July 3, 2017 Volume xxiii, #27
“There was a time in this fair land when the railroad did not run, when the wild majestic mountains stood alone against the sun.”
—Gordon Lightfoot (Canadian folk singer and songwriter, 1938- , from “The Railroad Trilogy”)
"I drew a map of Canada, Oh Canada.”
—Joni Mitchell, (Canadian folk singer and songwriter, 1941- , from “I could Drink a Case of You”)
“Raise a little hell, raise a little hell, raise a little hell.”
—Ramon Mcguire & Brian Smith(of the band Trooper, from, you guessed it, “Raise a Little Hell”)
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Home Improvement eRetailer Summit: tools for our industry to succeed online
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Home Hardware launches campaign built around project selling for millennials
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Lowe’s completes acquisition of MRO supply company
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With tariffs about to be imposed, feds vow to fight softwood duties
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PLUS: Lowe’s store introduces universal contractor charge account, Ace celebrates grand opening in Central Ontario, Canada Day message from FCL, Home Depot faces frivolous class action suit, fifth RONA store for Ontario dealer, Home Hardware helps Quebecers on moving day, Canadian Tire commemorates Canada’s 150th, and more!
Home Improvement eRetailer Summit: tools for our industry to succeed online
TRUMBULL, Conn. — As more and more big retailers focus on e-commerce, a stark disparity is emerging between the big players that are leading the way and smaller retailers or dealer-owned groups. Many are struggling to catch up—or aren’t even in the game.
The second annual Home Improvement eRetailer Summit is committed to closing that gap. The event, September 13 to 15, 2017, at the Rosen Shingle Creek in Orlando, Fla., will feature a powerful conference series and valuable networking among vendors and leading e-commerce retailers.
The purpose is simple: to help the hardware and tools, home decor, paint, housewares, lawn and garden, outdoor living, and flooring sectors develop winning e-commerce strategies. This year’s event has expanded its category reach to include the full range of home products, including housewares and kitchenwares, outdoor living, furniture, and large appliances.
The highlight of this year’s eRetailer Summit is an “e-commerce boot camp” for retailers and vendors to learn best practices from leaders in the online selling marketplace. Keynotes will include both leading digital experts and front-line sellers. The conference will be capped by a presentation by Alyssa Steele, Divisional Merchandise Manager-Home and Garden for eBay.
The other presenters include: Steve Greenspon, CEO of Honey-Can-Do International; Al Meyers, of the world-renowned retail consultancy Kalypso; and Elizabeth Ragone, SVP, Direct to Consumer for Lenox. A logistics Q&A will examine the demands being put on the delivery aspect of online sales, featuring Bob Careless, sales manager for the Home and Outdoor Division of D&H Distributing, a leading technology distributor of IT and electronics.
“We are thrilled to expand the scope of the second annual Home Improvement eRetailer Summit,” said Sonya Ruff Jarvis, managing member, Jarvis Consultants and the event’s founder, who has partnered with HARDLINES to produce this event. “We want to make sure retailers and vendors alike are on top of the trends affecting all these important categories.”
Retailers looking to understand the e-commerce space and vendors who wish to make real connections with leading eRetail decision makers will find this ground-breaking forum a way to meet, share ideas, and develop concrete strategies for growing online sales.
(This event has been tailor-made for hardware and home improvement retailers and suppliers of every size. If you want to close the gap in your understanding of eRetailing, you should not miss this one! For more information, please contact our Publisher, Beverly Allen.)
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Home Hardware launches campaign built around project selling for millennials
ST. JACOBS, Ont. — Driven by a new, hip downtown ad agency, Home Hardware has launched a brand campaign to Canadian consumers that focuses on a younger demographic—and the support they’ll need to repair and renovate their homes.
The new campaign underscores the relaunch of Home’s own brand to reach out to millennial Canadians, who are now actively involved in starting their own families and establishing homes of their own. The cornerstone of the campaign is a 60-second video that shows a young couple turning a fixer-upper into their first home. The video ends with the line: “Do it yourself doesn’t mean do it alone. Here’s How.” The campaign will be supported through social and digital channels, as well as television.
The campaign takes a project-focused approach to show how Home Hardware is serving the needs of Canadian communities.
“DIY can sound intimidating. Especially to a younger generation of buyers who might be getting into their first apartment or house. We know that they want to get their hands dirty as they fix up their space, but they aren’t quite sure how to do it,” says Angus Tucker, executive creative director of john st., the company that won the business back in September.
