Brand and service

Ace Hardware, the world’s largest hardware wholesaler, is focused more heavily than ever on two important strategies – increasing the promotion of its brand name, Ace, and emphasizing the necessity for and advantages of its 4 760 stores providing better customer service than big-box competitors. John Venhuizen, a long-time employee who became CEO in 2013, sees superior service, together with localized inventories and individual initiative, as keys for its members’ survival against well capitalized giant retailers like Home Depot, Lowe’s and Walmart. “We’ve got to be the place where they go for better service,” he says. For many years Ace has aggressively promoted a simple advertising message: “Ace – the helpful place”. Over the last few years it has been outspending other hardware wholesalers in supporting its retailers and promoting this slogan. After all, in 2013 for the seventh consecutive year, Ace stores again ranked “Highest in customer satisfaction” among home improvement stores, according to J. D. Power & Associates, a national research firm. This is an honour Ace intends to keep. Under Venhuizen, Ace corporate has committed to double its national advertising without additional costs to its retail owners. With what Ace retailers spend on their own (on average 2.5 per cent – 3 per cent of sales), this means the Ace brand is being promoted by well over $ 300 million per year locally, in addition to Ace’s national advertising. The new CEO is committed to ensuring that Ace’s 4 760 hardware stores, home centres and lumberyards continue to provide superior service. That Ace service continues to be outstanding is almost an obsession with Venhuizen. Venhuizen says another way in which its retailers can compete against retail giants is by offering an improved assortment of local, high-quality products, and the company is working to help them locate such products. Venhuizen joined Ace 21 years ago in the marketing department, ultimately heading that department and then assuming broader responsibilities in a variety of roles over those two decades, including business development, before becoming CEO in 2013. Ace today is not only the world’s largest distributor, it is also the most active on an international scale, serving retailers in 63 countries who operate 629 stores, including a recently-added merchant in Afghanistan. To service these retailers it even operates special distribution centres: in Dubai to serve the Middle East and North Africa; in…