Do it Best show aims to take members higher

Home Channel News, Nov 9, 1998 by Carol Tice

Co-op reports increases in membership, sales and pro fit at October market

INDIANAPOLIS -- With a mountain-climbing theme that dared members to set ever-higher goals for their performance, the Do it Best October Market was designed to gear up members for the co-op hitting the $2 billion sales mark. Do it Best anticipates achieving that milestone by next July, the end of its current fiscal year.

The buying group started its fiscal year at a brisk pace. Sales were up 20.5 percent in the first quarter, and profits rose 22.9 percent. Lumber sales, driven by the co-op's recent regionalizing of lumber buying, increased 31 percent.

At the co-op's shareholders' banquet during the convention, more than $70 million in rebates were paid out. The biggest check, for nearly $748,000, went to Gill-Roy's Complete Hardware Store, a 20-store dealer based in Flushing, Mich. Five other members got checks that were larger than $500,000.

Getting caught up in the excitement were more than 130 prospective new members, including Dunn Lumber, a 10store pro-oriented retailer in Seattle, which joined Do it Best during the market. Attendance overall was estimated to be 10 percent higher than attendance at last year's show, according to co-op spokesperson Mary Kay Smethers.

Show bargains were plentiful, including one-year dating, which was offered by 68 vendors. Do it Best introduced a number of new options to members.

* Two programs are being retained from the Our Own Hardware co-op Do it Best acquired last year. The smaller group's appliance program will be expanded to all co-op members. In addition, Valspar and Colony Paints will be added to the private-label "Integrity" line the co-op had already picked up, to satisfy former Our Own member demand;

* A new pro-tool accessory planogram was displayed;

* A satisfaction guarantee will be offered on all Do it Best private-label items the co-op features in its circulars. Between 10 percent and 12 percent of the co-op's 65,000 skus are private labeled, and the new program allows for a no-hassles returns policy;

* Under a new "distribution credit" program, circulars will cost members as little as 0.9 cent each;

* Members can now proof circulars they are customizing under the co-op's Build-Your-Own program using the co-op's Web site;

* A new agreement will offer members fleet prices on GM trucks;

* More than 1,200 new items were introduced; and

* The co-op displayed wireless computer technology. Still in the test phase, this program card/transceiver system allows a computer to be used from anywhere in the store.

The show also featured a farewell to former Our Own Hardware president Jim Weyrens, who plans to retire at the end of the year.

A full day of seminars before the market opened encompassed sessions on marketing to contractors and to women, brand-building, retail trends, and dozens of other topics. The show's keynote speaker was David Carter of member Carter-Lee Lumber, who related his experiences climbing Mount Everest.

The show's only disappointment was the Extreme Expo, a demonstration area for vendors participating in Do it Best's rental program, which was held next door to the convention center in the RCA Dome. The Dome was less than half-full of exhibitors and even more sparsely attended.

Do it Best president Mike McClelland noted that the coop had simply run out of display room inside the convention center and broke out rental into a separate event. By next year, a new, 150,000square-foot addition to the convention center is expected to be completed, and the entire Do it Best show will once again fit inside the center, he said.

Vendors on the main show floor were happy with the traffic, though, with many displaying bulging order books after the market's first day. Members were pleased with the array of programs available.

"We have three Hechingers, two Home Depots, and Lowe's coming," said Gordon Clement of Clement Hardware in Severna Park, Md. "We're up 20 percent this year [in sales]. And we've never been more profitable."

Seen in the show aisles were executives from Foxworth-Galbraith, the 45-unit Dallas pro dealer with $350 million in 1997 sales. That company's chief financial officer, Jack Foxworth, characterized his company's presence at the show as purely exploratory.

"Every couple of years we go hack and revisit the idea of being associated with one or the other of the co-ops," said Foxworth. "The majority of our product is today, and into the future will be, distributed internally. But we're not going to be out of the loop we want to keep abreast of what's going on and see if there aren't some things out there that might help us."