On the Road Again
Russin Lumber brings its showroom to contractors, often with dealers in tow.
As an outside salesman for distributor Russin Lumber, Glen Terhune regularly fielded questions from customers about installation of decks and rails that Russin sells. To provide better answers, he persuaded his boss to experiment with a mobile display program showing the assembled products, which Terhune initially ran out of his truck. One year later, in 2003, Russin bought a trailer. It has proven to be an effective marketing tool.
Russin, which is based in Montgomery, N.Y., and distributes in 13 states, now operates the tow-behind trailer and a van that serve as mobile showrooms for rails, fences, and decks. During warmer months, the vehicles visit contractors’ jobsites five days a week, often with dealers’ salespeople aboard. “The van allows us to bring our customers together with their customers, and for them to see and touch the product, which differentiates our lines,” says Jordan Russin, the company’s vice president of strategic planning. Russin couldn’t say how much business these mobile showrooms account for, but he says the program’s success can be measured by the fact that “we keep getting invited back.”
Terhune is one of two alternative product specialists at Russin Lumber, which this year expanded his responsibilities to conducting seminars on building codes. He’s held two of these already, in New Hampshire and Massachusetts, and expects to conduct five more this year. “You’d be surprised at how many interpretations of codes there are out there,” he says.
–John Caulfield
Breaking Out
The distribution channel continues to consolidate, as two-steppers keep pace with their customers’ growth.
As dealers and suppliers consolidate, some distributors are pushing out their geographic borders and expanding in various ways to stay as close to customers as possible.
Fastener distributor PrimeSource Building Products and moldings wholesaler Empire Distributors each announced in March that it is expanding into Canada, just as one of their prime customers, Lowe’s, is poised to open its first stores there. PrimeSource started accepting orders from a 120,000-square-foot DC in Mississauga, Ontario, in May.
In April, hardlines distributor Orgill broke ground in Kilgore, Texas, on its sixth distribution center, a 530,000-square-foot warehouse that is scheduled to open in a year. “This will be a strategic location … that will allow us to reduce our lead time and improve our service … within the four-state region,” said Byrne Whitehead, Orgill’s executive vice president of operations. Three months earlier, Emery-Waterhouse acquired Morgan Wholesale, a fastener distributor with DCs in Pennsylvania and Connecticut. Steve Frawley, Emery’s president, says his company is giving thought to opening smaller satellite warehouses to increase its penetration throughout New England.
Dealers’ buying habits also dictate distributors’ growth plans. Forest City Trading Group ships about one-third of what it sells by rail, a percentage that’s been falling for several years as dealers order in smaller quantities conducive to truck shipments. Craig Johnston, Forest City’s CEO, says that’s one reason why his company is looking for acquisition targets, at a time when more companies seem to be sending feelers out for buyers. “I’ve heard from more people who want to sell in the last six months than I’ve heard in the past five years,” says Mark Kasper, president of Amerhart.
–John Caulfield
