“We have to be relevant”

New leadership for the world’s third-largest hardware wholesaler: John Hartmann is its new chief executive officer, taking over from Lyle Heidemann, who has retired. Hartmann, like Heidemann before him, brings chain store experience to the task of helping independent and small chain retailers both domestically and internationally.
True Value is a US-based retailer-owned cooperative. Although headquartered in Chicago, the firm is active internationally in 54 countries, supplying merchandise and marketing assistance to more than 100 international companies, most of them multi-store chains. It has been operating internationally for many decades, having first begun serving retailers in Central America. Now its efforts are spread around the world.
“The biggest challenge faced today by our members – or other retailers – is changing customer demographics,” says Hartmann. “Consumers have so many different options of how and where to buy merchandise. We must find ways to be relevant to them every day in every way.” Hartmann says retailers need to be more efficient so as to be price-competitive with large chains and to minimize the price differential with web retailers. And True Value also needs to be sure it is operating as efficiently as possible to keep costs low for members.
With a law degree, Hartmann spent his first few years with the Federal Bureau of Investigation before being wooed away to Cardinal Health, a distributor of pharmaceutical and medical supplies.
From there he went to Home Depot. “Distribution is distribution,” says Hartmann. “Instead of medical supplies, it became building materials and hardware merchandise.” At Depot he ended up with HD Supply, the division that focused on serving contractors and large professional customers.
From Home Depot he changed over to become CEO of Mitre 10, a member-owned wholesaler in New Zealand. While there he conceived a strategic plan that is on track to increase members’ profitable sales more than 25 per cent over his four-year tenure.
Then finally he was brought in to True Value as CEO. So suddenly Hartmann jumped from a co-op doing $1 billion in annual sales to a co-op doing almost $2 billion annually – the latter operating 13 distribution centres around the United States, supplying more than 4 000 stores (including more than 400 international units) and even managing a paint manufacturing plant and with a buying presence in China.
Hartmann is quickly making changes at True Value. “I’m building on the things Lyle…