Ace's Discovery Process Pays Off

Ace Hardware's Discovery Process program began last year in an effort to analyze each category. The staff talks with members who do exceptionally well in each product category, refines what they do and collects those ideas in one place. The ideas range from invoicing, delivery and payment procedures to merchandising. "Our goal was to create a Best Practices suggestion book for each of our three sizes of stores to help them present and sell products," says Russ Goerlitz, regional visual merchandising supervisor. "We wanted to find out why one store sells so many more than another and convey that to everyone."The company refined these ideas into one overall merchandising program, focusing on the Paint department first. Once it arrived at the format it thought most successful, it offered incentives for co-op members to install it. These included $ 1,000 credits and 18-month dating on the first order. Approximately 1,200 stores signed up. Electrical is following now.One of those benefiting in electrical is General Cable, makers of Carol Cable and Romex brands. "This is a start-to-finish partnership that includes every aspect," says Bobbie Dumelle, regional sales manager. "If you have a program you want to install and it's gone through Discovery, then you will find a home for it, and it should improve sales."General's advantage came from a suggestion that it combine all of its self-serve wire products into one more compact overall display, with explanations of each type and cutting tools so customers could serve themselves, rather than stock the automotive wires only in that department. "Most stores told us that when they merchandise all the wire together, it sells better," Goerlitz says. "We showed General Cable our data and worked with them, and they came to the plate with a new prototype at our next member meeting."The result was increased sales and more space. Not only did the vendor retain its space in the auto department for its specialized wire, but it eliminated its competition in the general line. "Once we presented this program, we took over all the space in the category," eliminating another supplier, Dumelle says. "We not only met the Discovery criteria, we took it a step beyond."

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