Orgill Case Study | 11 knowledge was instrumental in helping us get the planning right." Using the product mix insights gained from working with these other brands and pulling the ideas best suited for the Germantown customer base gave the team a basic plan for the assortments they would be able to add and where they could fill category holes. Along with the insights from other CNRG brands, the team also turned to other Orgill resources, such as the Hardware 101 program, to fill additional assortment voids. Hardware 101 is an Orgill program that helps retailers ensure they are stocking core products within assortments that are required for consumers to consider their stores a “viable option” in a particular category. Orgill has developed these Hardware 101 assortment standards across every Orgill product category to ensure that, whatever categories a retailer might offer, Orgill can provide insights into the minimal assortments required. By using the team’s experience with assortment planning, taking a careful look at the current product offering and implementing insights and intelligence from other CNRG brands, along with Hardware 101, within the first month after acquiring the business, the team had made significant strides in improving the offering. “We immediately started seeing the impact on the sales side,” Helms says. “We could see that customers were buying items the store just didn’t have before, and not only was this creating an immediate sales lift, but by adding complete assortments with complementary vendors and products, we were also able to make an immediate impact on margin.” Hardware 101: How ItWorks The Hardware 101 process starts by Orgill taking a closer look at a retailer’s current assortments and examining their order history. Orgill also considers the operation’s primary store type: • Hardware store • Home center • Pro-focused store • Farm & ranch This helps provide a framework for Orgill to tailor the Hardware 101 reports. However, even this information can be adjusted based on specific market preferences. Orgill then generates two key reports to help identify potential gaps in a product offering. Report 1—Filling the Gaps The first report identifies any SKUs that may be missing from a current warehouse assortment. This detailed report will highlight any brand preferences a retailer may have within their current buying patterns in order to offer product suggestions that meet the specific market’s needs. This report can also be generated as a pre-populated spreadsheet to make it easier for retailers to fill any gaps in their current assortment. Report 2—Finding Opportunities The second report generated through the Hardware 101 program moves from the item level to the category level. This report helps by examining what Hardware 101 categories might be missing from overall store offerings. This data is based on the types of categories being offered by other retailers that fit an operation’s store type. Like the first report, this second categorylevel report can also be generated as a spreadsheet to help ensure the ordering process is quick and easy. Before - Pruning Tools After - Pruning Tools
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