Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
There were a lot of goals from the attendees of the Orgill Spring Dealer Market as they browsed the halls of the Orange County Convention Center last week—everything from finding new niche opportunities to learning more about how to increase their transaction size.
Orgill expanded its market display to more than 750,000 square feet to address these initiatives. Some of the most promoted areas of the show were the multiple showcase areas.
A concept introduced at the distributor’s Fall Dealer Market, these showcase areas included comprehensive displays of category-specific products, merchandising, education and networking opportunities in one area.
This market, Orgill introduced a Paint and Paint Sundries showcase and an Outdoor Living showcase.
With more than 12,000 SKUs on display, the paint and sundries display played host to the new Orgill-exclusive Valspar paint line, Expressions.
“Valspar is a huge player in the paint and paint sundries industry,” says Phillip Walker, vice president of marketing. “We wanted to help our retailers get more of that market share and felt this exclusive line would not only help drive margins but also instill customer loyalty.”
Similarly, the Outdoor Living showcase showed both national and private-label brands in a designated display. Marked by a large pergola and outdoor kitchen, it gave Orgill customers access to view expanded outdoor living lines and services merchandised in a real-world environment.
Walker says Orgill also used the market to highlight ways for retailers to increase their transaction sizes including a special impulse area, rental area and MRO area.
“Business has been really good,” says Paul Singer from Morinville Castle in Alberta, Canada. “We’ve been working with Orgill now for several years and the relationship is great.”
Model Store Initiative
Orgill has also become well-known for its model stores over the past several years. At this show, the distributor spotlighted three different store types, two of which were brand new.
Cobblestone Hardware returned from its Boston debut in the fall, but this time the assortment had a spring & summer focus with assortment niche opportunities scattered throughout the store. Cobblestone represented a traditional hardware store with notable dominant categories such as paint and paint sundries, lawn and garden, plumbing and an outdoor living area that illustrated how Orgill customers can take advantage of trends within the grilling and outdoor kitchen industry. The 13,000-square-foot model incorporated ideas throughout on how to increase transaction size and overall profitability.
Everglade Building Materials made its debut in Orlando with a retail footprint of just under 4,800 square feet. “As housing construction continues to climb and builder confidence starts to rebound, many customers are looking for merchandising and product assortments to help capitalize on the break in the market,” says Jeff Curler, Orgill’s vice president of advertising and dealer promotions. “The model focused on helping retailers get ideas on how to merchandise and stock their stores in order to get contractors in and out of their stores conveniently. We also wanted our pro customers to understand that we have the solutions they need to embrace their business, and this model store definitely did not disappoint.”
Kodiak Trail Hardware and Supply, a 13,900-square-foot comprehensive North American hardware store was on display as well. The product assortment and services showcased were regionally based assortments that were of high interest to the Canadian retailers attending the market.
Kodiak not only featured a timely spring-focused assortment, it was also host to several powerful niche programs that have been gaining momentum with many Orgill customers. On display was a dual strategy incorporating both a Rental and MRO niche business into the assortment strategy.
Also back by overwhelming response was the Flash Market, a special area of the show where Orgill offers limited quantities of closeout products, end-of-season overstocks and factory-discontinued merchandise at deep discounts.
“We always come and check out the discount opportunities first,” says Harold and Susan Tauber, owners of Glen Park Hardware in San Francisco. “We really like this closeout; it helps us get some really great values to expand our promotional activity to our customers.”
The Orgill Spring Dealer Market ran through March 1 in Orlando, Fla.
