House-Hasson gets in the race

Growth in the northern portion of its 17-state service area is the reason House-Hasson Hardware is paying its first dealer market visit to Lexington, Kentucky, and to mark the occasion the company is taking its dealers and their families to a day of horse racing.

The “Triple Crown Dealer Market” opens Thursday, Oct. 8, at the Lexington Convention Center, with a seminar on House-Hasson’s Electronic Toolbox (E-Toolbox), which House-Hasson President Don Hasson says is now in use by some 1,200 of the company’s more than 2,000 dealers.

“As dealers see the advantages, more are using the E-Toolbox all the time,” Hasson said.

E-Toolbox is the company’s catalog, ordering system, retail price management system and a paperless portal to conduct business with House-Hasson.

Lexington was chosen as the fall dealer market site because, “We’ve had exceptional growth in terms of sales and new dealers in states north of our Knoxville, Tennessee, headquarters, and because it’s closer to our second major distribution center in West Virginia,” Hasson said.

The expanded business was taking place even before House-Hasson completed its July 2015 acquisition of Long-Lewis Hardware of Birmingham, Alabama, adding some 500 new stores to House-Hasson’s dealer roster, Hasson said.

House-Hasson is treating each of its dealers to four complimentary tickets to attend Keeneland Race Course’s Fall Race Meeting on Oct. 8. Keeneland is a National Historic Landmark.

“Kentucky is a horse racing capital,” Hasson said. “This is something new and different, and we’re gratified by the excitement our dealers are showing in the market and in the opportunity to go to the races,” Hasson said.

Ron Yatteau, House-Hasson’s online services director, will conduct the E-Toolbox seminar.

“We’ll be demonstrating some of the new functions of E-Toolbox; a preview of what’s coming in terms of mobile apps dealers can use; how they can use CipherLab portable scanners to conduct a physical inventory and update their quantity on hand in their point of sale computer system,” Yatteau said.

“We’re also encouraging dealers to go paperless at the market,” he said. “Customers can check in an order with the CipherLab scanner and E-toolbox.net. They no longer need to check things off on a paper invoice.”

Hasson dealers can order from the market floor using their CipherLabs, and can quickly analyze their stores’ assortment compared with one of House-Hasson’s core assortments.

“This helps a dealer find items that the store doesn’t carry that if it had in stock would lead to more sales,” Hasson said. “It’s all about dealer profitability. The more we help make our hardware store and lumberyard dealers profitable, the better we’re doing our job.”