CHHMA - EYE ON OUR INDUSTRY
Volume 14, Issue 38, October 9, 2014

Inside This Issue:

• Register Now for Information Session on Canadian Data Synchronization
• CHHMA to Conduct ‘LinkedIn for Sales’ Hands-On Workshop – November 12
• Industry Memorial Golf Classic Recap
• RCR Announces the Appointment of Christian Ladouceur as EVP Sales & Marketing
• CSSA Annual Steward Meeting – October 15
• Hardlines Conference Set for October 22-23
• Target CEO Makes Canadian Turnaround His Priority
• Costco’s Fourth Quarter Earnings Beat Estimates
• Retail Giants Walmart, Sears and Lowe’s are Suffering in Canada
• Concerns Over Sears Canada Persist
• RONA Celebrates Its 75th Anniversary
• Condos Push Canadian Housing Starts Higher in September
• Canadian Building Permits Drop in August from Record High in July
• Canada’s Real Estate Market On Pace for Hot Start to Autumn
• IMF Cuts Economic Growth but Canadian Economy Remains Solid
• Canada Losing Its Edge Online Because of Slow Digital Take-up by Firms
• Latest U.S. Economic News


Association News

Register Now for Information Session on Canadian Data Synchronization    
 
Many vendors have been getting pressure from customers to comply with data synchronization and it will only increase in the coming years. There has been a lot of confusion and misinformation about data synchronization and the inter-operability of various networks. The CHHMA has been lobbying retailers to keep an open and competitive environment and not limit the marketplace to one exclusive service provider for data synchronization in Canada. Costs for setting up your products can be significant, so it is
important that you are aware of your various options. 

Therefore, the CHHMA will be conducting an information session on Thursday, October 30, 2014, at a Toronto Airport Area location (TBA) to help clarify the situation.  Read More >>    


CHHMA to Conduct ‘LinkedIn for Sales’ Hands-On Workshop – November 12  
 
The CHHMA will be holding a hands-on workshop (bring your laptops!) on the morning of Wednesday, November 12, 2014 on the topic of ‘LinkedIn for Sales’. The session will be presented by Monique Macarico, a Social Media and Search Engine Marketing Consultant and Strategist from eCommerce Business Solutions.

Learn how you can use the power of LinkedIn for lead generation and increased business exposure including:
- Lead mining techniques: finding and generating leads within LinkedIn and the tool to make this process effective
- Techniques on how to market your business on LinkedIn effectively
- How to leverage using LinkedIn groups to increase business exposure and leads
- Qualifying leads with content marketing and how to integrate it into LinkedIn
- Communication techniques and strategies

The workshop will be held at a Toronto airport area location (to be advised) from 8:00 a.m. to 11:30 a.m.

Cost of $125 +HST and there will be a limit of 25 persons only.

Further details and registration will be available next week – so mark your calendar now.


Industry Memorial Golf Classic Recap
 
The 13th Annual Industry Memorial Golf Classic took place last week at the Blue Springs Golf Club in Acton, Ontario.

It was bit of an overcast day but the beautiful scenery and casual, fun atmosphere made for a great day out on the course with industry colleagues, peers and customers.

Once again, we had great support from the management team of Home Hardware with Terry Davis, Joel Marks and John Dyksterhuis and a number of buyers attending the event. 

The Memorial Golf Classic is held on behalf of the hardware and housewares industry and honours stalwarts from the industry who have recently passed away. A successful silent auction was held as well ,which in addition to hole sponsorships and event passport purchases by the golfers, raised money for the CHHMA Scholarship Program.

We would like to thank all the sponsors and numerous companies that donated items for the auction and all the individuals who bid on them. 

Click here to see a full recap and photos from the day. 


Member News
 
RCR Announces the Appointment of Christian Ladouceur as EVP Sales & Marketing   
 
RCR is pleased to announce the appointment of Christian Ladouceur as Executive Vice President Sales & Marketing, effective October 20th, 2014.

Mr. Ladouceur joins RCR with over 20 years of professional experience in sales and marketing in the building products sector.

He was also Vice President Sales & Marketing for Retailers at Richelieu Hardware for 9 years.

His background and experience are well suited for leading the sales and marketing efforts at RCR. Christian obtained a Bachelor’s degree in Science from Université Laval.

c.ladouceur@rcrint.com  
450-670-8100


Stewardship News

CSSA Annual Steward Meeting – October 15
 
Stewards are reminded of the change of date for the Canadian Stewardship Services Alliance (CSSA) Annual Steward Meeting where fee schedules for programs in British Columbia, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and Ontario will be presented.

