White Cap Breaks New Ground - HD Supply

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BREAKSNEW GROUNDWHITE CAP AND HDSUPPLY AIM TO CHANGETHE LANDSCAPE OFDISTRIBUTIONFEATUREDDISTRIBUTORby Tom HammelIf you haven’t visited a White Capstore recently, you may be in fora surprise. Over the last year, thecompany has spent more than$5 million remerchandising nearly70 of its 133 stores, installingnew fixtures and signage, and bringingin new product in key categories.The new showrooms are cleanand welcoming with a pleasing,clutter-free abundance of inventory.Everywhere your eye falls, product islogically displayed, clearly signed andwithin easy reach. Some stores, suchas the branch in greater Chicago,Ill., have also moved to higher-trafficlocations to attract more walk-incontractor customers.It’s all according to plan — thereset program is designed to createa more aligned look and feel acrossWhite Cap stores, a more uniformexperience for customers and — notincidentally — a more standardizedline card across the company.Positioning and remerchandisingits stores is one element of the company’scomprehensive master planto capture the largest possible shareof purchasing dollars in its markets.It’s all about consumer awareness,which is what White Cap is seekingto capture at every level of theconstruction and industrial markets.A LEAGUE OF THEIR OWNWith seven lines of business anda Canadian operation ranging fromcontractor supplies to waterworks,MRO and utilities/electrical supply,HD Supply spans the constructionand industrial landscape of America.It’s a huge pie and HD Supply aimsto be number one in each of itsmarkets. With specialty constructionsupplies, that means White Cap.This is a big beast to get a handleon. HD Supply’s eight divisionsemploys some 14,000 professionalsin 640 locations across 45 states andnine Canadian provinces. Last year,HD Supply’s revenues hit $7 billion.That figure is down significantly fromthe $9.8 billion HD Supply reportedin 2007, but the company has alsorecently reported eight consecutivequarters of growth. The companyis hitting the comeback trail with avengeance.White Cap is one of HD Supply’sCONTINUED ON PAGE 20www.ContractorSupplyMagazine.com AUG | SEP 201219
FEATUREDDISTRIBUTORby Tom Hammelwww.ContractorSupplyMagazine.com AUG | SEP 2012In White Cap’s greater Chicagobranch, each display is cappedwith easy-to-read bilingual signage.Sign design, color schemes andfonts are consistent throughout thestore — and from one store to thenext as the company moves to astandardized visual presentation.four largest divisions. The other “bigfour” businesses are Waterworks,Facilities Maintenance and PowerSolutions (the combined utilities andelectrical supply).HD Supply’s four smaller divisionsinclude California-based Repair andRemodel, which supplies homeimprovement products and buildingmaterials to remodeling contractors,tradesmen and DIYers; and CreativeTouch Interiors (CTI), which suppliesflooring, cabinets, counter tops,window coverings and designservices for residential andcommercial projects.Rounding out HD Supply’s smallerdivisions are Crown Bolt and HDSupply Canada. Describing Crownas a smaller division is a relative term— Crown is one of the largest retailconsumer hardware suppliers in theU.S. — its largest customer is theHome Depot itself.White Cap itself employs nearly2,700 people in 133 stores in29 states, plus three distributioncenters, in Sacramento, Dallas and“THE ONLY WAY YOU CAN GROW IS TOHAVE GREAT PEOPLE.” — JOHN STEGEMAN, PRESIDENT, WHITE CAP CONSTRUCTION SUPPLYAtlanta. White Cap’s outside salesforce alone numbers more than 400professionals.On the horizon is an entry into theNortheast with branches in Newark,N.J. and Boston, Mass.ALL STAR LEADERSHIPKeeping all those people on thesame page is a major undertakingand is a central focus for thecompany as it pursues its nationalpositioning strategy and aggressivegrowth goals. White Cap and HDSupply’s leadership team subscribesto what might be termed a nucleartheory of growth, harnessing andconcentrating basic elements tounleash tremendous energy thatradiates in many directions at once.Safety products arefront and center inthe newly relocatedgreater Chicagostore, displayed bycategory for easybrowsing withharnesses in onearea, jackets andgloves in another.It takes steady hands at thecontrols just to maintain an enginethis large, to say nothing of growingit. To handle the job, HD Supply andWhite Cap have built an all-star teamto drive growth and manage theinteraction of the eight divisions.Captain of the team is the CEO ofHD Supply, Joe DeAngelo. He joinedThe Home Depot in April 2004 assenior vice president of its ProBusiness and Tool Rental divisions.His resume includes General Electricand executive vice president ofStanley Works. When HD Supplyspun away from Home Depot in2007, Joe took the helm.In April 2010, DeAngelo broughtin industry veteran John Stegeman.One of Stegeman’s jobs as executivepresident of HD Supply was to find anew president for White Cap, but heloved White Cap’s business opportunityso much he encouraged DeAngelointo letting him take the job.Stegeman in turn brought in RossAnker from MSC Industrial Supply tobe vice president of merchandising.Ian Heller, White Cap’s vice presidentof marketing, came from Grainger,and several other key team playersfollowed Stegeman over fromFerguson Supply, where he hadbeen president and CEO.CONTINUED ON PAGE 2220
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