Sold-Out Group Merchandising Conference Proves Beneficial For PRO Distributors & Manufacturing Partners

Atlanta, Georgia (June 9, 2006) - Home improvement industry distributors attended the second-annual Group Merchandising Conference organized by PRO Group, Inc. June 7-9 in Atlanta.

The meeting format involves 1,065 scheduled buyer/vendor appointments in private suites throughout the Embassy Suites Hotel, with Vendors offering conference specials and reviewing benefits of new products, merchandisers, displays and promotions to attending buyers. Attendees included 43 Distributor team members, 111 individuals representing Vendors and 10 PRO Group, Inc. personnel.

"Each attending Vendor has the opportunity to display their product lines in their private suite, which adds a hands-on component to the meeting," said Steve Synnott, president and chief operating officer of PRO Group, Inc.

"The quick sell-out of the PRO Group Merchandising Conference is a validation of the format that brings buyers and sellers together," Synnott said. "Both first-time exhibitors and long-term Group Key Suppliers report solid gains from this week's event."

Distributor Michael Brady, vice president, merchandising for the Birmingham, Alabama-based Long-Lewis Hardware Company, said of the conference, "The Group Merchandising Conference allows us to engage in discussions with a variety of Vendors where we aren't presently doing business. It gives us the opportunity to see new lines and products." At last year's conference, Brady came away with two new Vendors and stronger commitments with existing Vendors. "This event is different from others due to the expressed and planned follow-up through the use of the conference book," he said.

The book PRO Group provides to attendees allows participating Distributors to rate their interest in a Vendor and gives them the option to indicate their desire to invite the Vendor to a show or sales meeting, have samples sent, or to have the Vendor's local representative follow up in some manner.

Manufacturer Ann Nostin, director of sales for the Indianapolis-based Aearo, said the Group Merchandising Conference is valuable for her because it provides her company an opportunity to visit with key Distributor Member decision makers in one central location. "The time and logistics required to set individual appointments with all these Members is a task we can never accomplish effectively given everyone's busy schedules," she said, adding that she exhibited many new products and merchandising concepts. "The unique nature of this meeting is the level of management we meet with during these conferences. It gives us a chance to review our company and products with a different level of personnel within the company."

Distributor Trip Powell, president of H.B. Davis Seed Co., Albany, New York, praised the efficiency of the conference format, adding that his goals going into the event included lining up his existing Vendors for 2007, looking for new products and new Vendors and seeking out new products from existing Vendors. "This is our second time participating in this event," said Powell, who attended the conference alone in 2005 and brought another staff member along this year. "This is by far the most efficient conference I have ever attended. There is simply not a lot of wasted time."

Paul Michalowski, vice president of the Valencia, California-based Great American Marketing, used the Group Merchandising Conference to showcase two new product offerings - the Proven Brands Paint Applicator Program and Great American Marketing's pad and trim assortment.

"We featured both programs at the recent National Hardware Show, but the Group Merchandising Conference will allow me to review in greater detail the value of both programs to the Members of PRO Group while finalizing details for the launch," Michalowski said. "The Group Merchandising Conference is a very cost-effective way to cover a lot of ground with the key Members in a very short timeframe - it adds value and is a critical meeting with both the management and key decision makers - the buyers."

Photos:

Mike Coyne, Director – Sales, Ames True Temper, Parkersburg, WV New Product - Lil True Temper Kids Wheelbarrow (click to enlarge)		Left: Dick Doyle, Division Manager - Hardware, Seymour of Sycamore, Sycamore, Illinois Right: George Hebert, President, Blackstone Supply Co., Providence, Rhode Island (click to enlarge)
Mary Ann Barnett – President, Wright – Bernet, Prior Lake, Minnesota, New line of brooms - Webster character brooms (click to enlarge)

 

PRO Group, Inc. is a multi-divisional, international merchandising and marketing organization with corporate headquarters in Denver, Colorado. Its operating units include PRO Hardware, GardenMaster, FARM.MART and GOLDEN-LINK. The Company's purchasing power exceeds $3 billion through its 40 Member Distributors.

For More Information Contact:
Steve Synnott, President/Chief Operating Officer, PRO Group, Inc.
303-792-3000
steve.synnott@pro-group.com
 
Ruth Furman, Publicist
702-255-8288
ruth@ruthfurman.com