July 23, 2018 Volume xxiv, #29
"Life isn't about finding yourself. Life is about creating yourself”
―George Bernard Shaw (Irish playwright and Nobel Prize winner, 1856-1916)
SUMMER PUBLISHING SCHEDULE: Please note that HARDLINES is published only once in August. There will be no issues on August 13, 20, and 27. We resume our regular publishing schedule with our September 3 edition.
(Click here to receive FREE Daily News updates to keep you informed between issues!)
IN THIS ISSUE:
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Hardlines Conference finalizes speaker lineup with top retail groups represented
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Upcoming Orgill market prepares to host Canadian dealers
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Coast Distributors expands product range with its own private brand and new alliance
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eBay uses summer preview to remind shoppers it’s more than an auction site
PLUS: Ray Gabel retires, more on the Home Depot monkey saga, Home Depot stores cut energy use, True Value to use new replenishment module, TIMBER MART adds new commodity trader to team, Spectrum Brands completes merger, U.S. retail sales and more!
Hardlines Conference finalizes speaker lineup with top retail groups represented
WORLD HEADQUARTERS, Toronto — Canada’s leading home improvement retailers will be represented on the podium at the 23rd annual 2018 Hardlines Conference, November 13 and 14 in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont.
With the theme, “The Power of Brand”, the event will bring together some of the top retail brands―and brand leaders―in Canada.
This year, the conference will feature two important independent dealers, reporting from the front lines of home improvement retailing. Jillian Sexton is a TIMBER MART dealer with two stores in Nova Scotia, and now a third in Charlottetown that has taken off. Ray Cyr operates RONA Fraser Valley Building Products in British Columbia’s Lower Mainland.
Bringing a corporate perspective, Charles Valois, VP central marketing at Lowe’s Canada, will talk about how this retail giant is integrating and leveraging a range of retail brands—Lowe’s, RONA, Reno-Depot, and Ace. From Home Hardware Stores Ltd., Darrin Noble, VP of the co-op’s Beauti-Tone paint business, will talk about the power of this private brand for Home’s dealers. From Orgill, Catherine Vaugh will talk about the integrated marketing strategies Orgill has developed for retailers to use to promote their brand to their market. These include tools to let independents create circulars, flyers, shelf talkers and postcards.
Steve Buckle, president of Sexton Group, will talk about how his group supports the individual brands of its members as it continues to find growth with new members across the country.
Other speakers at the Hardlines Conference will include Jules Pieri, co-founder of an online retailer now owned by Ace Hardware, The Grommet; and Anthony Stokan, a familiar name to past conference attendees, will join us this year for a “fireside chat” about the future of bricks and mortar, and particularly what role shopping centres, now under siege in the U.S., will play as retail grows into the online space.
Finally, we are very excited to have eBay Canada join us again this year. Closing out the 2018 Hardlines Conference, Robert Bigler, COO and director of product for eBay Canada, will present “Staying Competitive in the Age of e-Commerce”. He’ll provide an overview of the e-commerce and retail landscape, demonstrating how eBay is innovating to create new experiences that are relevant to both buyers and sellers. Most importantly, Bigler will examine how online marketplaces play into omni-channel sales strategies for traditional retailers looking for a competitive edge.
The Hardlines Conference will be held at the Queen’s Landing in Niagara-on-the-Lake, Ont., November 13 to 14. (Click here for more information about the 23rd annual Hardlines Conference.)
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Upcoming Orgill market prepares to host Canadian dealers
MEMPHIS ― Orgill will host its Fall Dealer Market in Las Vegas next month and the giant hardware wholesaler will count hundreds of Canadian dealers among the guests attending.
Being held August 23 to 25 at the Sands Expo & Convention Centre, it will feature a range of products, services and promotions. One of the most popular spots on the show floor―which will top out at nearly one million square feet―is the Market Busters area, featuring highly visible items that lend themselves well to promotions by dealers. The Flash Market will feature different products over each of the three days of the market. Pallet buys will be split, as in years past, into bulk pallets of a single item in large quantities and impulse pallets, quarter pallets designed for specials such as stackout or checkout counter displays.
All Canadian promotional areas will be located on the lower level of the convention centre.
The market will also feature a selection of model stores that will showcase a variety of merchandising programs and techniques. Cider Mill Home Centre will feature products that are entirely Canadian compliant. The store fills 12,000 square feet with an assortment of products that would be stocked in a home centre. The products featured in this model store will be available from the Orgill DCs in London, Ont., and in Post Falls, Idaho.
