BY MICHAEL BEAUDOIN
Executive Vice President, ALLPRO
LIKE MANY SUCCESSFUL BUSINESSES, ALLPRO is in a constant state of evolution to ensure we are more impactful in the future than we are today. This is an important discipline in any business to keep challenging your model and looking for ways to become better and adapt to the changing times. The trends in our industry are very apparent—our members are expanding by adding stores and acquiring other members and suppliers are looking to ship larger orders to combat the increasing freight costs.
To gear the group for the future, ALLPRO has invested extensive resources to open distribution centers that help all members meet the demands of the changing industry. As suppliers raise minimum orders, we have the option for the distribution centers to purchase larger orders and make products available to members. This strategy is evident in the caulk and tape categories where there is considerable growth coming from the distribution centers. The great thing about the ALLPRO distribution model is that all members—from the single store to the largest multistore chain—receive the same benefits.
There is also the trend from the largest suppliers to only want to engage the largest customers. We combat this by allowing all members to use their warehouses as a “bill to” to make products available to them competitively. In times where sales are growing slower and margins are challenged, members have the option of the distribution centers where they get 60-day terms to help with cash flow. We will always be a direct buying group; however, it is nice to have the distribution centers to augment the direct buy when it makes sense.
Investment and evolution are not just limited to warehouses—our strategy also includes people. ALLPRO has expanded by adding new people such as Bradley Calkins and Annette Jones, who have been instrumental in upgrading and developing all aspects of our systems to ensure they are secure and robust enough to handle the demands of the future. This is not an easy task when we interface with over 160 suppliers and process close to 1 million invoices per year. We also added Melissa Cuebas in accounting to accommodate for the increasing number of warehouse orders per day and all the deliveries needed to keep the warehouses in stock. These additions are on top of the warehouse managers, assistant managers and warehouse associates needed to run the growing operation.
Regardless of the challenges in the future, we will always invest and work hard to help our stakeholders succeed.
