February 13, 2017 Volume xxiii, #6
“Anyone who keeps the ability to see beauty in every age of life really never grows old.” —Franz Kafka (German author, 1883-1924)
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Peavey, Patrick Morin, HardwareandTools.com at Hardlines Conference
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BMR expands services for its new range of banners
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Lowe’s plans more openings for both Lowe’s and RONA in 2017
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Home Depot uses data to target pro customers
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PLUS: Kent in P.E.I., Lowe’s cuts staff, new Castle dealer, Sears partners with independents, Weyerhaeuser results, Spectrum Brands shipping, Bunnings sausages, housing results, and more!
Peavey, Patrick Morin, HardwareandTools.com at Hardlines Conference
WORLD HEADQUARTERS, Toronto — One of Canada’s leading independent home improvement dealers, a major Western Canadian farm and hardware chain, and Canada’s leading housing economist will be featured on the podium at the 2017 Hardlines Conference.
Now in its 22nd year, the conference will be held November 14 to 15 in Niagara Falls, Ont. With the theme of “Bricks and Clicks,” it will focus on delivering insights on how independents and large retailers alike can survive and prosper amidst the rise of online selling.
Kicking off the conference, Robert Howard of retail consultancy Kurt Salmon will provide an overview of the latest trends in the battle between online and bricks-and-mortar retail.
The conference will also feature some of the country’s most powerful regional retailers. Daniel Lampron is general manager of the giant Quebec home improvement chain Patrick Morin. He has been an instrumental part of the team guiding this family-owned business on a course of tremendous growth in recent years, proving that a healthy bricks-and-mortar presence remains crucial to a strong retail strategy.
In addition, we are pleased to announce that Doug Anderson, president of Peavey Industries, will join the conference as a keynote speaker. Anderson’s company made news last year for its investment in London, Ont.-based TSC Stores, which will make Peavey a farm and hardware powerhouse from British Columbia to Ontario.
On the “clicks” side of home improvement retail, this year’s conference will feature David Goldsholle, founder of HardwareandTools.com. This giant online hardware store has more than 150,000 brand-name products. Goldsholle has vast experience and tremendous insights when it comes to selling tools and hardware online. Not to be missed!
John Herbert, general secretary of EDRA, the European DIY Retail Association, returns to the Hardlines stage in 2017. Herbert will offer an analysis of the leading home improvement retailers globally that point the way for the future of this industry.
To round out the array of learning and education typical of every Hardlines Conference, Dan Tratensek, vice president of publishing at the North American Retail Hardware Association, will share the latest research from his association on retailer issues and challenges. Peter Norman, vice president and chief economist at Altus Group, is an industry-recognized urban economist and forecaster. He will bring his special take on housing and renovation trends to his presentation on the Canadian economy.
(For more information on speakers and conference registration, please click here.)
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BMR expands services for its new range of banners
BOUCHERVILLE, Que. — Since developing a range of banners to accommodate the various store formats it serves, Groupe BMR has been working to refine the programs associated with those banners.
Late last year the company unveiled a new branding strategy for its stores: BMR Express for its hardware stores, BMR Expert for its building centres catering to contractors, and BMR Extra for its large-surface outlets. The BMR name will continue to be used as a standalone banner for home centres that cater to the general DIY customer with a mix of hardware and building materials.
Now those different identities are being reflected in BMR’s flyer programs. Each banner gets a specially tailored flyer, featuring different product offerings that reflect the sales and expertise of each BMR banner.
Of the group’s 230 BMR stores, the plan is to switch about 70 stores over to BMR Express by the end of this year. In 2018, conversions will continue, with 23 becoming BMR Extra, and 21 taking the BMR Expert banner. The remaining 120 BMR stores will stay with the generic BMR brand.
Over time, another 60 stores will retain the Unimat banner. That banner became part of the BMR portfolio when BMR was taken over by La Coop fédérée in 2015. The company also has about three dozen farm and hardware stores carrying the Agrizone banner.
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Lowe’s plans more openings for both Lowe’s and RONA in 2017
BOUCHERVILLE, Que. — Lowe’s Canada continues to open more RONA stores, even as it prepares to transition its big boxes to the Lowe’s banner.
