Dirty Jobs host Mike Rowe in Orlando.
The prescription for growth in lawn and garden is to differentiate Ace’s service by providing a recommended, personalized yard solution to the customer’s door step, when the customer needs it. The plan is to boost market share (all the products would come from Ace) and sales (all the products purchased together.)
The program introduces complexity, but Venhuizen promoted the value to the brand. He couldn’t promise to have the program fully baked by early spring, but people are working on it.
Venhuizen described two other initiatives. One is to capitalize on digital search, which delivers $8 in revenue for every $1 in advertising.
Ace has invested $100 million on paid search advertising, Venhuizen said. The co-op has crunched the numbers and believes there is sizeable return available for an increased investment.
It’s unclear, however, how the co-op will pay for an increase in digital search, he said. But the CEO felt compelled by the economics to pursue an increase.
A third initiative involves expanding Ace Home Services as a response to the growth in do-it-for-me spending over do-it-yourself spending – a trend Venhuizen described as an “existential threat.”
A solution, he explained, is to “own the service” and “bring helpful to the home.” He painted a picture of Ace striving to be “the place to repair, replace, preserve, protect, fortify and beautify the home.”