The new date for the meeting is Wednesday, October 15, 10-1 PDT/ 12-3 CDT/ 1-4 EDT.

The CSSA needed to move the meeting to mid-October from the originally scheduled September 25 date due to a number of factors, including the receipt of some late steward reports, and extra time and care being taken in verifying data to ensure accurate calculations for each program's fees.  Read More >>


Industry News
 
Hardlines Conference Set for October 22-23      

The 19th Annual Hardlines Conference is taking place in a few weeks time (October 22-23, 2014) at the Sheraton Toronto Airport Hotel and Conference Facility, 801 Dixon Road. It is always a great event to network, learn about the latest trends and hear from top leaders within the home improvement industry.

Also consider attending the 2014 Outstanding Retailer Awards (ORAs) Gala Dinner & Awards which happens during the first evening of the conference, Wednesday, Oct. 22, 5:30 - 8:30 p.m. The ORAs are the “Academy Awards” of home improvement retailing and honour the industry’s finest retailers.

Click here for a full line-up of the speakers & topics and to register.  


Target CEO Makes Canadian Turnaround His Priority 

Target Corp. executives are evaluating the retailer’s Canadian locations on a store-by-store basis after an abysmal start in this country in a bid to correct “the fundamentals,” the retailer’s new CEO said Wednesday.

“Every store has to improve,” Brian Cornell said in a BNN television interview as he attended a national Canadian meeting at the company’s Mississauga headquarters with executives, corporate employees and some store leaders and staff.  

“I’m not happy with our performance in Canada today. Mark [Schindele, Target Canada president], is not happy. Our leadership team is not happy.”  Read More >>
 

Costco’s Fourth Quarter Earnings Beat Estimates 
 
Costco Wholesale Corp.’s profit topped analysts’ estimates for the first time in five quarters, helped by strong back-to-school sales and higher membership fees.

The company’s strong results are a bright spot in a retail sector that has struggled to attract customers, who have been curbing spending due to stagnant wages and higher taxes.  Costco is consistently outperforming competitors like Wal-Mart and Target through its simple strategy for winning — concentrating on driving sales.  Read More >>


Retail Giants Walmart, Sears and Lowe’s are Suffering in Canada

If U.S. retailers had any doubts about whether Canada can be a cash cow after the Target debacle, the pending impact of online sales on revenue in this country might do the job.

Walmart Canada Corp., Target Canada Corp., Sears Canada Inc. and Lowe’s Canada — all large-format retailers with origins in the U.S. — are either posting diminishing returns or operating losses, says a new state of the retail industry report from Desjardins Securities analyst Keith Howlett.  Read More >> 
 

Concerns Over Sears Canada Persist
 
Further to last week’s announcement by parent company Sears Holdings Corp. that it plans to sell most of its stake in Sears Canada through a $380 million (U.S.) rights offering, Sears Canada Inc. announced on Tuesday that it has filed a preliminary prospectus with the Ontario Securities Commission and a registration statement with the United States Securities and Exchange Commission for the rights offering of up to 40 million common shares of the company. The company has filed a registration statement with the Securities and Exchange Commission relating to the common shares but it has not yet become effective. 

In addition, Sears Canada also gave an update on its Montreal distribution centre sayings that after a comprehensive evaluation of the company's logistics network for current and future needs.

“The odds are against Sears Canada,” said David Tawil, president of New York hedge fund Maglan Capital, which follows distressed companies.  Read More >>


RONA Celebrates Its 75th Anniversary
 
On Monday, October 6, RONA inc. celebrated its 75th anniversary. Over that period, the company has seen many changes and operated under different corporate names, but one thing has remained constant: RONA has always been passionate about serving its customers.  Throughout the month of October, special promotions and activities are planned to celebrate the anniversary in all its stores from coast to coast.  Read More >>


Economic News
 
Condos Push Canadian Housing Starts Higher in September
 
Canadian housing starts rose modestly in September as builders broke ground on more multiple-unit dwellings, typically condominiums, data showed on Wednesday.  The report from the Canada Mortgage and Housing Corporation (CMHC) showed housing starts climbed to a seasonally adjusted annualized rate (SAAR) of 197,343 units last month from an upwardly revised 196,283 units in August.  Read More >>


Canadian Building Permits Drop in August from Record High in July
 
Canadian building permits plunged from a record in August, led by lower intentions for medical buildings in Quebec and multiple-unit housing in Ontario. The value of municipal permits fell 27.3% to $6.65 billion from July’s record $9.15 billion, Statistics Canada said Tuesday. The decline exceeded economists’ median estimate of a 6.5% decrease. Year-over-year, building permits are up 2.4%.  Read More >>


Canada’s Real Estate Market On Pace for Hot Start to Autumn     

There are early indications that September appears to have been another strong month for Canadian home sales.