The store is designed with a queue-style checkout area, which channels customers checking out their merchandise to line up past rows of promotional, impulse and seasonal items to encourage increased basket sizes.
Orgill’s Smart Start Program will be on display at the show, as well, to assist dealers who want to convert product lines to a program backed by the Orgill warehouse. This area will feature programs by more than 100 vendors―and the deals being presented can assist a retailer in making product assortment decisions that are right for their business with the benefit of little to no investment to make the change, says Phillip Walker, Orgill’s senior vice president, merchandising services.
Orgill’s plumbing and electrical showcase consists of 6,000 square feet of retail sets. Walker calls it the largest breadth of offering within a distribution model, and it will include well-known national brands with supporting POP to help dealers boost their retail margins.
(And for the retailers headed down to Las Vegas for the show, we’ll be hosting our regular Canada Night reception at the end of the first day. For more information, and to register, click here!)
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Coast Distributors expands product range with its own private brand and new alliance
NANAIMO, B.C. ― Brad McCluskie proudly shows off a roll of house wrap. The label reads “TerraTuff” and the name belongs to his company, Coast Distributors. It’s a key part of the hardware wholesaler’s effort to offer a private-label line of products to the independent dealers it supplies in British Columbia from its distribution centres in Nanaimo and Kelowna.
McCluskie, owner of Coast, admits that the company has been using the TerraTuff name for the past two years. “But we’ve really been building it up over the last year.” Today, more than two dozen lines sport the brand, including hand tools, and more recently, paint brushes and paint accessories. Coast’s full range of products also includes electrical and plumbing, garden supplies, automotive accessories and housewares.
Another way McCluskie is trying to grow the brand is regionally. While Coast is an effective regional distributor, McCluskie reached out, almost on the spur of the moment during a trip to Ottawa, to Todd Schoular, who owns Square Deal, a like-minded family-owned company based in Central Canada.
“We hit it off,” says McCluskie, “and now we’re looking for ways to work better together, including some joint buys.”
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eBay uses summer preview to remind shoppers it’s more than an auction site
TORONTO — eBay Canada held a seasonal preview earlier this month to showcase its selections for summer, back to school and holiday. While the company has previously held previews for holiday, this year’s preview was much larger in size and included stylized vignettes, as opposed to a showcase of just the gift guide offerings.
The goal of the preview was to reintroduce the brand to media through a “show, don’t tell” approach. According to Camille Kowalewski, eBay Canada's head of communications, many still think of eBay as a place to buy used items through bidding. “This is not the case,” says Kowalewski.
“More than 80 per cent of purchases made on eBay are actually for new products, and over 85 per cent of purchases are made at fixed prices. We really wanted to showcase eBay as a destination to buy everything from fashion to home decor to tech,” Kowalewski adds.
All items shown at the preview were sourced through eBay.ca, and many were purchased from Canadian sellers.
eBay also used the preview as an opportunity to showcase a collaboration with Norquay Co., an artisanal paddle company, to design an exclusive line of wall-art canoe paddles. The decorative paddles are crafted from solid cherry wood sourced from Northern Ontario and hand-finished in Toronto. The proceeds of paddle sales went to the Canadian Canoe Foundation.
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DID YOU KNOW...?
...that the Outstanding Retailer Awards application deadline is fast approaching? That’s right, applications are due by the end of the day on Friday, July 27. Buying group offices and vendors hoping to nominate outstanding retailers can find the application form here. For more information on the general requirements and the different ways to submit an entry, visit our website. Over the last 26 years, the ORAs have honoured more than 150 retailers. Recognize the exceptional retailers you know and make sure they’re added to that illustrious list!
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RETAILER NEWS
ST. JACOBS, Ont. ― Ray Gabel retired as Home Hardware’s senior merchandise advisor at the end of June, the company revealed this week. Gabel spent more than half a century at Home Hardware, joining its predecessor Hollinger Hardware in the summer of 1950. Present at the 1964 meeting that brought Home Hardware into existence, he took over a purchasing role with the new company. A series of positions led to his appointment as VP of merchandise in 1979, and he moved into his most recent role in 2015. Gabel is a 2007 inductee of the Canadian Hardware & Housewares Manufacturers Association Hall of Fame.
