Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
Thousands of independent home improvement retailers gathered in Orlando to attend the Orgill Spring Dealer Market, which began today and runs through Feb. 29.
The Market covers nearly 1 million square feet of the Orange County Convention Center and draws retailers from across North America and around the world in search of deals, new products and Orgill services—all to help improve their businesses.
“Our Dealer Markets are designed to be a complete showcase of what Orgill and our vendor community can offer our customers,” says Boyden Moore, Orgill’s president and CEO. “Not only do we want to highlight the latest products and assortments they can bring into their stores, but we want the Dealer Market to be a place where dealers share ideas, find inspiration, competitive advantages, and learn how Orgill can best help them execute their vision.”
Paint & Sundries Showcase
One of the best ways to help retailers grow their operations is by highlighting the breadth and depth of what Orgill can offer in key categories such as paint and sundries. To do this, Orgill is featuring its new Paint & Paint Sundries Showcase at the Market. This area includes 18,000 square feet of paint and paint sundries products from top vendors like Valspar and Sherwin-Williams. Included in this showcase is Orgill’s enhanced Paint Works program. This program is designed to help retailers improve traffic, increase profitability and help both pro and DIY-focused dealers become more of a paint destination.
“I’m always wondering what new paint products I can bring to the store, so this is such a help,” says Melanie Grubaugh from Estes Park Lumber in Estes Park, Colorado. “They should do this every year. This is my 10th year, and this is the first time they have done this showcase. It’s very amazing that they did this.”
Impulse Showcase
Retailers will also be able to visit a new Impulse Showcase area that spotlights the latest best practices and products related to impulse purchases, including different approaches to checkout lines, best selling products, and impulse planograms.
“I do believe we have solutions that allow both consumer and pro-focused businesses leverage impulse items and increase their average ticket size,” says Allen Bush, assortment specialist for Orgill. “New at this market, we now have kit SKUs for clip strips with the product, so that it’s much easier for dealers to choose and order what makes sense for them.”
“We came to the show this year looking for impulse items, and this is the first area we hit,” says Andy Cotreau from Northeast Nursery Inc. in Peabody, Massachusetts. “We obviously see the value of impulse items in our store. There’s a science to it, and it works. We see how it directly relates to profits and increases sales.”
Model Stores
One of the other ways Orgill Market attendees can find inspiration during the three-day event is by visiting one of the fully merchandised model stores. At this Dealer Market, there are two model stores: Pinnacle Hardware & Paint and All Pro Building Supply.
The 16,000-square-foot Pinnacle Hardware & Paint store concept demonstrates a high-performance paint department with offerings from Sherwin-Williams, Valspar and Orgill’s new Paint Works program. The All Pro Building Supply model store featured 7,000 square feet of assortments and products designed to attract the professional contractor market.
“We are pleased to show techniques that demonstrate best-in-class practices that our customers can bring back and execute in their own stores,” says Chris Freader, Orgill’s vice president of merchandising services. “Within the Pinnacle store, we are featuring paint as a destination within a typical retail environment. We are also showcasing many different space saving methods that increase linear feet of merchandised products for when our customers have limited floor space. This store is also designed to help our customers understand adjacency flow and how to best position promotional products in proximity to high-traffic areas.”
Rosendo Alaniz, a store manager at Armstrong Lumber Co. in Corpus Christi, Texas, came to the Market to view the Pinnacle Store and other concept stores.
“It’s what I’m here for,” Alaniz says. “We are from Corpus Christi, and I’m getting ready to revamp the whole store, so we came here for new ideas. I like a lot of what I see.”
Dealer Education
Orgill’s dealer education program also kicks off today as attendees will be able to take advantage of a wide variety of workshops and seminars presented by industry experts on topics such as marketing, e-commerce, consumer shopping habits, loss prevention techniques and more. Attendees will be leaving the Market Learning Center with actionable advice and best practices to take back to their operations.
Yesterday, more than a hundred dealers traveled early to Orlando and participated in an eCommerce Symposium. This half-day session brings together high-performing retailers from across the independent channel who gather to share experiences, best practices and learn from one another. Attendees also have the opportunity to get updates from Orgill’s e-commerce team about the latest programs and technologies available to them to help them better compete online.
There’s a Lot More for Dealers to Study
A million square feet holds a lot of other opportunities.
Customers are able to refresh their assortments through the Smart Start Showcase lift program that includes thousands of planograms and U.S. and Canadian assortment options from more than 300 vendors.
The Spring Promotions Showcase displays new products and discounted assortments, including agricultural products, lawn and garden items, outdoor power equipment and grills.
The Great Outdoors Showcase gives customers the opportunity to see Orgill’s 2020 warehouse grill assortment of new and popular grills and grilling products. Celebrity chefs are on-hand for live demos and handing out samples and recipes.
Promotional areas, such as Door Busters, Brand Building Endcaps and Pallet Specials, are a regular feature of the Dealer Market and are popular with customers.
Orgill Inc., the world’s largest independent hardlines distributor, was founded in 1847 and is headquartered in Memphis, Tennessee. Orgill serves more than 6,000 retail hardware stores, home centers, professional lumber dealers and farm stores throughout the U.S. and Canada, and in over 50 countries around the world.
