Hardware Retailing The Industry's Source for Insights and Information
By Jared Brown
Director of Business Intelligence
The Aubuchon Co.
I recently had a deep conversation with a peer who boasts over five decades of experience—he’s been working in hardware since before I was born. Despite our experience and age gap, I was amazed at how similar our struggles are with the varying personalities, work ethics and diverse leadership styles. “Retail is detail,” he would repeat as we sought solutions to the day’s new challenges.
What I most appreciate about his perspective, steeped in a wealth of history, is that it doesn’t reduce to cliches like “no one wants to work anymore” or “everyone is just lazy nowadays.” His decades of experience have taught him the value of continuous learning and teaching—a cycle he’s both benefited from and contributed to.
Fun fact of the day: Giraffes can walk within an hour of being born. This skill is genetically coded in their DNA, unlike humans, who aren’t born with inherent knowledge of retail skills like how to flush product, rotate stock or close a sale. We must be taught. Some are fortunate enough to learn by imitation—a case of “monkey see, monkey do.” However, this mimicry is flawed. Without understanding the why behind actions, employees may fail to grasp the importance of their tasks.
The decline in quality begins when we cease to teach. When we neglect to explain the reasons behind our actions, we contribute to the phenomenon of new retailers overlooking crucial details. They might remain oblivious to these details unless we point them out, and even then, it may take several attempts to instill these lessons.
Granted, watching a new retailer learn the ropes is not as captivating as observing a baby giraffe’s first steps. Yet, the more we invest time and effort in imparting these skills, the less frustration we’ll encounter when expecting them to perform independently. Just as we anticipate that children learning to walk will fall, we should also be prepared for new retailers to stumble in their initial steps.
The key to cultivating a competent retail workforce lies not only in teaching the how but also the why behind each task. Equally important is our comfort and acceptance that these lessons often need repetition. In nurturing the growth of our retail professionals, just as in the natural world, our role is not merely to teach them how to walk but to guide them until they can confidently stride forward on their own.
Meet Jared
Jared Brown is the director of business intelligence for The Aubuchon Co. He has a degree in kinesiology and biomechanics from Miami University and came to Aubuchon in 2015 from the banking world. Jared grew up in Ohio and moved to Massachusetts in 2012, where he currently lives with his wife and daughter. At Aubuchon, he is involved in inventory planning and forecasting, margin management and retail pricing and process improvement and operations. Jared has been integral in streamlining and modernizing Aubuchon’s inventory management strategies after the company closed its distribution operations and transitioned to a supplier-based model.
Connect with Jared
Email: jared.brown@aubuchon.com
LinkedIn: Jared Brown
