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Ace Hardware, now America’s largest hardware wholesaler, is continuing to pursue its goal of international expansion
The significance of Ace’s international commitment is demonstrated by the very size of the department involved, which has a staff of 51, making it bigger than that of any other US hardware wholesaler operating on a global scale.
Ace has actively served retail partners in countries outside the US since 1963, when it signed up the first stores in Guam, an island in the Pacific about 5 000 km west of San Francisco. It has six there now. Not until 1990 did the company make a major commitment to grow the international business, however. In 1992 Paul Ingevaldson was named vice president international and in 1994 an international board committee was established. In 1996 Ace Canada opened, and is today a major player in that market.
The Ace wholesale hardware cooperative serves affiliated stores in 70 countries.
International business now represents four per cent of sales, with Canada alone accounting for 1.5 % of the total. The company serves retailers in 70 countries around the world, although at 52 per cent the largest amount of international business comes from Latin America. Ace’s ten top markets abroad are, in order, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, Guam, Ecuador, Saipan, Chile, Guatemala, Netherlands Antilles, Samoa and Costa Rica. It signed licensing agreements in Indonesia in 1995, in the Philippines in 1996, Malaysia in 1997, Taiwan in 1998, and Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong in 2000. It expects to sign an agreement in China this year.
Over the years Ace has learned that the product and programme needs of its international partners often differ from those of Ace dealers in America. What is more, they already sell products that do not come from the US, and most overseas markets have a preference for European styling. Their stores are as a rule of a bigger size than is usual in America, and tend to be general stores rather than pure hardware outlets. In most cases international accounts are licensed to use the Ace name and programmes and so forth, and do not necessarily become members of the cooperative, as do stores at home in America.
Recently Ace has taken some key retailers on buying trips to European and Asian sources. One result of this is an arrangement with Lux, the German tool marketing firm. To ensure that the affiliated retailers are as successful as possible in their local marketplaces, Ace’s marketing department helps them devise individual strategies and special circulars for new openings. The buying staff works on export programmes, organises logistics, offers special programmes and aggressively seeks opportunistic buys. In this area Ace completed the first step in Europe’s direction when it came to a cooperative agreement with Euro-Mat, the European building materials buying cooperative, at this year’s DIY’TEC/Hardware Fair in Cologne.
Ace Hardware was founded in 1924. Nowadays it is a cooperative with members who are independent retailers from the hardware, DIY, timber and building materials sectors with over 5 500 stores in 50 American states and 69 other countries around the world.
Last year saw Ace overtake Tru Serve, until then the largest American hardware wholesaler, with wholesale sales of US $ 2.89 bn. The cooperative gained 220 new stores, 172 of them the result of dealer-defections from other cooperatives.
Ace has actively served retail partners in countries outside the US since 1963, when it signed up the first stores in Guam, an island in the Pacific about 5 000 km west of San Francisco. It has six there now. Not until 1990 did the company make a major commitment to grow the international business, however. In 1992 Paul Ingevaldson was named vice president international and in 1994 an international board committee was established. In 1996 Ace Canada opened, and is today a major player in that market.
The Ace wholesale hardware cooperative serves affiliated stores in 70 countries.
International business now represents four per cent of sales, with Canada alone accounting for 1.5 % of the total. The company serves retailers in 70 countries around the world, although at 52 per cent the largest amount of international business comes from Latin America. Ace’s ten top markets abroad are, in order, Puerto Rico, Saudi Arabia, Guam, Ecuador, Saipan, Chile, Guatemala, Netherlands Antilles, Samoa and Costa Rica. It signed licensing agreements in Indonesia in 1995, in the Philippines in 1996, Malaysia in 1997, Taiwan in 1998, and Singapore, Japan and Hong Kong in 2000. It expects to sign an agreement in China this year.
Over the years Ace has learned that the product and programme needs of its international partners often differ from those of Ace dealers in America. What is more, they already sell products that do not come from the US, and most overseas markets have a preference for European styling. Their stores are as a rule of a bigger size than is usual in America, and tend to be general stores rather than pure hardware outlets. In most cases international accounts are licensed to use the Ace name and programmes and so forth, and do not necessarily become members of the cooperative, as do stores at home in America.
Recently Ace has taken some key retailers on buying trips to European and Asian sources. One result of this is an arrangement with Lux, the German tool marketing firm. To ensure that the affiliated retailers are as successful as possible in their local marketplaces, Ace’s marketing department helps them devise individual strategies and special circulars for new openings. The buying staff works on export programmes, organises logistics, offers special programmes and aggressively seeks opportunistic buys. In this area Ace completed the first step in Europe’s direction when it came to a cooperative agreement with Euro-Mat, the European building materials buying cooperative, at this year’s DIY’TEC/Hardware Fair in Cologne.
Ace Hardware was founded in 1924. Nowadays it is a cooperative with members who are independent retailers from the hardware, DIY, timber and building materials sectors with over 5 500 stores in 50 American states and 69 other countries around the world.
Last year saw Ace overtake Tru Serve, until then the largest American hardware wholesaler, with wholesale sales of US $ 2.89 bn. The cooperative gained 220 new stores, 172 of them the result of dealer-defections from other cooperatives.
