Fall 2018 Hardlines Strategies

COMPANY NEWS

How Do You Go To Market?

Making Quality a Priority A top priority for Blish-Mize is ensuring it sends its customers the right products in a timely manner. One way to do so is through a strong quality assurance program, which the distribution center has put in place to check orders before they are shipped to customers. There are several steps the team takes to ensure orders are accurate, says Greg Lutz, executive vice president of operations. All items picked are scanned to verify the picks are accurate, and all employees who In the 2018 NCAA Men’s Basketball Tournament, the Kansas State Wildcats were on a roll. One family and Blish-Mize customer wanted to make sure everyone knew it too. Frankfort Lumber owners Earl and Annie Stueve, GM Sam Stueve, Sam’s son Max, Sam’s wife Ronessa Stueve and Ronessa’s parents Ronda and Rob Strome were decked out in K-State gear at the Spring Buying Market. “It’s not every year your team makes a run deep into the tournament, and for them to play on a big weekend like this one was something special,” Sam Stueve says. his family in “driving” an old-school wood-panel station wagon during the Spring 2018 Blish-Mize Buying Market in Overland Park, Kansas. The theme of the Market was Spring Break, bringing a festive vibe for attendees. This old-school “woodie” design was a favorite in the 1940s, especially in movies of the time, and was revived by classics of surf-rock like The Beach Boys in the 1960s. Market-goers were able to enjoy the fun of spring while also cashing in on great deals for the coming buying season. Michael Wilborn of Rockin M Mercantile in Ringling, Oklahoma, joins

Blish-Mize Customer Honored Brent Melby, co-owner of Melby’s Home Center in Scandia, Kansas, was recently nominated for the North American Retail Hardware Association’s Young Retailer of the Year. The program honors independent retailers 35 years old or younger for their successes in their businesses. The Melbys bought their business in 2015, reset the store and updated inventory. Sales have increased each year since, and many customers have complimented the updated look and product selection.

fulfill orders are part of an incentivized accuracy audit program. Any error sent back to the distribution center is reviewed and researched internally and shared with the employee who picked the order to reduce the possibility of the errors being repeated. “Our employees understand the importance of getting the correct product to our customers,” says Lutz. “In our distribution center, our focus is on accuracy, from the receiving door to the customer’s store.”

42 Fall 2018 • Hardlines Strategies