LINVILLE, N.C. ― Police in a deed-restricted community arrested a Florida woman whose pet spider monkey had reportedly wounded a Home Depot employee in May. Tina Ballard is charged with the felony of tampering with evidence, as prosecutors believe that she transported the monkey across state lines to hide the animal from authorities. Ballard was facing a range of wildlife contraventions after two workers at her local Home Depot complained of attacks on separate occasions.
ATLANTA — Home Depot announced that its stores have cut energy use by 23.5% since 2010, besting its target of a 20% cut by 2020. That milestone is among the details in A Year of Progress, Home Depot’s 2018 Responsibility Report. Released last week, it outlines the company's sustainability progress and initiatives on the environmental and workplace wellness fronts. In a statement, Home Depot Chairman Craig Menear said, “we encourage our associates to be entrepreneurial, innovative and creative, and the successes you'll see in this report are a testament to their talent and dedication.”
CHICAGO ― True Value is using JDA Demand to track buying trends and replace its inventory. “We needed a better way to predict demand more accurately,” said Lyndsi Lee, divisional VP of inventory and global sourcing. “JDA has surpassed our expectations and been a true partner, driving inventory reductions we can choose to reinvest as well as improving our ability to forecast demand.” The company is set to add a JDA replenishment planning module later in the year.
SUPPLIER NEWS
CHICAGO ― Grainger posted Q2 sales of $2.9 billion, a 9.4% spike from the same period last year when it reported $2.6 billion. Operating earnings for the quarter of $344 million were up 50% compared to $229 million a year ago. Earnings per quarter rose by fully 149% to $4.16, versus $1.67. In Canada, Acklands-Grainger’s turnaround progressed as planned, narrowing its loss to US$2 million from $7 million in Q2 of 2017. Sales decreased by 6% to $177 million, following the $189 million posted a year ago.
MIDDLETON, Wis. ― Spectrum Brands Holdings announced the completion of its previously announced merger with holding company HRG Group. Following the closing, Spectrum Brands continues as the successor to HRG Group under its current name. The closing of the transaction follows overwhelming approval from shareholders of both Spectrum Brands and HRG Group at each company’s special meeting of shareholders.
ECONOMIC INDICATORS
Privately-owned housing units authorized by building permits in June were at an annualized rate of 1,273,000. That SAAR is 2.2% below the revised May rate of 1,301,000, and 3% below last June’s 1,312,000. Housing starts were at a SAAR of 1,173,000. That puts June activity 12.3% below the revised May estimate of 1,337,000, and 4.2% below the rate of 1,225,000 a year ago. — U.S. Census Bureau and the Department of Housing and Urban Development
Home sales through Canadian MLS systems increased by 4.1% in June, after hitting a five-year low in May. While this marks the first substantive month-over-month increase this year, sales remain well down from monthly levels recorded over the past five years. More than 60% of all local housing markets reported increased sales activity in June compared to May, led by the Greater Toronto Area. Actual (not seasonally adjusted) activity was down almost 11% compared to June 2017. — Canadian Real Estate Association
U.S. retail sale rose 0.5% in June in line with economists’ expectations. At the same time, the May figure was revised to a 1.3% increase instead of the 0.8% originally reported. Compared to last June, sales increased by 6.6%. Building materials and other “core” categories like automobiles and food services were responsible for the increase: without them, sales in June remained unchanged from May. — U.S. Department of Commerce
OVERHEARD…
“Everything rises and falls on leadership.”
―Peter Legge, chairman and CEO of the publishing company Canada Wide Media. He shared his thoughts on being a great leader at the 80th anniversary gala of the Building Supply Industry Association of British Columbia, held earlier this month in Harrison Hot Springs, B.C.
TIMBER MART has announced the addition of Gary Barrault, commodity trader, to its lumber trading team in the Prairies. Reporting to John Morrissey, VP of distribution and trading, Barrault will be responsible for trading oriented strand board, plywood, spruce and commodity products, as well as developing TIMBER MART’s pressure-treated lumber programs in the Prairie provinces. Barrault has more than 25 years of experience in the building material industry, and a variety of operations and retail management positions under his belt with organizations such as North American Lumber.
Concrete maker Permacon has named Louis-Philippe Gauthier as its director of sales, alternative masonry and retail. Though his specialty is land development, Gauthier also has nearly a decade of experience in construction. He joined Permacon at the beginning of 2014 as Ottawa region sales rep. In his new role, he will oversee sales of alternative masonry products and retail sales for Ottawa, Quebec and the Maritimes.