Today, CanSave operates across three divisions: kitchen and bath, building materials and interior and exterior door systems.

But that growth brought complexity, which was having an impact on customer service. That’s why CanSave re-examined its business and made some big changes 15 months ago. At that time, says President Dan McArthur, the company was receiving 91,000 emails a month going into 66 email accounts. “The accountability was missing,” he says.

The goal, he says, was to figure out how to simplify interaction with the customer. “How can we be extremely easy to work with, how can we address the customer’s pain points and focus on their success?” he recalls.

That required new processes, including the hiring of a full-time customer service manager. “Every communication coming in from a customer is turned into a ‘ticket’ that someone owns and follows through to the customer’s satisfaction.” Now those emails have been reduced by almost two-thirds. “We’ve cut down all the ‘noise’ and we’ve cut down all the clutter.”

GENEVA ― A World Trade Organization ruling gave a partial victory to the U.S. in the ongoing softwood lumber dispute, allowing the use of “zeroing” in the calculation of tariffs on Canadian softwood lumber.

While the decision found that the U.S. broke trade laws in its calculation of tariffs, it departed from previous rulings, which had held that the controversial methodology was unlawful. Zeroing entails the exclusion of any negative difference between the foreign domestic price of a product and its U.S. import price, which critics say artificially inflates anti-dumping duties. The WTO has historically ruled against this practice, against the interests of the U.S. side.

Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland expressed concern about this departure from precedent. “This is a practice which in past rulings has often been condemned, and we are now looking at next steps which Canada can take to challenge this, including possibly an appeal,” she said.

The U.S. Commerce Department has continually charged that the Canadian government, which owns most of the forests used for commercial production of softwood lumber, charges companies artificially low prices to harvest these forests. The U.S. claims this pricing amounts to unfair subsidization. In the United States, the majority of timber stands are in private hands.

TIMBER MART has appointed Mark LaRonde to the position of distribution centre manager for the buying group’s new facility in Mount Forest, Ont. In this role, LaRonde will lead the team at the DC and develop the business in all areas. His experience includes stints at Wellsco International and PrimeSource. He will report directly to TIMBER MART’s vice-president of distribution and trading, John Morrissey.

Andrea Heffernan has been promoted to national account manager of the Home Hardware business for Henkel. She joined Henkel in 2015 as the regional manager for Ontario and before that she spent 12 years at King Marketing. (Andrea.heffernan@henkel.com)

Chris Parsons has joined Home Hardware Stores Ltd. In the newly created role of director of e-commerce. He was formerly director of e-commerce of Ren’s Pets, a chain of pet supply stores in Southern Ontario.

Éric Bachand has replaced François Bédard as director of sales, retail sector for Quebec at PPG Architectural Coatings.
(eric.bachand@ppg.com)

Shelley Nehrt is the new director of product development at Quality Craft. She was previously the director of category development at Alpha Guardian. Nehrt replaces John Hoppes, who has left to pursue new opportunities.

Peter Rebello has retired from Louisiana Pacific Corp. He spent more than two decades there as national accounts manager for Canada.

After a 30-year career in the retail plumbing industry, John Pearce is retiring at the end of May. He spent the past five years as VP sales and marketing for Mirolin Industries. No replacement has been named yet.

At Isolofoam Group, Steve Muise has been appointed territory sales manager for Western Ontario, starting July 30. He was previously project co-ordinator and inside sales representative at VicWest for more than 12 years. Muise will be responsible for sales and business development of Isolofoam’s rigid insulation products for Western Ontario. He’s based in Kitchener. (smuise@isolofoam.com)

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TROIS-PISTOLES, Que. ― Coop Agriscar has welcomed Centre de rénovation Camille Dumais, in the Kamouraska town of Saint-Pascal, as its sixth location. Agriscar operates five other stores under the BMR and Unimat banners. The latest location, founded in 1953, will now operate under the simplified name of Camille Dumais. The store’s 40-strong team will retain their positions, while owners Raynald and Gaétan Dumais will continue on. The general manager is Marco Dumais.

MOORESVILLE, N.C. ― Lowe’s Cos. is set to cut more than 200 jobs in the Charlotte, N.C., area, while about 600 full-time workers will transfer from Wilkesboro to the company’s Mooresville head office. “This will bring teams that perform similar functions together, supporting greater collaboration and business performance,” a spokesperson told Business Insider. In January, some 80 employees were laid off in the Charleston area as the company leans increasingly on third-party vendors.

SUPPLIER NEWS

MONTREAL ― Richelieu Hardware began fiscal year 2019 with the acquisition of Lion Industries, Blackstone Building Products and Truform Building Products. All three are specialty hardware distributors serving window and door manufacturers in Western Canada and Ontario. The acquisitions are expected to reinforce Richelieu’s presence in these markets, increase business in the window and door manufacturers segment and add about $12 million in annual sales.

NEW BRITAIN, Conn. ― Stanley Black & Decker held a grand opening for its new manufacturing facility in downtown Hartford, Conn., last week. Mayor Luke Bronin and Governor Ned Lamont were among those in attendance for the launch of Manufactory 4.0, which is designed to help transition to digital factory operations. The facility employs 50 people in a 23,000-square-foot site at Hartford’s Constitution Plaza.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Canadian home resales rose by 0.9% in March after a sharp decline in February, leaving activity near some of the lowest levels recorded in the last six years. Actual (not seasonally adjusted) sales activity fell 4.6% year over year to the weakest level for the month since 2013. It was also almost 12% below the 10-year average for March. There was an even split between the number of markets where sales rose from the previous month and those where they dropped. Among Canada's larger cities, activity improved in Victoria, the Greater Toronto Area, Oakville-Milton and Ottawa, while it declined in Greater Vancouver, Edmonton, Regina, Saskatoon, London and St. Thomas, Sudbury and Quebec City. (Canadian Real Estate Association)

Retail sales increased 0.7% year over year to $157.1 billion in the fourth quarter. Sales of cannabis products totalled $152.2 million. The largest year-over-year increase in dollar terms came from food (+2.7%). Hardware, tools and renovation products were essentially flat (-0.1%) in the first quarter compared with the same time a year earlier. Home furniture, furnishings, housewares, appliances and electronics were down 0.6%. (StatCan)

NOTED

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