That is based on data that some local real estate boards have released in recent days about how their housing markets fared last month. The number of existing homes that changed hands in Toronto was up 10.9% from a year earlier, in Calgary it was up almost 12%, and in Vancouver 17.7%. And that’s in comparison to a reasonably strong month: sales in September, 2013, were slightly above the 10-year average for that month.   Read More >>


IMF Cuts Economic Growth but Canadian Economy Remains Solid  

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) cut its outlook for global economic growth, an acknowledgement that there are limits to the United States’ ability to power the world economy on its own. The U.S.’s GDP will expand 2.2% in 2014, the IMF said in a revised outlook, a remarkable achievement given U.S. GDP contracted in the first quarter. The forecast is a half percentage point higher than it was when the fund last updated its estimates in July, making a memory of the harsh winter that momentarily killed the U.S.’s economic momentum.

Canada is among a group of advanced economies along with Britain, Norway and some others that the IMF characterized as “solid.” The IMF raised its outlook for Canada’s GDP growth this year to 2.3% and in 2015 to 2.4%, from 2.2% and 2.3%, respectively.  Read More >>

 

Canada Losing Its Edge Online Because of Slow Digital Take-up by Firms       

Some of North America’s most influential online companies warn that Canada is losing its international edge on the Internet because businesses are slow to take up digital technology.  The Internet Association, a group that calls itself the voice of “America’s leading Internet companies” including Google and Facebook, released a paper Tuesday on Canada’s competitiveness in the digital economy.

The paper points to statistics showing Canadians are among the most enthusiastic users of the Internet in the world, taking into account the time they spend online and their social networking habits.  But small- and medium-sized businesses are another matter. Only 3% of the Canadian retail economy is online compared with 23% in the United Kingdom. The contribution Internet companies in Canada make to the economy is far below that of other G20 countries.  Read More >>

 
Latest U.S. Economic News
 
U.S. home prices increased in August, yet the pace of these gains continues to slow, helping to improve affordability for would-be buyers.  Prices rose 6.4% in August compared with a year ago, real estate data provider CoreLogic said Tuesday. That marks a decline from an annual gain of 6.8 per cent in July. Home prices had been rising as much as 12% annually toward the end of last year.

U.S. employers stepped up hiring in September and the jobless rate fell to a six-year low, which could bolster bets on a Federal Reserve rate hike in mid-2015 or even earlier.  Last Friday’s report on hiring is the most significant gauge of the economy’s health ahead of Nov. 4 congressional elections.  Read More >> 

 

 Upcoming CHHMA Events 


Canadian Data Synchronization Information Session
Thursday, October 30, 2014
Toronto Airport Area Location TBA

LinkedIn for Sales Workshop
Wednesday, November 12, 2014
Toronto Airport Area Location TBA

Industry Cocktail
Thursday, December 11, 2014
Casino de Montreal, Montreal, Quebec

Canada Night
Held in Conjunction with the International Home+Housewares Show
Sunday, March 8, 2015
InterContinental Hotel, Chicago, Illinois

CHHMA Spring Conference & AGM
Wednesday, April 8, 2015
International Centre (Conference Facility), Mississauga, Ontario

CHHMA Maple Leaf Night
Held in Conjunction with the National Hardware Show
Tuesday, May 5, 2015
The Mirage Hotel & Casino, Las Vegas, Nevada

CHHMA Ontario Golf Tournament
Tuesday, May 26, 2015
Angus Glen Golf Club, Markham, Ontario

CHHMA Industry Calendar

To register for all events visit our website at www.chhma.ca or call Pam Winter at (416) 282-0022 ext.21.

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"Eye On Our Industry" is published by the CHHMA as an information resource for our members. Member input regarding content and format is welcomed. Please contact Michael Jorgenson by email: mjorgenson@chhma.ca, or call at (416) 282-0022, ext. 34. CHHMA is located at 1335 Morningside Ave., Suite 101, Scarborough, ON, M1B 5M4 www.chhma.ca

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