WORLD HEADQUARTERS, Toronto — Some of Canada’s most progressive hardware and home improvement retailers will take the stage this fall at the 24th annual Hardlines Conference. With the theme, “It’s All About The Experience”, this year’s event will feature some of North America’s top thought leaders in hardware and home improvement retail, who will share their stories and their insights.

The conference will be held November 13 to 14 at the Kingbridge Centre near Toronto. Top retailers and buying group executives from across the country, as well as leading wholesalers and manufacturers, are again expected to gather for an immersive educational and networking experience.

To understand the role of one of Canada’s largest home improvement retailers in the online channel, Tanbir Grover, Vice-President, eCommerce & Omnichannel, will relay how his team has worked to make the Lowe’s, RONA and Reno-Depot banners fully transactional while expanding the customer experience on all these websites. 

The growth of BMR Group outside Quebec is causing ripples throughout the industry. Claudie Gervais, Marketing Director, Promotional Strategy and Business Intelligence at BMR Group, will share some of the innovations in store strategy and design that are aimed at providing a meaningful experience for today’s young, urban consumer.

In the conference’s Profiles in Leadership series, we are proud to host Christine Hand, an independent dealer from Conception Bay, Nfld., and Chair of the Board of Directors of Home Hardware Stores Limited. Hand’s store has been honoured twice with the Walter J. Hachborn Store of the Year Award as the top Home Hardware store in Canada.

This year, the Hardlines Conference will welcome True Value Company to the podium—a first in Canada. True Value President and CEO John Hartmann will relate the story of his company’s incredible transformation from a dealer-owned co-op to a major retailer with majority ownership held by a private-equity firm.

Joe Franquinha, owner of Crest Hardware in Brooklyn, N.Y., operates a successful local hardware store in a competitive urban environment. Shopping at Crest Hardware & Urban Garden Center is a true New York experience where customers can find everything from tools and garden equipment to art supplies and housewares.

The 24th annual Hardlines Conference will be held November 13 to 14, 2019, at the Kingbridge Centre in King City, Ont., just 30 minutes from Toronto’s Pearson International Airport. Register before June 30 and get a whopping 20% off! (To ensure you get early bird pricing for this incredible event, click here now and use the code “EarlyBirdGetsTheWorm”.)

WORLD HEADQUARTERS, Toronto — One mandate of the Hardlines Conference has always been to bring new ideas from outside this sector and the contributions this year will be both powerful and timely.

David Boone, CEO of Staples Canada, will tell the incredible story of how Staples has been transformed from a traditional big box retailer to a destination location that engages its customers with open workspaces, coffee shops, speakers’ platforms and a range of business services.

Conference delegates will also learn from some familiar faces who have taken the Hardlines podium in past years. Peter Norman, Vice-President and Chief Economist at the Altus Group, will discuss the housing and renovation markets and their impact on this industry.

Dan Tratensek, Executive Vice-President and Publisher at the North American Retail Hardware Association is also returning. As in years past, Tratensek will share the latest research from the NRHA on issues and trends affecting independent dealers.

(Register before June 30 and get a whopping 20% off! Click here now and use the code “EarlyBirdGetsTheWorm”.)

ST. JACOBS, Ont. — While Home Hardware is known for its DIY-friendly marketing and advertising campaigns, behind the scenes it is aggressively building its offerings to the commercial customer.

“It’s a huge opportunity and it’s growing for us,” says Dave Bond, sales and marketing manager for Home Hardware’s commercial maintenance business. Speaking to Hardlines at Home’s dealer market in the spring, Bond notes that the wholesalers supplying this sector are typically small and fragmented.

While the channel is dominated by a handful of big international players—Acklands-Grainger, Wolseley and HD Supply—more than 70% of the industry, he says, consists of suppliers with less than $10 million in sales. Bond estimates that 15% of those suppliers are actually doing under $5 million. There’s definitely room to consolidate that supplier base, he says.

With so many smaller wholesalers out there, commercial customers must rely on multiple suppliers to get a wide range of products. Home Hardware’s broad assortments could counter that, says Bond. “We certainly could be a one-stop shop for them.”

But that fragmentation also makes for a highly competitive environment. Home Hardware’s head office is working to educate the commercial customer that their local Home Hardware store is an option for them. In fact, at last year’s fall market, Home Hardware introduced a comprehensive marketing program to encourage and support dealers to grow in the commercial market.  

Dealers willing to develop their local commercial customers can open up a whole new revenue stream. “That business is there if you want to go after it,” Bond says.

TRUMBULL, Conn. ― How and when to sell online are questions many Canadian vendors and retailers are wrestling with. To help the retail home improvement sector up its game in e-commerce, this year’s Home Improvement eRetailer Summit will provide a forum designed to facilitate networking within a curated environment where attendees are shoulder-to-shoulder with industry movers and shakers.

The summit will be held November 6 to 8 at the Kimpton Hotel Monaco in downtown Chicago.

“Every year, we strive to provide our attendees with the opportunity to learn from their peers and to bring back cutting-edge ideas to their companies,” says Sonya Ruff Jarvis, the Summit’s founder.

This year’s event opens with a conversation with Laura Heller, director of external affairs for Performics, and David Weiss, a partner with McMillan Doolittle. They will discuss what has changed over the past year in global retail and e-commerce.

The NPD Group will share its findings on emerging trends in e-commerce, based on its latest data and analysis. Leen Nsouli, an industry analyst with The NPD Group, will present the findings.

