White Cap Breaks New Ground - HD Supply

FEATUREDDISTRIBUTORby Tom Hammelwww.ContractorSupplyMagazine.com AUG | SEP 2012Adjacent to the sales counter, the Traderwall showcases products promoted inWhite Cap’s monthly Contractor Tradermini catalog. White Cap produces 13regional editions of the Trader, which itmails to select customers and hands outin stores and on sales calls.customer pick-up points?’ ” Stegemansays. “Our recent greenfieldstores in Lafayette, La., and Conroe,Texas were both easily bolted ontoexisting networks.”“We have opportunities even inour strongest markets to fill in servicegaps. We want the contractor tothink of White Cap because of therelationships we build with them,our knowledgeable associates, ourprofessional service and our productoffering.”1,000 PERCENTCUSTOMER FOCUSEDTo DeAngelo and Stegeman,the key to successful acquisition isthe same as it is for a successfulcompany, a culture that is completelyfocused on the customer.“We frame our execution around acouple of simple things,” DeAngeloexplains. “First, we are 100 percentfocused on our customer and theurgency of performing perfectly forour customer every day. We haveover 450,000 customers and we sellover one million sku’s.”“AS OWNERS WE FOCUS ON LONG-TERMVALUE CREATION. DURING THE DOWNTURNWE INVESTED MORE IN NEW TALENT THANANY OF OUR COMPETITORS.”— JOE DEANGELO, CEO, HD SUPPLY“Secondly, as owners we focus onlong-term value creation. During thedownturn we invested more in newtalent than any of our competitors,”DeAngelo continues. “John Stegeman,Ian Heller and Ross Ankerare just a few examples, and whatJohn has added to the all-star teamthat Bob Jacoby brought to us withWhite Cap gives us the opportunityto make a real difference in thismarket.”No one wants to endure a painfuldownturn, but HD Supply learnedand adapted. It trimmed its portfolio,selling off those divisions (includingits lumber, plumbing and industrialpipe, valve and fitting businesses)where the company wasn’t eitheralready the number one player orwithin striking distance of becomingthe market leader.“Then we doubled down on ourkey investments and made sure wehad solid strategic growth initiatives,”DeAngelo adds. “We got oursystems in place so we can scaleeffortlessly as the markets return.Those investments are alreadypaying off for us.”Through it all, HD Supply andWhite Cap focused on key customergroups and on developing strategiesto most effectively cultivate eachgroup.Each of the eight businesses in HDSupply has a line-of-business president,who works under the umbrellaof HD Supply. The parent companysupplies financial backing for eachbusiness as needed and is a centralizedcenter for strategic business development,information technology,human resources, legal, marketing,communications and finance functionsfor the whole company.THE RIGHT TOOLFOR THE CUSTOMERThis umbrella system is designedto free up the divisions for what theydo best, focus on key customergroups and on developing strategiesto best appeal to each one.Stegeman sees distinct differencesbetween White Cap’s main customergroups and works to ensure each isserved to the best of the company’sability, while working to bring thebest attributes of each group to theothers.This means building lastingrelationships with traditionalcustomers, providing easy-to-useand comprehensive print offerings tocatalog buyers and paving the Webfor technology-driven buyers.“White Cap has great focus withmedium and large contractors today,but if we’re to do the right job developingour business then we shouldalso be a better distributor for smallercustomers,” Stegeman asserts.“Our job is to build relationships withCONTINUED ON PAGE 2624