The campaign concept, complete with the new company tagline, “Here’s How,” was shared with Home Hardware’s dealer network at the 2017 spring market in April.
“There is real momentum behind this new work with our dealer network,” says Rob Wallace, director, marketing at Home Hardware. “They love the more contemporary positioning of the brand and they feel that ‘Here’s How’ really describes the role that they can play with our customers.”
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Lowe’s completes acquisition of MRO supply company
MOORESVILLE, N.C. — Lowe’s Cos. has completed the acquisition of Maintenance Supply Headquarters, a distributor of maintenance, repair, and operations products to the multi-family housing industry, for a total value of $512 million. The deal was first announced in mid-May.
Based in Houston, Maintenance Supply Headquarters operates 13 distribution centres serving customers primarily in the western, southeastern, and south central U.S., with a portfolio of more than 5,300 products. The acquisition is part of Lowe’s outreach strategy to pro customers who service the MRO field. It follows the purchase in November 2016 of Central Wholesalers, a distributor in the Mid-Atlantic.
And the acquisitions mirror similar moves in the U.S. by Lowe’s rival, Home Depot.
“Together, Maintenance Supply Headquarters and Central Wholesalers expand Lowe’s ability to serve the highly attractive and growing multi-family housing industry while strengthening our foundation for future growth with enhanced product and service offerings,” said Michael Tummillo, senior vice president of Lowe’s pro sales. “With this latest transaction, we look forward to delivering even more value for our pro customers.”
These “large-spend pros” are a target for Home Depot, as well. In the U.S., particularly, contractors spend more year over year than the average DIY customer. Home Depot acquired Florida-based Interline Brands in 2015, another company that sells to the MRO segment.
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With tariffs about to be imposed, feds vow to fight softwood duties
OTTAWA — The Trudeau government has promised to defend Canada’s softwood lumber industry in the wake of new anti-dumping duties announced by the U.S. Commerce Department. The preliminary tariffs add an average of 6.87% to the current countervailing duties of 19.88%. Announced in April, the latter are set to expire on August 27, with the two rates overlapping until then for a total average of about 27%.
U.S. Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross also announced a preliminary decision to ultimately exclude softwood from three out of four Atlantic provinces from the duties. At the behest of U.S. lumber lobbyists, Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, and Newfoundland & Labrador—but not New Brunswick—could be exempted from final duties, though the U.S. government will continue to collect them pending a final ruling.
Lumber in the three provinces named as potential exceptions is largely harvested from privately-owned land, in line with U.S. industry practice, but in contrast to most Canadian provinces where most wood comes from Crown land at advantageous “stumpage fee” rates. New Brunswick, which borders on Maine and is a major lumber producer, was not cited in the preliminary exemption despite having dispatched a special envoy to the U.S. in May to broker a favourable deal.
Softwood lumber has, since the early 1980s, been a perennial sore spot for the U.S., which considers Canadian product unfairly subsidized. Its four previous attempts to impose duties have all been reversed or overturned by international rulings. Natural Resources Minister Jim Carr and Foreign Affairs Minister Chrystia Freeland teamed up to denounce the “unfair and punitive anti-dumping duties.”
In their statement, they pledged to “vigorously defend Canada’s softwood lumber industry, including through litigation, and we expect to prevail as we have in the past.” At the same time, they added that they are “confident that a negotiated settlement is both possible and in the best interests of our two countries.”
Prime Minister Justin Trudeau assured reporters earlier last week that the two countries are “working towards a deal,” but pulling back from NAFTA remains a policy plank for the Trump administration, with renegotiations expected later in the summer.
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DID YOU KNOW…?
...that retail home improvement industry grew at a greater rate than had been forecast? Or that the market share of the big box store format has jumped in this country? Did you know that the Top Four retail groups in Canada account for more than half of all sales in this sector? All this―and more―is included in our new Hardlines Annual Retail Report. It weighs in at an incredible 200 PowerPoint slides, and no wonder. It features deep analysis of the top retailers and forecasts for the industry for the next two years. Information only available from HARDLINES. Click here now for more info and to order your amazing Hardlines Annual Retail Report today!
