October 1, 2012, Volume xviii, #37
“I get by with a little help from my friends.”
—Paul McCartney (1944- ) and John Lennon (1943-1980), Beatles
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Home Hardware stays course at fall market
ST. JACOBS, ON — The latest Home Hardware dealer market was marked less by a plethora of new ideas than a reinforcement of the things that Home does well already.
Its training and dealer support has new blood and a new mandate to get dealers up and running on the co-op’s new intranet platform, Connect, which was launched last September. The show also revealed how Home is putting more and more emphasis on its proprietary brands. Housewares that bear the imprimatur of celebrity chef and company spokesperson Anna Olson are targeting the female shopper, while more lawn and garden  products have been added to the Mark’s Choice line, fronted by media garden expert Mark Cullen.
Home’s own Beauti-Tone paint brand got a big push at the show, too. As the brand continues to lead Home’s charge into a more upscale image, Canadian designer Simon Chang has lent his name to a new colour palette for Beauti-Tone, inspired by the colours of Canada’s many diverse geographic regions. Home even put on a fashion show to tie in with the paint launch.
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RONA increases services to independents
TORONTO ― Bill Morrison is the head of TruServ Canada. Even after it was taken over by RONA, someone had the good sense to leave him in place. In fact, his duties have expanded, with the recent addition of a vp wholesale title for all of RONA.
 But he’s busy working the RONA show just like everyone else. He and his team were in Toronto for the fall market to explain the latest services available from his newly reinvented service team. The new “ Our Dealers: PR1ORITY” team is charged with delivering enhanced services to independents, including frequent visits and more efficiency to help dealers stay on top of the full range of services available to them.
“I’ve been allowed to sharpen people’s focus on the dealers,” he explains. “The next thing is to realize how important independents are to TruServ ― and to RONA.”
Sales territories were redefined and assigned to existing district managers who were already taking care of TRU bannered dealers. They will now drop in on RONA affiliate dealers, as well, to explain the range of RONA products and services available to independents.
Those services include new e-catalogues, enhanced websites by both RONA and TruServ, round-the-clock tech support, and access by independents to RONA’s in-store sales reporting support ― “all kinds of things that give dealers the opportunity to access information when they need to.”
Morrison points to the changes RONA has been making to its own store formats, with the introduction of a newly re-imagined proximity store, a satellite store to feed off larger nearby big box RONA stores, and the latest unveiling: a store devoted to contractors.
“RONA’s really been engaged in re-thinking their business,” he says. Part of that has been to try and get closer to independents, using the resources of its TruServ business to help. “They’re really recognizing that dealers need new and different services if they are to compete in the marketplace.”
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Exclusive: the man who started Home Depot Rentals
TORONTO — Dan McAreavey is the former vice president of Contract Sales at Home Depot. Now retired, he built an impressive resumé, one that began even before he joined Home Depot in 1997.
Before that, he had spent eight years with Stephenson’s Rental, a chain of rental outlets across Southwestern Ontario. He also had experience with Mattamy Homes, a home builder in Southern Ontario.
 His road to Home Depot began back in the early 1990s, when he and his business partner Tom McCormick, another Stephenson’s alumnus, joined forces with Steele Curry, the former head of Revelstoke before it was sold to RONA. “Steele Curry had networked with Bernie Marcus [co-founder and CEO of Home Depot] back in the Revy days. Steele arranged a meeting for us with Jim Inglis, who at the time was an evp – Home Depot’s most senior merchant,” recalls McAreavey.
“So we pitched him on the notion of having tool rentals inside the stores.” With Curry, who became the third partner in the new venture, and support from Home Depot, McAreavey figured he had the perfect arrangement for what he envisioned would be a license agreement inside the Home Depot stores. And that’s what he pitched at that executive meeting at Home Depot’s headquarters back in 1994. “And they loved it. They really wanted it.”
That first year, he says bluntly, was a tough one. The rental program was tested in four stores. But by the second year, “it took off like a rocket.”
(The full interview with Dan McAreavey appears in the 4Q edition of our print magazine, Hardlines Home Improvement Quarterly. Dealers will get their copy of HHIQ in their mailbox soon! —Michael)
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True Value focuses on women and private labels at fall market
SALT LAKE CITY, UT — True Value President and CEO Lyle Heidemann says the co-op is prepared for aggressive retail growth in 2013, expanding into new markets, strengthening current stores through the Destination True Value program, and expanding category programs with more female-friendly offerings.
In line with Heidemann’s plans for growth, dealers flocked to the market’s farm and ranch, auto, and pet displays. Set up as aisles seen in a store, the displays showcased ways retailers could expand these categories.
Mike Clark, True Value’s senior vice president of merchandising and chief merchandising officer, also stressed the co-op’s push for private-label brands. “We know these SKUs are proven sales producers — they account for just 12% of our total SKU count but deliver 23% of our retailers’ sales,” he says. “Retail sales of our private brands have increased by 13.5% in the last 12 months.”
Other market highlights included a new power tool accessory assortment; credit card program; an updated web portal complete with real-time customer mapping capabilities; a more efficient customer satisfaction survey now free to customers; and a revamped rewards program.
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Classifieds
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Program Manager Assistant - Lumber & Building Materials
CASTLE BUILDING CENTERS GROUP LTD. is the premier, independently owned buying group of lumber and building materials in Canada. Located in Mississauga, Ontario, Castle has an immediate opening for a Program Manager Assistant - Lumber & Building Materials.
Job Duties/Responsibilities:
- Execute, prepare, and organize all information flow between the Members, Vendor Partners with respect to programs and products. Liaise with members, Buyers and vendors in various program and product categories
Qualifications:
- Advanced Microsoft Office skills, excellent communication skills and strong organizational skills are a must.
- Bilingual, English & French both written and spoken would be an asset.
- Knowledge of lumber and building material products would be an asset.
Qualified applicants are invited to submit their resumes and salary expectations in Microsoft Word or PDF format to jobs@castle.ca . We thank you for your interest in this position however, only the most qualified applicants will receive responses.
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Member Support Assistant - Hardlines Quebec
CASTLE BUILDING CENTERS GROUP LTD. is the premier, independently owned buying group of lumber and building materials in Canada. As a result of the rapid growth of our Hardware Solution in Quebec, Castle has an immediate opening for a Member Support Assistant - Hardlines Quebec. This position will be based in the province of Quebec.
Job Duties/Responsibilities:
- Execute, prepare, and organize all information flow between the Members Vendor Partner with respect to Hardlines programs and products, in the Province of Quebec
- To manage product assortment needs in a growing Hardware environment.
Qualifications:
- Advanced Microsoft Office skills, excellent communication skills and strong organizational skills are a must.
- Bilingual, English & French both written and spoken.
- Knowledge of Hardlines products would be a distinct asset.
Qualified applicants are invited to submit their resumes and salary expectations confidentially, in Microsoft Word or PDF format to jobs@castle.ca We thank you for your interest in this position however, only the most qualified applicants will receive responses.
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Resumés
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