Products

Channel analysis
Dollar sales and unit sales of the caulk and sealant category both showed year-over-year gains, according to consumer research from the Port Washington, N.Y.-based NPD Group. But unit volume is down compared with two years ago. The warehouse home centers dominated — nearly three of every five tubes of caulk — but have trended down in the past 12 months.

Central Garden & Pet Co., a marketer and producer of products for the lawn and garden and pet supplies markets, has been named Walmart's Outdoor Living Supplier of the Year.

In addition, Central won the People Award for Walmart's Home Division. Walmart annually recognizes its top suppliers that demonstrate superior customer service.

US LBM Holdings has acquired H & H Lumber Co. of Superior, Wis., which will become part of the Lyman Lumber Co. 

H&H serves the northern Wisconsin and greater Duluth, Minn., markets, providing home builders, specialty contractors and professional remodelers with a full-suite of building materials and services. The company joins Lyman Lumber Co., a US LBM division that is one of the largest building material suppliers in Minnesota and Wisconsin. 

In a report entitled "Commercial Construction Markets are Helping to Repair U.S. Building Materials,” Standard & Poor's Ratings Services has posited that commercial construction and the slowed rate of spending decline for that sector has helped the overall credit availability for construction projects. 

Standard & Poor's economists are projecting a 14% increase in residential housing in 2011 over 2010, and spending on repairs and remodeling possibly increasing about 5%.

Technology and the younger generation will transform the retail landscape.