Blish-Mize Helps Retailers Prepare for Tariffs at Spring Buying Market

At its recent Spring Buying Market, on March 20-22 in Overland Park, Kansas, Blish-Mize provided its customers with innovative new products, programs and pricing from vendors to help prepare for the proposed tariffs, which are set to take place in early April. 

According to Blish-Mize’s vice president of purchasing Sarah Lee, it was perhaps the best time to make purchases for the spring and summer selling season with what’s potentially on the horizon.

“Our vendors have locked in pre-tariff pricing with discounts for the show, specifically because we will see a lot more movement on pricing in the coming weeks,” Lee says.

In addition to existing core vendors who attend every show, Lee says there were also several new, high-profile vendors at the Market for the first time, including Nebo Flashlights, which she says have been added to the warehouse.

“When you think about the flashlight category as a whole, it hasn’t been very innovative for a long time, and they are gaining a lot of steam through their innovation,” she says. 

Another vendor with a prominent presence at the market was Freud Diablo. 

“Not every distributor stocks them now, and we have done a complete overhaul of their planograms featuring their new product categories such as power tool accessories and metal drilling, which is very innovative,” Lee says.

One of the ways Blish-Mize makes ordering easier for customers at Buying Markets is through a proprietary interactive app where retailers can find the best deals and show specials. Developed in-house, the Buying Market App offers retailers expanded ordering capability for everyday product assortments as well as all the different buying events held during the Market.

“It’s exciting because the user interface is very intuitive and is specific and tailored to each individual customer, with the most up-to-date pricing and assortments,” says Clay Uhrmacher, Blish-Mize vice president of sales and marketing. “Retailers can sort by their sales, our best-selling items or categories within a department, Market Deals, as well as finding the best spiffs and items at our Market.” 

Lee says what’s unique about the app’s capabilities is the built-in gamification to foster interaction between retailer and vendor. 

“What we don’t want to do is to extract the customer out of the booth with this technology, so this is a way to get them engaged with our vendors on the show floor,” Lee says. “Customers can use the app to scan product UPC codes or various QR Codes shown on assortments and other deals and it will find the best available promotion within our lineup of promotional spring market events, as well as the best items price for that promotion and the suggested quantity they need to purchase.”

New Media Retailer

In addition to new vendors taking part in the Spring Buying Market, one of the new programs being rolled out was a retailer website program from New Media Retailer, which offers ecommerce-capable websites to retailers who may not be offering this convenience to their customers. According to Blish-Mize chairman & CEO Jonathan Mize, the program makes it easy for hardware retailers to offer buy-online-pickup-in-store from their existing inventories, or special ordering capabilities from Blish-Mize’s warehouse inventory.

“If an order is placed and the customer, has it in stock, they can provide a buy-online-pickup-in-store option,” Mize says. “If they don’t stock it, it allows for the retailer to get it from us and have it shipped to their store, which effectively opens up our entire inventory at the hardware retailer level.” 

According to Mize, what sets this program apart from others is there is a live person from New Media Retailer assigned to the account who will follow up with the retailer, make changes to the site and make suggestions to help the retailer grow their online capabilities and sophistication. “Most of our retailer customers don’t have time to do this on their own, so it’s an added value we can offer,” he says. “They also have programs for social media posts and digital ads for local and regional advertising opportunities.” 

Caleb Goodwin, manager at America Supply in Hobbs, New Mexico, says he was impressed, being the first time attending a Blish-Mize Market. 

“I attended most of the workshops and met many of our vendors as well as new vendors,” he says. “It was nice to put a face with all the vendors I’ve never met in person as well.”

While meeting with vendors and looking at new point-of-sale (POS) systems was his main priority, Goodwin was also interested in the New Media Retailer program and how it could refine his store’s current website capabilities by integrating it with their POS system for live updates. 

Goodwin says he appreciates the one-on-one attention he received from the Blish-Mize staff, especially being his first Market.

“Blish-Mize is a great company with wonderful employees,” he says. “My sales rep Joey Wildeman spent a few hours personally walking me through the event, showing me how everything works and helping with any questions I had. Even outside the show, they are great. Our sales rep makes sure to call on us frequently to check up on us, and he drives hours to come meet with us.” 

Mize says twice a year, their Buying Markets provide the opportunity to meet with retailers who have been doing business with Blish-Mize for over a century, as well as new customers and prospects who, like Goodwin, are attending for the first time. 

“Our customers and vendors love being part of what we do,” Mize says. We know our customers personally, and we know what they need to help them grow their business with their customers.”

The Blish-Mize Fall Market will be held September 11-13 in Overland Park, Kansas, at the Overland Park Convention Center.