Charlene Casey, e-commerce fulfillment specialist with Rakuten Super Logistics, will highlight how a direct-to-consumer approach can meet customers’ expectations for fast and flawless fulfillment and delivery, the two pillars of online retailing success.

Elizabeth Ragone, Lenox’s senior VP-direct to consumer, will moderate a specialty eRetailer panel discussion that features Matt Woods of Cincinnati-based Woods Hardware Stores; Joe Caldwell, director of e-commerce for Sims Supply; and Asa Farquhar, category manager of home improvement for Spreetail.com and VM Express, whose categories of responsibility include tools, hardware, plumbing and electrical.

Spreetail.com, which launched in 2006, develops its own technology, markets the products, manages warehouses and creates original community-focused programs that make a real-world impact. It sells thousands of products through numerous online channels, including two of its own, and ships them to customers in one or two days, free of charge.

The Summit wraps up with a keynote address by Parvez Patel, general manager of eFaucets.com and Hausera.com, which has built a large distribution network in the home and kitchen fixtures space.

(The Home Improvement eRetailer Summit will be held November 6 to 8 at the Kimpton Hotel Monaco in downtown Chicago. For more information, and to request your invitation to participate, please contact Sonya Ruff Jarvis at 203-295-3385. And check out the website here.)

David Chestnut has been promoted at Hardlines Inc. He adds the title of Publisher to his current position and is now Vice-President and Publisher. In this expanded role, David has oversight of our print publication, Hardlines Home Improvement Quarterly (HHIQ), and is in charge of driving revenue for the entire Hardlines Information Network. A senior publishing executive with 25 years of experience who joined Hardlines in 2016, he will continue to work with our advertisers and sponsors to help them build their brands within the $50 billion retail home improvement industry. (David@hardlines.ca)

...that dealers and store managers who wish to attend the Hardlines Conference will get special pricing? That’s right, every year, more and more independent dealers are coming out to Canada’s only national conference for the industry. To be part of this incredible event, contact Savannah Crawford here at the World Headquarters to get the discount code. (For more info, please click here.)

SAINT-DANIEL, Que. ― The Placide Martineau family business is the latest to join RONA as an affiliated dealer. Founded in 1959 by Placide Martineau, in the Centre-du-Quebec region, the business is now owned by the founder’s six children: Christian, François, Irené, Jean-Marc, Mario and Michel. In addition, the family announced earlier this month the acquisition of a store in Saint-Apollinaire, which is already affiliated with RONA, bringing the company’s store count to four. In total, the four stores offer close to 28,000 square feet of retail space and some 275,000 square feet of lumberyard.

MONTREAL — Dollarama reported sales of $828 million in the first quarter, a 9.5% increase from $756.1 million a year ago. Comparable store sales grew 5.8%, over and above growth of 2.6% in the corresponding period last year. Net earnings increased to $103.5 million, or $0.33 per diluted common share, compared to $101.5 million ($0.31 per diluted common share) in the previous first quarter.

OTTAWA — A survey by Friends of the Earth Canada has found that retailers have made great strides in reducing or eliminating the use of plants containing neonicotinoid pesticides, a major threat to the bee population. Top place for neonic-free flowering plants goes to two national firms and one regional chain: Home Depot Canada, Lowe’s Canada and Sheridan Nurseries in Ontario. Canadian Tire responded that at least 87% of its plants have not been exposed to neonic pesticides, and the company believes that over 95% are neonic-free.

TORONTO — A plan by management to take Hudson’s Bay Co. private is being met with resistance by one activist investor. A New York hedge fund operated by Jonathan Litt opposes the proposed share offer of $9.45, calling it too low for the value the company represents. HBC Chairman Richard Baker is leading the effort to buy back shares and privatize the venerable retail company.

SUPPLIER NEWS

VANCOUVER — West Fraser Co. has announced its intention to permanently close its Chasm lumber mill and eliminate the third shift from its 100 Mile House lumber mill, both to occur during the third quarter of 2019. The closings were attributed to timber supply constraints owing to B.C.’s growing Mountain Pine Beetle infestation, recent record wildfires, price declines in lumber markets and high saw log costs.

ECONOMIC INDICATORS

National home sales in May climbed 1.9% from the previous month. Together with monthly gains in March and April, activity in May reached the highest level since January 2018. Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity was up 6.7% year over year. (Canadian Real Estate Association)

U.S. retail sales grew by 0.5% in May following a 0.3% increase in April. Overall, 11 of 13 retail categories saw growth, with a 1.4% increase among non-store retailers. (U.S. Commerce Dept.)

U.S. housing starts in May were at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 1,269,000, 0.9% below the revised April estimate of 1,281,000. Sales year-over-year were down 4.7%. (U.S. Commerce Dept.)

NOTED

In the United States, spending on veterinary services has grown at an annual average rate of 10.3% from 1959 to 2017, well ahead of total personal spending on consumption, says a new report from Baron Capital. Walmart is one retailer that is embracing this trend. It announced in May that it’s launching an online pet pharmacy and expanding vet clinics in its stores.

OVERHEARD

“It isn’t a matter of if you are going to sell online, but when. Trends tell us that consumers want what they order now. We want to share knowledge about the process, the warehouses, the team and the benefit to e-retailers.”
—Charlene Casey, e-commerce fulfillment specialist with Rakuten Super Logistics, who will be part of the Home Improvement eRetailer Summit, November 6 to 8 in Chicago.