In the July 2015 issue of Hardware Retailing, we revealed ground-breaking industry findings on behalf of the North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA) and Independent We Stand. The data showed that twice as much money is kept in the local …

Click here for a PDF of the story and download a social media package that includes best practices, an analytical tracking template, content calendar and more. Room For Improvement By Hilary Welter, hwelter@nrha.org and Sara Logel, slogel@nrha.org While more retailers are engaging …

Distributor buying markets are the top ways retailers gather information about new products, product lines and programs, according to data from a 2014 North American Retail Hardware Association (NRHA) study. To better understand retailers’ common practices at distributor buying markets, …

Employee Appreciation Day Every year at Dawson’s True Value Hardware, with two locations in Topsfield and North Beverly, Massachusetts, the management team hosts an appreciation event for its employees. Since many families and the store are extremely busy during the …

Housewares sales have dropped overall in the U.S., but home improvement stores have increased market share for the category. Annual U.S. housewares expenditures slowed to 2.3-percent growth between 2013 and 2014, down from 5.9-percent growth between 2012 and 2013, according …

Working to increase your store’s average transaction size makes sense, especially considering that you have three primary ways to grow top-line sales. These methods are: Increase prices. Increase the number of customers who frequent your store. Increase average transaction size. All three strategies …

“Price-match guarantee” and “We will beat any competitor’s advertised price by 10 percent” are common promises that pop up in retail advertising. These statements are used to tell consumers the stores are confident they have the lowest prices in that …