COVER F E ATURE
YARD TRANSFORMATIONS Independents embrace the future of business. By HBSDealer Staff
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nnual spending on information and communication technology (ICT) for The Home Depot, the world’s largest home improvement retailer, was estimated at $3.9 billion in 2023 by research firm GlobalData. Most independent dealers do not have that in their budget. Check that. None of them have that in their budget. But they’re not folding their digital cards. While independents might be outspent by giant national players, many are heavily engaged in developing the digital tools, systems and culture to bring efficiencies and advantages to the competitive landscape. HBSDealer spoke to independent dealers who are punching above their weight in the arena of technology, operations and customer service. Below are (slightly) edited excerpts from our interviews.
HAMILTON BUILDING SUPPLY
HAMILTON, N.J. John Perna, president of Hamilton Building Supply, hesitated to describe the Garden State company as an “early adopter.” But the prodealer celebrating its 100th year in business is faster than a typical “fast follower.” The company’s operations continue to adapt and adjust in a variety of ways. The need for speed: We use tech to create speed and
efficiency. So we've always believed that the faster we can respond to a customer, the more likely we are to get the sale.
If we’re the first to respond, we’re going to be that much more likely to get the order, regardless of pricing. If we are the first ones out there with the quote, customers truly appreciate it. Recent initiatives: Our ERP system is Epicor Ea-
gle, and it’s been a good solution for us for a very long time. We've bolted on other third-party systems around it to suit our needs as things change. One of these is our CRM and project management tool. We use a third party called Pipedrive, and it basically creates a web-based folder for any project with any parameters that you design. So if I receive a set of plans, I can drop it into Pipedrive. I can then create quotes out of our ERP system or quotes from our Andersen or Marvin quoting tools. I can drop those into a Pipedrive project folder. I can communicate out of it. I can tag other associates in our organization who may be working on the project, and I can message them in relation to the project. We’ve been using Pipedrive as a solution for us to help manage some projects and get more of the project scope, because that’s ultimately what we’re after, achieving more of the wallet share from our customers. Online store: We just relaunched our online store
through Toolbx. And they’ve created a platform that's specifically for independent dealers, but it essentially is a web-based platform that aligns very closely with that of Home Depot and Lowe’s and their e-commerce platforms. Customers pay their bills online very easily. Not that they couldn’t do it before, but now we’re snappier and
At Hamilton Building Supply, the goal of technology is to bring speed and efficiency across operations.
18 June 2024 HARDWARE + BUILDING SUPPLY DEALER
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