Several weeks out from its Spring Dealer Market in New Orleans, Orgill has announced several new vendor partnerships designed to augment its product selection and provide additional options to both its current customers and retailers seeking new sources of supply.

 

From Big Green Egg and GE Lighting to Feathered Friend and Sunnyside, these new vendor partnerships include many of the home improvement industry’s leading brands, and all of the new vendors will be present at Orgill’s Dealer Market, which is scheduled for Feb. 20-22 at the Ernest N. Morial Convention Center in New Orleans.

 

“Orgill serves possibly the most diverse base of retail customers of any distributor in this industry,” says Boyden Moore, Orgill’s president and CEO. “From many of the industry’s top pro dealers to suburban hardware stores and farm and ranch dealers, we are constantly working to build a more robust range of products to meet all of these dealer’s needs and we think these new partnerships are a good illustration of those efforts.”

 

Moore says with many of the recent changes in the industry’s distributor makeup, Orgill wants to ensure that retailers looking for new or alternate sources of supply have access to the familiar products and brands available through their former suppliers.

 

“We know a lot of retailers are weighing their options when it comes to suppliers, so we wanted to make sure we could offer them access to the same vendors they were familiar with and that resonate with customers in their trading areas,” Moore says. “Not only does this allow them to support the brands their customers have grown accustomed to but it also makes any kind of conversion to Orgill even easier.”

 

Expanding its vendor network and establishing new relationships has always been a focus for Orgill, says new executive vice president and chief operating officer Clay Jackson, and these recent vendor additions are part of this ongoing evolution.

 

“Ensuring our customers have efficient and cost-effective access to brands, assortments and the latest in product innovation so they can be successful in their markets is really at the heart of what we should be doing as a distributor,” says Jackson, who recently joined Orgill after spending more than two decades with Tractor Supply Company. “The better job we do partnering with vendors, establishing new relationships and strengthening existing relationships, the better job we can do serving the unique, market-focused needs of our customers.”

 

Below is a partial list of some of the new vendors Orgill has added to its current selection and who will be on hand at the Spring Dealer Market:

 

Big Green Egg (ceramic cookers)—Orgill will be offering the entire line of cookers and accessories through a drop-ship program. The vendor will be in attendance at the market in New Orleans to share more details on the assortment and how to become a Big Green Egg retailer.

 

Savant/GE (lightbulbs)—Previously, Orgill’s relationship with GE was limited to select products through only a few distribution centers. Now, Orgill has more than 450 SKUs that will be supported across all U.S. warehouse locations, says Heath Kennedy, Orgill director, Hardlines Merchandise.

 

“These products are extremely popular and now we can offer them to our entire U.S. dealer network, providing support through whichever distribution center they are currently utilizing,” Kennedy says.

 

Legrand/Pass & Seymour (electrical devices)—Orgill has added more than 400 SKUs to its selection of electrical and wiring products from Legrand/Pass & Seymour

 

“These new SKUs will seamlessly complement our core assortment of electrical devices with Eaton, enhancing our product offering and providing additional value to our customers,” Kennedy says. 

 

Broan Nutone (bathroom ventilation systems)—Orgill is adding 58 new SKUs from Broan Nutone to further enhance its selection of ventilation products and augment the products available from its other supplier in the category, Air King.

 

EcoFlo (utility pumps and well accessories)—Orgill has added a full product assortment of more than 75 SKUs including utility pumps and accessories at all of its U.S. distribution facilities.

 

Feathered Friend (bird seed)—Orgill has signed an agreement with Global Harvest to be the exclusive provider of the Feathered Friend brand to the channel and will carry their assortments across the distribution network, says Alan Shore, Orgill director of seasonal merchandise.

 

“We think this is really big news for both Orgill and Feathered Friend,” Shore says. “This is an extremely popular and well-respected brand, particularly for hardware and farm and ranch dealers, and now it is available exclusively through Orgill.”

 

Sunnyside (solvents and kerosene)—Orgill has added 21 SKUs to its warehouse from Sunnyside, a well-recognized name within the thinners, solvents and paint removers category.

 

DR Power (specialty outdoor power equipment)—This provider of specialty outdoor power equipment had been offered as a drop-ship vendor through Orgill but now, the distributor will be carrying six of DR’s most popular SKUs in its warehouses.

 

FoxFarm (specialty fertilizers and soil)—Orgill will be offering a warehouse and drop-ship program to cover any product need with highly competitive pricing.

 

Penofin (exterior stains and wood preservative products)—The addition of these stains and preservatives further rounds out Orgill’s paint and coatings offering and includes the addition of more than 140 new SKUs.

 

“The addition of all of these new vendors are part of a strategy here at Orgill to listen to the market, listen to our customers and respond proactively to meet their needs,” Shore says. “Because we serve such a diverse customer base with retailers of all types, sizes and locations, it is that much more important we actively work to build those vendor relationships that will meet all of our customers’ needs. That’s our goal, and I’m sure we will have even more new vendors added in the coming weeks.”

 

To be proactive about adding new vendors and products, the company has also taken steps to make it easier for retailers to keep up on any new products or vendor relationships with the addition of a “New Vendor” webpage on Orgill.com, Jackson says. 

 

“With things moving so quickly and our merchandising team being so proactive in building new vendor relationships, we wanted to have an easy place where our customers could quickly and easily find out about all these new additions,” Jackson says. “Between our Dealer Market and the New Vendor page on Orgill.com, it should be clear to our customers or those considering doing business with Orgill that we are deeply committed to continuing the evolution of our merchandising assortment to better meet the needs of today’s retailers in this channel.”