Ace’s Planogram plan
Education sessions come – and – education sessions go.
But this one stuck.
Surfing with the flow of attendees along rows of booths at the Ace Hardware spring show in San Antonio, a voice stopped me.
“I’m headed over to the retail training center stage to get in line for the Planogram Change Management session. I heard it’s going to be a big crowd.” The voice was an Ace dealer talking to another Ace dealer but was right in my ear – and I was walking there too.
The Ace keynote speaker the day before had told a crowd in the auditorium it was going to be a big help for Ace dealers, saying it would cut time, reduce those green totes in every owner’s storage area and save money.
The attendee wasn’t kidding – big crowd – standing room only and flowing back into the aisles in all directions.
Nick McCafferty, from Ace category management, looked out over the sea of dealers and said quietly into his microphone, “keeping up discovery changes, is going to be critical to a store’s success.”
His soft tone quieted the mass of voices immediately.
He said, “this software program is integrated with Epicor and Mango.”
A few heads turned around to look back over their shoulders. Those companies’ booths were strategically positioned right in the facing aisle.
“We’re talking about L1, L2 and L3 item changes,” said co-speaker Mary Cimarusti, from AceNet order management.
Video screens flashed examples of software screens.
“Step one is to select your reset option, which you can use for every category reset in your hardware store,” said McCafferty.
He pointed out two options to the crowd. One was for rolling in product changes in increments, the other was for product delivered all at once.
“Step two is assessing the scope,” he said, “that means entering the scope of work and the delivery date.”
As the screens flashed more examples of how-to software screens for entering data, he said “step three is simply taking action.”
Lots of cell phone were snapping photos and some attendees were writing notes.
Afterward, several dealers leaving the training center area were talking with each other and comparing notes closely.
Ace held many educational sessions during the spring event, but this one was the most crowded with dealers learning about more efficient ways to deploy their software to help save time and money.
