George Smith explains how this 102-year-old hardware chain is changing its focus to better serve customers.

Walk into a big-box home improvement retail store, and you’ll most likely get lost if you’re searching for dowel screws to start building that floor-to-ceiling oak bookcase or periwinkle blue matte paint to put the finishing touches on the guest room. Most carry tens of thousands of products in a space large enough for the Pittsburgh Steelers to play the Washington Redskins. Although these stores are successful (Home Depot is the world’s third largest retailer), it wasn’t the direction Westlake Hardware wanted to take.

Even with 87 stores across Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, and New Mexico, Lenexa, Kan.-based Westlake Hardware has never been tempted to take its mid-size business to big-box status. “We carved out a niche 102 years ago and stuck with it,” said George Smith, president and CEO. “We are all about repair products, and that means we don’t carry a lot of lumber and building materials or kitchen and bath remodeling supplies—you come to us with a leaky faucet or a sagging gutter, and we’ll help you fix it.”

George Smith, President and CEO

Each Westlake location offers services, such as window and screen repair and glass cutting, that most big box stores don’t have the time or resources to offer. In addition, the company has a wide variety of seasonal and pet care products. “We find these products fit with our problem/solution business model nicely. For instance, we sell outdoor Christmas lights. You need a staple gun and a ladder to put them up—problem solved,” said Smith.

Westlake Hardware isn’t interested in selling big-ticket items, such as washer/dryer units or refrigerators. According to Smith, such items not only take up a lot of space, but they also have a low-gross margin. “Sales on smaller items like paint brushes and screwdrivers
produce a higher gross margin, and that’s where we are comfortable.”

Another advantage to remaining a mid-tier player is that Westlake Hardware stores are smaller, and therefore easy to shop. According to Smith, associates are always available to help customers find what they need and get back home quickly. “Consumers enjoy shopping with us because of the convenience factor.”

Changing focus
Customers also enjoy shopping at Westlake Hardware because of the personal attention they receive. Smith explained that historically, the company emphasized product knowledge rather than interpersonal skills when training its associates, but it now realizes the importance of both.

“We have always been in tune with our customers and asked our associates to acknowledge and help them, but we haven’t had a formalized customer-oriented training program until now,” said Smith, adding that field trainers travel to each market to conduct classroom training.

As a result of the customer oriented training program, which is being rolled out, Westlake Hardware associates abide by a cold floor/hot floor concept. When the “floor is cold,” meaning few customers are in the store, associates can carry on with their assigned tasks, such as ordering merchandise, setting up displays, or unloading delivery vehicles. When the floor is hot, meaning traffic is high, they have been instructed to turn their full attention to meeting customers’ needs.

“As we move forward, we are conducting customer focus groups to help us understand what they want and need. We are also using mystery shoppers to rate our stores so our associates can be rewarded appropriately for providing high quality customer service,” Smith said.

Digging deeper
The results of an associate survey conducted in March indicate that the majority of Westlake’s associates are satisfied with their jobs. Out of 1,700 employees, 1,414 responded to the survey, which included 14 open-ended questions and 25 closed questions. “It all boiled down to two main themes: what do you like about working at Westlake, and what could be improved?” said Smith.

Survey results revealed that associates appreciate the company’s values and family-like culture, enjoy the diversity their jobs offer, view their coworkers as friends, and love solving customers’ problems.

On the flip side of the coin, associates also communicated that several improvements are necessary. “First and foremost, they want more tools to help them focus on the customer. They feel that they have too many other tasks to accomplish, so we are looking at task evaluation and labor optimization,” said Smith.

Smith explained that Westlake Hardware, a member of the Ace Hardware co-op, is working with Ace and the McKenzie Group to improve operations. Currently, the team is breaking down all tasks—from ordering merchandise to stocking shelves—to find speed bumps. “We’re looking at whether certain tasks are being done at the right time of day by the right associates, and if certain tasks need to be done at all,” he said. “It is not about reducing labor costs—it is about getting in front of the customer more.”

Westlake is also analyzing its scheduling and customer traffic histories to ensure an appropriate number of associates are available during peaks and troughs.

Associates also indicated in the survey that they would like to grow with the company but need a better understanding of how to do so. In response, Westlake Hardware is reevaluating its associate development plans. Last but not least on the list of potential improvements is better new-associate training. “We are looking for ways to educate associates more effectively before they start assisting customers,” said Smith.

Communication skills
To complement its customer-oriented culture, Westlake Hardware is tweaking its marketing strategies. Currently, the company distributes about 40 circulars each year, targeting product assortments specific to the nine regions it serves. “We advertise from Nebraska to Texas, and each market requires different products at different times of year,” said Smith.

But he admits the company has done more shot-in-the-dark advertising in the past than customer-centric marketing. Westlake Hardware is now engaging in customer research and has recently hired a VP of marketing whose job is to align the business with its customers—from the look of the store to training.

“We are developing one common theme, which may change the way we do business in the future.” said Smith. “We will always be about providing solutions to our customers’ problems, but how we communicate that message may well be different in the future.”