Orgill Case Study | 17 “I think you could almost do an entire case study just on the planning and cooperation between organizations and departments as it relates to this project,” says Phillip Walker, president of Tyndale Advisors. “We knew that what we wanted to achieve would require regular interaction, communication and input from a wide range of our resources, and being able to do this was a critical function for us.” Building the Team For even the most progressive independent retail operations, there is a limit to the internal resources they have available to them. This fact underscores the need to tap into the knowledge, insight and expertise a company like Orgill has at its disposal. Not only does the Orgill team offer a range of pricing, merchandising, store planning, marketing and IT experts, but through its subsidiaries like CNRG and Tyndale Advisors, Orgill has access to an even broader range of experts in areas like supply chain, retail services, store management, marketing and branding. When it came to acquiring Germantown Hardware and utilizing the store as a living laboratory, all of these assets would help shape the direction of the project and help build the plan for strategy execution. The first step in creating the detailed strategy outline for the future of Germantown Hardware meant determining exactly what resources would need to be brought together. This team would need to include experts within: With the areas of expertise identified and team members for strategic planning in place, the stage was set for building what would become a multiphase approach to turning Germantown Hardware into a successful retail laboratory, showplace and testing site that could help benefit all of Orgill’s retail customers. Bringing the Team Together While the strategic planning team didn’t officially hold its first meeting until October 2020, the Orgill team had already started gathering information about how they might be able to update Germantown Hardware even before the acquisition was completed in June. “Germantown Hardware, when it was owned by the Wagner family, was a customer of ours,” Walker says. “Before the acquisition, they had come to us for help and a plan to make the store more profitable. They eventually decided to sell the business, but because they had been a customer and we were helping them try to develop a plan, we already had some insights into the kinds of things we thought were possible with the store and location.” After the acquisition was finalized, however, it was time to start turning some of these concepts into reality. The transition team wasted little time bringing all of its resources together. “We knew that, first and foremost, it was going to take ongoing communication between all of these teams to keep this plan on track,” Walker says. “So once we had the teams and their representatives defined, we set up schedules for regular meetings. There were people who would get together outside of those meetings to keep things moving forward, but we wanted to be able to have regular touch points with everyone on the team.” From a practical standpoint, Walker and Jason Burdick from Tyndale Advisors served as project managers. Other teams from across CNRG, Tyndale Advisors and Orgill filled other roles during the process, including: • Construction and renovation oversight, permitting and government liaison – To ensure the construction progressed on schedule and nothing fell through the cracks, this team focused on making sure the architect’s plans reflected the desired outcome, handled permitting and approvals with the community, managed construction, etc. • Retail services – This team looked at the types of services the store offered, where there were service gaps and opportunities. They also examined the store layout and design to provide input on best practices for everything from adjacencies to overall layout. • Project management • Supply chain • Retail services • Technology • Merchandising • Branding • Customer loyalty • Marketing • Store design • Store services • Retail management • Pricing
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