The next big boxes to open under the Lowe’s name will be in Sherwood Park, near Edmonton, on March 2, followed by a store in London, Ont., in April.
The RONA brand will continue to be part of Lowe’s Canada’s strategy, however, for its smaller proximity stores and for its independent, or affiliate, dealers. In fact, four new RONA proximity stores will open in the coming months, all of them in Quebec. Three will be corporate stores, located in St-Félix-de-Valoix, Carignan, and Rouyn; one affiliate store is planned for Blainville.
Lowe’s has plans to begin converting its big box RONA Home & Garden stores outside of Quebec to the Lowe’s banner, but would not put a timeline on that conversion. However, subtle shifts in the brand message are already emerging. The big box stores are now being referred to as “Home & Garden by RONA” as emphasis is taken off the RONA name.
While the RONA banner will remain intact longer on Lowe’s Quebec big boxes, the company’s Réno-Dépôt big boxes will remain a separate banner, focusing more on pros and contractors. The latest Réno-Dépôt store opened recently in Boucherville, Que., just minutes from Lowe’s Canada’s head office.
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Home Depot uses data to target pro customers
NEW YORK — Data mining is just one of the ways Home Depot is trying to improve its offering to its pro and contractor customers. At the National Retail Federation’s annual convention in New York, David Abbott, Home Depot’s vice president of integrated media and online marketing, talked about how his company is motivating customers to shop at Home Depot.
While that initiative will continue to include a heavy focus on advertising its products, the company is also exploring capabilities to reach specific audiences, Abbott says.
“We want to go after some of the targeting capabilities that exist right now. Our email and our [customer relationship management] team are pretty robust in terms of how they’re approaching segmentation, but now the tools on other digital media are catching up,” he said. “We’re leveraging that more and more through data-management platforms.”
The company is using data to analyze the existing customers the company attracts. “[Pros and contractors equal] about 10% of our customers in terms of number, but they make up about 40% of our sales,” Abbott says. “So if we know we can acquire or retain a pro and spend an extra dollar for a longer term, more and more success metrics will be moving in that direction over time.”
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DID YOU KNOW…?
...that our Early Bird Pricing for the 22nd annual Hardlines Conference will save you money? Don’t miss this incredible forum for learning and networking, November 14 to 15 in Niagara Falls, Ont. For more info and to register for the 22nd annual Hardlines Conference, click here now!
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RETAILER NEWS
ST. JOHN — Kent Building Supplies expects to hire close to 300 new people over the next three years at its stores on Prince Edward Island. The company says the hirings will come from the high turnover rates in the retail sector as opposed to increased staffing.
MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Lowe’s confirmed last month that it would be eliminating 2,400 management jobs, and those staff cuts are unsettling to employees company-wide, according to The Charlotte Observer. “The layoffs … are causing angst and uncertainty at the company’s headquarters … as well as in stores around the country,” the North Carolina newspaper reports. Lowe’s is moving more workers into customer service positions and eliminating back-office jobs in efforts to improve its bottom line.
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HOFMANN ESTATES, Ill. — Sears Holdings Corp. may be struggling financially, but its spinoff, Sears Hometown and Outlet Stores, is growing with the help of independent retailers. Independent retailers are taking on the Sears brand as a store-within-a-store. The dealers agree to dedicate at least 2,000 square feet of prime space in an existing store to Sears appliances. The retailer pays for fixtures and salaries for some employees who are dedicated to working in the Sears area. Sears Hometown provides exterior and interior store signage and retains ownership of the inventory, displaying models of major appliances from top brands, including Kenmore, Whirlpool, and KitchenAid, at no cost to the retailer. Store employees ring up appliance purchases through a Sears point-of-sale system, and the independent retailer earns a commission on every sale.
MISSISSAUGA, Ont. — G & C Hardware in La Scie, Nfld., is the newest independent dealer to join Castle Building Centres. The business, founded by Glen and Cathy Newbury, opened in this Baie Verte Peninsula coastal town in 2010. As part of the move to Castle, G & C Hardware will close its existing location and move to a larger footprint at a newly acquired store just minutes away. A grand opening is planned in the coming months.
