June 27, 2016 Volume
xxii, #26
“There is no wealth like knowledge, and no poverty like ignorance.”
— Buddha (Indian sage and founder of Buddhism, circa 6 BCE)
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Quebec store reopens under TIMBER MART as groups vie for independents
VAUGHAN, Ont. ― Amidst a series of major upheavals to the retail landscape in Quebec, the battle for independent dealers continues unabated, the latest a move in favour of TIMBER MART Group.
Centre de rénovation J.R. Roy has opened its doors to a newly renovated and re-merchandised 5,800-square-foot store in Lac-Etchemin, Que. Owners Guy Cliche and Annie Bilodeau acquired it last summer, announcing that it would continue under the J.R. Roy name following its transition to the TIMBER MART banner.
They recently hosted a grand opening celebration, including a three-day sale and a community barbecue with hockey legend Pierre Bouchard as special guest.
The store is the Bilodeau family’s third TIMBER MART location, along with another J.R. Roy branch in St-Léon de Standon and Emile Bilodeau et Fils in St-Bernard, Que.
While movement among banners is an ongoing occurrence, the move of Ace from TIMBER MART to RONA and the acquisition of Groupe BMR by La Coop fédérée have added to the uncertainty surrounding the direction of the province’s two largest players. The TIMBER MART announcement comes at the same time that BMR has revealed a five-year plan to modernize its corporate stores. The first upgrade will be a $1 million investment in its corporate store in Beloeil, Que.
At the same time, the Ace banner, formerly licensed to RONA and now Lowe’s Canada as part of its takeover of RONA, is gaining momentum. Two stores have been opened in as many weeks in Quebec: Saint-Paulin Building Centre, owned by Dominic Crete; and Armand Dumaresq Building Centre in Rivière-au-Renard, owned by Guy Samson and Camille Bouchard.
Two strong Quebec-based companies have aggressive expansion plans of their own. Canac, headquartered in the Quebec City area, and one of the largest independents in the country, is expanding its reach into the Montreal area. Patrick Morin, the second-largest independent in the province, is stepping up its growth with a planned $25 million investment of its own.
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Latest research on industry growth reveals resilience to retail challenges
TORONTO — Industry growth that has exceeded forecasts signals good news for the retail home improvement industry, despite a litany of factors that continue to challenge the sector.
At the 2016 Hardlines Business Conditions Breakfast, held last week in Toronto, HARDLINES Editor Michael McLarney shared some of the latest research from this year’s Hardlines Retail Home Improvement Report.
Preliminary results indicate that retail home improvement sales were up by a healthy 4% in 2015. With a strong start to this year lifting sales for most dealers in the country, 2016 is further forecast to grow by almost that amount.
This is good news, given the headwinds the industry is facing. While spending on new construction was up for the first quarter (see next story—Editor), new housing starts are forecast to fall this year and next, according to CMHC. The collapse of the energy sector, exacerbated by the fire that swept through Fort McMurray, has had a drastic effect on dealers in Alberta. Falling natural resources prices has further impacted Newfoundland and Labrador.
McLarney pointed out a number of other factors confronting the industry, including the changing nature of consumers. Today’s young homeowners are not as handy as previous generations. That puts the focus on do-it-for-me (DIFM) service, with everything from easy-to-assemble products and home delivery to installed sales. “Home improvement retailing will transform more and more into a service-based industry in coming years,” he told the audience of retailers and vendors.
Consolidation among retailers is another trend that McLarney focused on. He pointed out that just four retailers, Home Depot Canada, Lowe’s Canada, Home Hardware Stores Ltd., and Canadian Tire Retail, account for well over half of all sales in the country now.
However, the independent dealers remain a large and vital part of the home improvement landscape. A whole section of the Retail Report analyzes the various buying groups in Canada. Showing a slide listing them all, McLarney challenged the audience to recognize their importance. “If there is any company on this list that you are not familiar with, I recommend you get to know them. Each of these buying groups represents an important potential customer—or competitor.”
(The 2016-2017 Retail Home Improvement Report is now available from HARDLINES. With almost 200 PowerPoint slides, dozens of charts and graphs, and analysis available only from HARDLINES, this is a marketer’s dream tool. Click here for more info and to order this amazing research document now!)
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Residential construction spending up despite lower forecasts
OTTAWA — Spending on new construction in the first four months of 2016 from Statistics Canada indicate that total investment in residential construction rose 2.1% over the first quarter of the year, to $26.1 billion. This marks the ninth consecutive year-over-year gain—and a positive sign for the retail home improvement industry.
The apartment and apartment-condo building sector is still driving this growth. It was up 21.2% to $4.1 billion over the first quarter of 2015. Provincially, increases were recorded in four provinces, with Ontario and British Columbia registering the largest gains. In Ontario, spending on residential construction grew 11.3% to $10.8 billion, the second consecutive double-digit year-over-year advance. Higher investment in single-family dwelling construction, renovation work, and apartment and apartment-condominium building construction accounted for most of the advance.
In British Columbia, total investment increased 10.1% year over year, due largely to increased spending on apartment and apartment-condo buildings, acquisition costs related to new dwelling units and single-family dwellings.
