- Investing resources to support and grow the Canadian home improvement network and further leverage the Ace brand
- Ace dealers poised to receive more attractive product pricing, marketing support, a dedicated website with a platform for online sales and broader offering
Boucherville, QC , 2017-Mar-22 — /EPR Retail News/ — Lowe’s Canada today (February 16, 2017) announced that it is investing resources to support and grow the entire independent retailer network and to further leverage the Ace dealer support program. The company plans on enhancing dealer growth by fostering marketing support, growing the Ace product offering, and providing even more attractive product pricing.
“Our goal is to support Ace dealer sales growth and profitability by establishing a dynamic dealer support program that offers our dealers a better share in their markets,” said Alain Brisebois, Executive Vice President of Affiliated Dealers. “We strongly believe in independent retailers, a key vector for our growth. Within this context, investing in Ace programs will ensure a successful longer term outcome.”
After a detailed and complete business review that included customers, products, programs and facilities, a decision has been reached to integrate the Ace Canada distribution and business centres into existing Lowe’s Canada facilities. This decision will allow Ace dealers to benefit from lower cost of goods and to connect to Lowe’s Canada retail intelligence.
“The Ace brand has a strong reputation for quality products and services. The purpose of this transition is to drive growth throughout the Ace Canada dealer network,” said Brisebois. “Integrating these operations in the Lowe’s Canada facilities and systems is a pre-requisite to offering dealers a dedicated website with a platform for online sales and allowing them to take advantage of an omni-channel strategy.”
The integration of operations will result in the closing of the Winnipeg, Manitoba distribution centre and head office and the Kitchener, Ontario distribution centre, which will be completed in the company’s fourth quarter this year. Moving forward, Ace head office functions in Winnipeg will relocate to the Lowe’s Canada regional office in Mississauga, Ontario. The existing distribution network in Calgary, Alberta and in Boucherville, Quebec, as well as the Lowe’s Canada head office in Boucherville, will be leveraged to continue serving Ace dealers previously served in Winnipeg and Kitchener.
Lowe’s Canada will make every effort to ensure a smooth transition with resources that actively support employees, dealers, vendors and customers. The company will ensure all dealers continue to be served throughout the transition from the Winnipeg distribution centre until the end of August and the Kitchener distribution centre until late fall. Lowe’s Canada will also continue to recruit and grow the Ace dealer network across the country.
About Lowe’s Canada
Lowe’s Companies, Inc. (NYSE: LOW) is a FORTUNE® 50 home improvement company serving more than 17 million customers a week in the United States, Canada and Mexico. With fiscal year 2015 sales of $59.1 billion, Lowe’s and its related businesses operate or service more than 2,355 home improvement and hardware stores and employ over 285,000 employees. Based in Boucherville, Quebec, Lowe’s Canadian business, together with its wholly owned subsidiary, RONA, inc., operates over 535 corporate and independent affiliate dealer stores in a number of complementary formats under different banners. These include Lowe’s, RONA, Réno-Dépôt, Marcil, Dick’s Lumber and Ace. In Canada, the companies have more than 24,000 employees, as well as more than 5,000 employees in the stores of RONA’s independent affiliate dealers. For more information, visit Lowes.ca.
For more information, please contact:
Valérie Gonzalo
Media Relations
Lowe’s Canada – RONA
Tel 514.626.6976
media@rona.ca
Source: Lowe’s Companies, Inc.