COMPETITIVE Intelligence By Carla Waldemar
Dealer enjoys ’Net gains “Y
ou visited our website yesterday,” asserts the fellow on the telephone. He’s Marc Currie, president of Niece Lumber in Lambertville, N.J., and yes, he’s outed me. I’d been preparing for today’s phone interview and he, meanwhile, was tracking traffic on www.niecelumber.com as part of his bevy of electronic marketing tools. Smart guy, Marc (and dumb me). Marc, 34, is the fourth generation of family owners who took over from Mr. Niece in 1920, and the first to realize a couple of vital stats about today’s potential clientele. One, when whippersnappers his age think of a building center, they think of Home Depot; chances are, they’ve never seen—much less shopped at—a traditional lumberyard (not that Niece is all that traditional, as we’ll demonstrate). Two, when they do shop, it’s likely to be online—or at least, preceded by online research. So, get with the program—or in Niece’s case, get way out in front of it. Another key motivating factor to excel via electronics was location. Or, in this case, lack thereof. “We’re in the worst possible spot—dead end,” Marc allows. “No major
highway. Older residential neighborhood.” In other words, “a typical old-fashioned lumberyard.” “But we do deliver 25 miles in every direction on a daily basis,” including sites in New Jersey’s Princeton and Trenton and into Pennsylvania, not far from the front door. And not far from where Marc grew up. Yet, working in the family operation “was never something I wanted to do” while putting in time during high school and college. “There’s nothing sexy about selling windows and doors. Instead, I was passionate about wine,” with plans to make its distribution his career, until life got in the way. While awaiting that opportunity, he returned to the Lambertville yard and—long story short—became GM in 2014 and a co-owner two years later. Since becoming president, “I haven’t changed a lot of things,” he says, “because as I advanced, I also wanted to win respect. I’d taken on projects, like the store redesign, and added new product lines. I was allowed to make a couple of decisions that turned out well. Back when I got involved, the business was very profitable. Sales were
NEW JERSEY building material dealer may look like an old-fashioned operation from the outside.
BUT INSIDE president Marc Currie is employing the latest technology to better reach and serve customers.
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The Merchant Magazine n
February 2018
Building-Products.com