The largest year-over-year decline was recorded in Alberta, with both Manitoba and Nova Scotia suffering smaller dips. Compared with the first quarter of the previous year, spending in Alberta dropped 16.1% to $4.0 billion in the first quarter. This was the fourth straight year-over-year decline. In Manitoba, residential construction spending totalled $656 million, down 11.8% from the same quarter in 2015. The decline was mostly due to decreased spending on renovation work and single-family dwelling construction. In Nova Scotia, total investment fell 13.7% to $456 million in the first quarter.
The growth overall, however, continued into April, when spending on new residential construction nationally was up 8.4% year over year.
These increases are a good sign, in spite of forecasts by CMHC that housing starts will decline in 2016 and 2017. Starts in 2015 topped out at 195,535, but for 2016, they are forecast to fall to somewhere between 181,300 and 192,300. By next year, that level will drop even further, to between 172,600 and 183,000 starts. The only provinces forecast to make gains this year are Ontario, British Columbia, and Saskatchewan.
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Visual communication key to consumer engagement
TORONTO —For retailers, communicating with your customers is crucial. As non-traditional means of communication continue to evolve, retailers have to be sure to keep on top of trends to continue delivering what customers need in the ways they want it.
This year’s Store Conference 2016, put on by the Retail Council of Canada (RCC), drove home the message that retailers need to keep their finger on the pulse of marketing trends.
“There’s a fascinating shift right now relating to the way people are communicating,” says Marnie Levine, the COO of Instagram. “It’s the beginning of a long-term trend. Retailers need to change how they communicate and market themselves.”
Instagram is a photo- and video-sharing mobile app. According to Levine, there are 8.5 million Instagram users in Canada. Launched in 2010, more than 800 million images are now shared on the app every single day. Levine says in the past few years, we’ve seen an explosion of visual communication.
“Social media is giving people a voice that is understood across borders, languages, and generations,” she says. “All you need is an internet connection to be heard.”
But what does it mean for retailers? Levine says retailers now have the opportunity to embrace this shift—to reach customers in a language they will immediately understand. Levine gave the crowd an example of an ad by Indigo, Canada’s largest book retail chain, which was placed on the app marketing its summer reading choices. A series of classic summer scenes were interspersed with shots of the book covers on the company’s summer reading list.
Ads, strategically integrated into a user’s photo and video feed, can draw in consumers, engaging them in the company’s brand and its associated community. As Levine put it: “Images have the capacity to move consumers in ways words can’t.”
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CLASSIFIED ADS
Lee Valley Tools requires a Vice President, Retail Operations to lead a bright and vibrant team of store management professionals. The company is completely quality focused from its legendary customer service to it’s gold standard merchandise assortment and quality to its employee relations. For full details, please visit http://tinyurl.com/jd6rqX8
Competition closing July 1, 2016.
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Sales Representative North Saskatchewan
Sherwin-Williams is hiring a Sales Rep in N. Saskatchewan. This position is responsible for increasing sales and profit by growing key, targeted independent dealers within an assigned territory.
The position will service and grow existing customers; develop and implement business plans, oversee program implementation and develop customer relationships to expand product offerings. The sales representative will also be
responsible to grow the business through prospecting new customers, presenting sales opportunities, product training and CRM utilization.
– This position will cover the following geography: Northern Saskatchewan
– Candidate must live within the geography/territory stated above
– Travel % = 60%
– 2+ years of outside sales experience with a proven track record of sales success. Preferred experience selling to independent paint dealers,
co-op’s/hardware stores, distributors, contractors or architects.
Please state “to apply for this position visit http://careers.sherwin-williams.com/careers/openings/, click on Careers@Sherwin-Williams and search req # 16000668″.
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Product Manager, Building Products—Mitten Building Products
As one of North America’s largest building products manufacturers, Ply Gem makes it possible for every homeowner to enjoy a beautiful, custom-looking home exterior that’s also energy efficient and low maintenance. The Mitten Building Products division is growing their marketing department and has retained Wolf Gugler Executive Search to identify a star building products marketer in search of their next career opportunity.
Reporting to the VP Marketing, you’ll enjoy category leadership for assigned product lines managing a significant product portfolio including:
- Managing the Stage Gage process, situation analysis including industry trends, field and customer input, gap analysis to identify and capitalize on opportunities
- Sku rationalization/evaluation with margin contribution in mind at all times
- Define marketing communications strategy to support product, channel and brand strategies
- Liaise with engineering and manufacturing on long term product planning
- Be an information conduit with internal and external customers including company branches, retailers, sales and customer service
- Work closely with Purchasing to negotiate programs and distribution agreements
Qualifications:
- Five years’ plus product marketing expertise in the building products field
- Demonstrated analytic, problem solving and planning skills
- A proven presenter in order to educate and influence others both internally and externally
- Stage Gage knowledge or similar product development road mapping experience
This position is based in Brantford, ON. Very competitive salary, bonus and benefits package offered in addition to advancement within the company.
We’ve had the privilege of working with the company on previous occasions and have known the VP, Marketing for many years. He’s a dynamic building products subject matter expert and both a good leader and delegator with no ego. What more can you ask for in your next career move?
You can expect complete discretion in exploring this great opportunity by contacting Wolf Gugler via email or phone at (888)848-3006 for a confidential exchange of information. You may also apply online by clicking this link. We respond to all inquiries. This position is available immediately! |
