Do it Best Market’s growth ideas
The Do it Best May Market settled into the Indiana Convention Center a lot like past markets. The venue was the same. The Friday night Sneak Peak event set another sales record. The kickoff breakfast arrived very early on Saturday morning. And the market floor hummed along with networking and demonstrations.
But amid all that consistency, the event packed several headlines, not the least of which involved a new CEO. The May 20-23 event marked the first with Dan Starr as president and CEO – the fifth president in the co-op’s 71-year history.
His first-year message focused on growth. “We’re having one of our best years ever in terms of Retail Performance projects,” he said during a media briefing. “We’re also having one of our best years in new member growth, and it will be a continued focus.”
Acquisitions are on the table – as long as the object of the acquisition is the right fit, Do it Best executives emphasized.
The home improvement industry “is abuzz with consolidations and acquisitions,” explained Randy Rusk, Do it Best communications director. “And while we’re not making any announcements today, Do it Best could grow through partnerships with other companies. That’s going to become a focal point for the co-op in the coming years, but it’s got to be a right fit.”
He referred to the co-op’s 1998 merger with “Our Own Hardware.” “That merger has brought together two co-ops that were culturally compatible, and both in the mission of serving independent retailers,” Rusk said.
Some other tactics for that growth were on display on the market floor. Do it Best Corp. says it energized its lighting offering – particularly in LED – with a new partnership with Philips Lighting as the primary vendor for branded and private label light bulbs, with SATCO as a new stocking vendor offering a mix of specialty and LED bulbs. Previously, GE Lighting was Do it Best’s major bulb partner.
“As much as we value our vendor relationships, we didn’t feel like we had the right solution for what became a complex category like light bulbs,” Starr said. “And we couldn’t go another year without improving it for our members.”
Hot topics at the show, as judged by the Do it Best Theatre presentations, included the virtues of buying local, the power of mydoitbestcatalog.com and the importance of loyalty cards.
There’s also a lot happening behind the scenes, said Starr. “It is not sexy, but an investment in infrastructure -- especially IT infrastructure – is important for growth. If you’re going to scale up, you really do need to have the right systems in place. Our investment in IT has been gathering steam for the last couple of years.”