BENTONVILLE, Ark. — Wal-Mart will offer free two-day shipping within the U.S. in a bid to compete with Amazon Prime. The move ends Wal-Mart’s Shipping Pass program, a paid annual subscription that allowed members to receive deliveries in two days. “In today’s world of e-commerce, two-day free shipping is table stakes,” said Marc Lore, the company’s e-commerce head. “It no longer makes sense to charge for it.”
ST. ALBANS, England — The U.K.’s first Bunnings store has opened to the delight of Australian expats, eager to try its signature “sausage sizzle.” The snack is a mainstay of Bunnings stores in Australia where it is served outside on weekends, with onions between slices of white bread. Bunnings owner, Wesfarmers, bought the Homebase chain in the U.K. and Ireland last year, and is transitioning its 265 stores to the Bunnings banner. Four more pilot locations are planned between now and June.
SUPPLIER NEWS
MADISON, Wis. — Spectrum Brands’ Hardware and Home Improvement business will occupy a 927,112-square-foot warehouse on the outskirts of Kansas City, Mo., the Kansas City Business Journal reports. The new site, dubbed Inland Port XXXIII, will allow Spectrum to concentrate its distribution, currently split between the coasts with facilities in California and North Carolina. A single central distribution centre is “the best option for the business to increase distribution capabilities and service levels, provide room for expansion, reduce overall inventory levels and improve cost management,” said Phil Szuba, senior VP and GM of Spectrum Brands HHI, in a release.
SEATTLE — Weyerhaeuser posted Q4 profits of $551 million, or $0.73 per share, with adjusted EPS of $0.14. Revenues for the quarter amounted to $1.6 billion. For the full fiscal year, Weyerhaeuser posted a profit of $1.03 billion, or $1.39 per share, and revenues of $6.37 billion.
PEOPLE ON THE MOVE
Elizabeth Scott has been appointed vice president, business development at L’Image Home Products. She has an extensive background as a senior business executive supplying national retailers in the U.S., Canada, Europe, and Australasia. In this newly-created position, Scott will work with the Montreal-based maker of light bulbs, batteries, indoor and outdoor lighting fixtures, and flashlights to expand in the U.S., Europe, Australia, and New Zealand. (646-830-3220; elizabeth.scott@lhp.ca)
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Housing starts reached 207,408 units seasonally adjusted in January, up a meagre 0.06% from 206,305 units in December. Urban starts increased 1.0% seasonally adjusted from the previous month, with multiple urban starts up by 4.2% and single-detached urban starts down by 4.6%. In January, the seasonally adjusted annual rate of urban starts increased in Ontario and Atlantic Canada, but decreased in British Columbia, the Prairies, and Quebec. Rural starts were estimated at a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 17,720 units. (CMHC)
Municipalities issued $7.2 billion worth of building permits in December, down 6.6% from November. Lower construction intentions were recorded for all components, led by commercial buildings and multi-family dwellings. In the residential sector, eight provinces posted declines while Ontario reported a record high. On the residential side, building permits were down 4.1% to $4.9 billion in December. The decrease mainly stemmed from lower construction intentions for multi-family dwellings. Declines were reported in eight provinces. A record high in Ontario was insufficient to offset the declines in British Columbia and Alberta. (StatCan)
NOTED
The North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA) wants you to know they’re the perfect match for your business. And we want you to go to Las Vegas this spring! Sign up for an NRHA membership until February 14 and be entered to win a trip to the National Hardware Show and NRHA All-Industry Conference in Las Vegas, May 9 to 11, where you’ll get to network with thousands of industry professionals in hardware and home improvement.
OUT AND ABOUT
Sigrid, David, and Michael will be at TIMBER MART’s 50th Anniversary National Buying Show tomorrow. Then Beverly, David, and Michael head off to New Orleans to drop in on the Orgill Spring Dealer Market. There, they will host the Hardlines Canada Night Reception for Canadian dealers in the Big Easy.