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RETAILER NEWS
EDMONTON ― Lowe’s new store in Edmonton North (see last issue―your ever helpful Editor) will be the first Lowe’s store in Canada to introduce charge accounts that let commercial customers make purchases at any RONA corporate store in Western Canada. Customers will receive only one monthly invoice for all transactions made at those stores. In addition, Lowe’s is introducing its own delivery trucks at the Edmonton North store to increase service levels to contractors.
WINNIPEG — Ace celebrated the grand opening of the Teeswater Ace Country & Garden last week in Central Ontario’s South Bruce region. The new store is owned by the Huron Bay Co-operative, which purchased the former Teeswater grocery store in 2016. The site has since been renovated as the new Ace Country & Garden, which at 5,000 square feet is three times the size of its predecessor. “We’re excited about this new store, it will rejuvenate the village,” said Brent Bowen, store manager. “This store has an increased product selection from the former location and that’s just what’s needed for this community.”
SASKATOON — Federated Co-operatives has created a heart-warming 30-second video in anticipation of Canada Day this weekend, and the 150th anniversary of the signing of the British North America Act, which established the Dominion of Canada. The Youtube clip is a mini-travelogue of Western Canada with a feel-good message that ends simply with the words, "Happy 150th from your local Co-op!” Check it out here!
CHICAGO — Home Depot is facing a class action suit for selling lumber that is apparently mislabelled. Four-by-four is the common term for lumber that measures 3 ½ x 3 ½ inches, an industry standard in North America that spans a century. The plaintiff, Mikhail Abramov, filed the lawsuit in March. He alleged that Home Depot’s use of the standard size terminology amounted to little more than false advertising. But Home Depot has responded that the company can’t be held responsible for selling products that use terms common throughout the industry. “Retailers such as Home Depot did not create these lumber sizing standards or naming conventions and should not be subject to suit simply for following them,” the retailer argued in a motion to dismiss. Menard’s, a home improvement chain based in Eau Claire, Wis., faces two similar suits.
ST. JACOBS, Ont. — Home Hardware released an online film last week promoting Home Hardware as a destination for Quebecers leading up to Moving Day, the day when most people in that province move homes. According to Home Hardware, the “Pack your pet” video earned “significant online media attention.” Home’s ad agency, john st., has also filmed a series of videos that highlight some of the exclusive products intended to drive traffic into stores.
BOUCHERVILLE, Que. — Lowe’s Canada announced the opening of a fifth store for independent affiliate dealer RONA Matériaux Pont-Masson, in Casselman, Ont., near Ottawa. The store, which represents an investment of $6 million and 25 new jobs, has a retail sales area of 12,000 square feet and a 150,000-square-foot lumber yard. Matériaux Pont-Masson was founded in 1979 by Richard Bailey, father of current co-owners Éric and Stéphane Bailey, and current advisor to the management. The company joined the RONA banner in 1996. The four other RONA Matériaux Pont-Masson stores are located in Valleyfield, Rigaud, and Mirabel, Que., and Alfred, Ont.
TORONTO ― Canadian Tire commemorated Canada’s 150 birthday this past weekend with a limited-edition 10 cent bill of its Canadian Tire “money.” Two million bills were minted and available in Canadian Tire stores across the country from June 30 to July 2. Until now, Canadian Tire money, in fact a rewards program for Canadian Tire shoppers, has featured the same design since 1992. Printed by the Canadian Bank Note Company, each 10 cent bill includes some of the same security features as real currency, including unique gold foil elements and a visible watermark. While the rewards program went digital in 2014, paper money remains in use at Canadian Tire stores.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Retail sales were up 0.8% seasonally adjusted in April, compared with the previous month. Year-over-year sales were up 7.0%. The building material and garden equipment and supplies dealers sub-sector was up 3.5% month over month, and up a healthy 11.8% over April 2016. (StatCan)
NOTED
U.S. production of spruce-pine-fir (SPF) timber cannot keep up with domestic demand. In fact, U.S. softwood lumber production increased by only 3.4% in 2016, while consumption there increased by 9.7%. According to the National Association of Home Builders, 33% of lumber used in the U.S. was imported, with more than 95% of that coming from Canada.
OVERHEARD…
“The repositioning of this brand will be a combination of brand activity and tactical activations. We will need to balance this kind of messaging through the year with tactical messaging around sale events and new products.”
—Rob Wallace, director, marketing at Home Hardware Stores Ltd., on the new branding initiative by his company to better target millennial customers.