VAUGHAN, Ont. ― The opening of a new distribution centre in Central Ontario this spring completes a network of facilities for TIMBER MART to service its dealer-members across Canada.

The DCs are used to funnel and direct building materials to the members, helping them manage their inventories and keep their shelves filled. TIMBER MART’s VP of distribution and trading, John Morrissey, manages the LBM purchasing from Dartmouth, N.S. He oversees purchasing for all three of the group’s DCs in tandem with TIMBER MART’s procurement team.

The newest DC, which sits on five acres in Mount Forest, is currently getting up and running after opening earlier this year. Mark LaRonde was recently named distribution centre manager. In this role, LaRonde will lead the team at the DC and develop the business in all areas. He reports directly to Morrissey.

When fully inventoried, the location will have more than 10,000 lumber and building material SKUs. Once its systems are fully in place, TIMBER MART expects it to serve all TIMBER MART members and dealers in Ontario. It joins a 27,000-square-foot LBM distribution centre in Langley, B.C., that opened in the spring of 2017, and an existing 55,000-square-foot distribution centre in Saint-Nicolas, Que.

TIMBER MART has recently been adding to its dealer base in Ontario, including Zion Building Supplies in Scarborough, Ont., and WinCa Building Supplies, a 54,000-square-foot operation in Mississauga, Ont.

TORONTO — Canadian Tire offered media and influencers a preview of the company’s Canvas line of seasonal décor and outdoor living products for 2019 last week. The event took place at an upscale west-end hotel near Toronto’s waterfront.

Structured around the theme of a road trip across Canada, the Canadian Tire team set up vignettes for the East Coast, West Coast and Prairies. Tracy Platt, Canadian Tire’s design manager, was on hand to highlight the new products’ features and speak to the trends that influenced her team in developing the line.

Platt emphasized the Canadiana quality of the products. Canadian Tire’s design team is based in Toronto, develops everything in Canada and partners with Canadian creatives to create unique designs for pillows, textiles, glasses and dinnerware.

For the backyard living line, Platt says the most important thing her team takes into consideration is making products that are durable and can withstand being left outdoors in all kinds of weather. Cushions and textiles are made with Tripel, a water, stain and UV resistant fabric. And a new patio table this year features a matte black glass finish.

Trends-wise, Platt says this season has seen similar colours as previous years, such as blue and grey, but the shades have warmed up and patterns like herringbone have been added.

“It’s all about texture and colour for outdoors,” says Platt. One example is this year’s Davenport chair, which is a favourite for Platt. The chair’s arms are woven with grey rope that is marine-grade, meaning it can stand up to rain and snow.

She adds that outdoor living products continue to be influenced by the trends going on in interior home décor. Canadians want their patio furniture and accessories to be as creative and comfortable as their indoor furniture. And with the continued demand for fire pits, tables with adjustable heights and all kinds of lanterns and lights, Platt says it’s clear there’s a need for products that facilitate maximizing time outdoors in a space that suits their style.

“People are really interested in contemporary design,” says Platt. “Canadians, we’re very stylish people.”

CHICAGO ― Canadian suppliers looking to expand their online business now have one more reason to attend the fourth annual Home Improvement eRetailer Summit, November 6 to 8 in Chicago. Parvez Patel, general manager of eFaucets.com and hausera.com, has just been added to the list of keynote speakers.

The eRetailer Summit provides networking, education and one-to-one meetings for retailers, manufacturers, distributors and industry professionals who are interested in how to optimize the internet as a distribution channel.

eFaucets.com is an online kitchen and bath destination that offers top brand products, combined with expert advice, and peace of mind service. www.hausera.com (launching May 2019), is an inspirational e-commerce experience, focused on helping home owners and interior designers realize their dream kitchen and bath spaces.

The Summit will also feature a panel discussion on the e-commerce challenges for specialty dealers. The panel will include Matt Woods, MBA, CEO for Woods Hardware, a Cincinnati-area True Value-affiliated dealer with six locations. Woods Hardware’s new e-commerce website includes a virtual tour of each of its locations.

The Summit is adding breakout sessions on the topic of “Best Practices for Collaboration and Finding Solution Partners”. Among the participants: Lawrence Mansour, CEO and co-founder of EZ-AD, a digital advertising platform that allows retailers to display product ads and video content. EZ-AD recently sold its mobile app to True Value.

Over the following weeks, the Summit will be announcing the rest of its speaker roster. “Our advisory board is in the trenches every day and understands e-commerce’s current challenges and optimizable trends,” says Sonya Ruff Jarvis, Founder of the Home Improvement eRetailer Summit. “We will continue to focus on content that is practical, and that responds to unanswered questions for our industry.”

For more information, please contact Sonya Ruff Jarvis at 203-295-3385. And check out the Summit’s website.

SPECIAL REPORT — Once you have your brand clearly outlined and you’ve shared your message, you’ll know how successfully it resonates with your customers based on the level of loyalty they feel to your company. You can encourage their allegiance by making the shopping experience as easy as possible for them. Install proper and clear signage, make sure your entire site is accessible and keep things simple.

“It’s not enough to have a solid brand, it’s not enough to make it conveniently accessible. You really want to make sure that if you want to maintain that loyalty, you’re really going to make sure that you’ve touched on every aspect of that full experience right down to the last mile,” says Anthony Stokan, a retail expert and co-founder of Anthony Russell and Associates.

