NHPA Retrospective With John Hammond

During 38 years with the North American Hardware and Paint Association (NHPA) that included 13 years as managing director, John Hammond saw dramatic changes in the home improvement industry. He offers this snapshot of some industry milestones during his career and how the association responded.

Hardware Retailing (HR): When did you serve NHPA (then NRHA) and what were some of the highlights of your career here?
John Hammond (JH): I began my career at the association as assistant editor for Hardware Retailing magazine from 1970 to 1973. After that I actually went to work for a competing magazine, the Hardware Merchandiser. After a couple of years, I returned to NRHA in 1975, missing the satisfaction that came from working with an organization totally involved in every aspect of the industry. I moved up through the organization from editor to associate publisher to vice president and publisher until I was named managing director in 1995, a position I held until retiring in 2008.

HR: What was the biggest change in the home improvement industry during your time at NRHA?
JH: Consolidation. In the 1970s, the independent hardware industry was totally fragmented with about 475 full-line hardware wholesalers, nearly all of them regional. Manufacturers were the “channel captains” and controlled the way goods and services moved through the channel. There were hundreds of local distributor shows. At that time, NRHA had 36 state and regional affiliates. We developed and coordinated services on a national level and the affiliated associations delivered those services to individual store members. Services we provided included store planning and design, in-store merchandising, employee training, insurance, legislative activities and managing retailer’s co-op ad funds.

By the early 1980s, national co-ops grew to dominate the industry: Ace, True Value, HWI (later Do it Best) and Servistar (later merged with True Value). In Canada, Home Hardware was the dominant player. The regional distributors began going out of business and those that survived banded into Merchandising Groups, such as Liberty, Sentry (later merging into Distribution America), PRO, ValTest and Allied. The national co-ops and wholesale groups created their own brands, store designs and training programs. They became the new “channel captains,” controlling the flow of goods and services to retailers.

By the mid-80’s, Home Depot had arrived and the big-box race was on. By the early 90’s, Home Depot, Lowe’s and Menards emerged as the dominant players.  

HR: How did the association respond to that change?
JH: We had to adapt to the rising dominance of the national co-ops and distributors. With the exception of our publishing operation, the wholesalers took over the traditional association role by offering most of the services we were offering. Local associations became obsolete and by the mid-90’s, only 19 of the 36 were left. By the time I retired, only three were left. 

We offered association group membership programs to the national co-ops and wholesaler groups where their retailer customers could access our programs, including our training, in return for a fee. Some of them took us up on it. We also expanded our custom publishing group by creating customized magazines for these organizations. We basically private labeled our services for these companies and then private labeled communication devices to market them. We also became a supplier for wholesaler catalog data management and created a department to manage a wholesaler’s catalog data. 

By the time I retired in 2008, the industry was changing once again. On-line shopping had disrupted the channel. Amazon changed everything. Forward-thinking retailers and wholesalers launched e-commerce sites. The consumer became the new “channel captain.”

HR: What was the biggest contribution the association made to the home improvement industry during your leadership
JH: The move from a fragmented to a consolidated industry meant more control over the flow of best practices and ideas. Distributors provided programs at a national level. As an association intended to include all retailers, regardless of affiliation, we provided a forum where retailers could discuss ideas and best practices with others outside of their wholesaler. We provided that forum through our magazine, at our convention and at distributor shows. Encouraging and facilitating this open flow of information has probably been the biggest contribution to the industry the association made during my time, and it continues to do so today.