For Darrin Noble at Beauti-Tone (shown here), Home Hardware’s paint division, the goal has been to tell a story. Whether that’s through injecting humour in their marketing, playing up their Canadian roots or through partnering with Parks Canada or the Toronto Blue Jays, the company strives to make customers comfortable and to share or facilitate an experience.

“We think you really need to engage directly with your customers. You need to teach them, entertain them, listen to them and learn from them,” says Noble.

It sounds like a lot of work, especially for independent retailers who are working the till, making schedules, doing payroll and supervising the store. It may seem there’s no time left at the end of the day to develop a clear brand image and marketing strategy.

Catherine Vaugh, from Orgill, Inc., says it’s true that it’s a lot of work. Regardless of the brand, marketing experts agree that messages need to be communicated at least 19 times to be effective. And while local brands do have to work harder to cultivate their relationships and assert their roles in the community, they do have the advantage that they often already have well-established relationships in their communities.

Resonance often comes down to emotions. While that connection may not be immediately clear when you’re talking about home improvement, research shows that 50% of all the decisions humans make are done at an emotional level. It’s simply the way the brain works, and so if retailers only look at the functional side of their work, they are missing half the equation. And that means they are simply leaving money on the table.

(This is excerpted from a story in our sister publication, Hardlines Home Improvement Quarterly. The latest issue of HHIQ is in the mail right now to 11,000 retail dealers and managers across Canada. Click here for more info! —Editor)

... that we have another publication just for dealers? Hardlines Dealers News is filled with sales and merchandising tips, best practices and cool new product info, this is one publication every dealer and manager will want to receive. And it’s free! (Suppliers who want to stay in the know can get it, too!) Click here to subscribe now.

OAK BROOK, Ill. ― Ace Hardware is introducing a new “buy online, deliver from store” program for its Ace dealer locations across the country. The company says the new delivery option is an important component of the company’s enhanced e-commerce offering. “With 72% of U.S. households within 15 minutes of an Ace store, we are uniquely positioned to leverage that proximity to meet our customers’ home improvement needs,” says Bill Kiss, head of digital, retail strategy and innovation for Ace.

HOFFMAN ESTATES, Ill. ― Sears Holdings Corp. is suing its former CEO and the hedge fund he manages for allegedly funneling $2 billion in assets from the retailer, according to the Chicago Tribune. Sears claims that Edward Lampert, the company’s former CEO, “systemically picked off the retailing giant’s most valuable and enduring assets as the company’s losses deepened,” according to the article. The company claims Lampert and his hedge fund, ESL Investments, promise an unrealistic financial recovery for Sears.

SUPPLIER NEWS

MISSISSAUGA, Ont. ― Briggs & Stratton Canada has partnered with J.L. Gagliardi & Associates to represent Briggs & Stratton’s mass business in Quebec, with the exception of Lowe’s Canada. Gagliardi will be responsible for the RONA and Reno-Depot accounts and will include the RONA affiliate dealers and other Quebec-based regional players.

CLEVELAND ― Sherwin-Williams Co. reported Q1 net income of $245.2 million, or $2.62 per share, down from $250.1 million ($2.62 per share) a year ago. Net sales from stores in the U.S. and Canada open more than 12 calendar months increased 3.6% in the quarter. Diluted net income per share was flat at $2.62 per share in the first quarters of both 2019 and 2018. Excluding acquisition-related costs and pension settlement expenses, diluted net income per share increased to $3.60 per share from $3.57 per share in Q1 of 2018 on a comparable basis. Analysts had forecast diluted EPS of $3.66.

CORRECTION:

CanSave’s implementation of a streamlined system for dealing with customer orders and concerns was not built on the hiring of a customer service manager, as we reported last week. “What we did was create a new department separate from customer service called customer success and hired a customer success manager,” explains CanSave President Dan McArthur. “The new department interacts with all departments within CanSave to ensure we are contributing to our customers’ success."

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

Retail sales edged up 0.8% in February to $50.6 billion, after three consecutive monthly declines. Sales were up in five of 11 sub-sectors, representing 73% of retail trade. Higher sales at general merchandise stores and motor vehicle and parts dealers were the main contributors to the increase. After posting gains in December and January, sales at building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers were down 1.6%. On an unadjusted basis, retail e-commerce sales were $1.4 billion in February, accounting for 3.3% of total retail trade. (StatCan)

Total investment in building construction increased in February, up 3.8% from January to $15.3 billion. This increase was primarily due to investment growth in the residential sector (+5.4% to $11.0 billion), while the non-residential sector remained unchanged at $4.4 billion. The gain in residential investment was primarily due to renovation work, up $1.1 billion from the previous year. Within the non-residential sector, investment in commercial building construction exceeded $2.5 billion, a record level. This gain reflected a 2.2% increase in Quebec, which was mainly driven by a multi-plex sports facility being built in the city of Gatineau. (StatCan)

OVERHEARD

“Had defendants not taken these illegal and improper actions, Sears would have had billions of dollars to pay its third-party creditors today and would not have endured the amount of disruption, expense and job losses resulting from its recent bankruptcy filings.” ―Excerpted from the lawsuit filed on behalf of Sears. The company is suing its largest shareholder, Eddie Lampert, for allegedly siphoning off valuable assets of the company even while it struggled to get back on its feet.