HHIQ_3Q

EXECUTIVE INTERVIEW
GLENN BINGLEY
UFA UPDATES ITS STORES WITH A FOCUS
ON CONSISTENCY, PRODUCT PROGRAMS
This Alberta farm co-op’s retail arm gets a boost from store redesigns, better product
assortments, and big box best practices.
BY MICHAEL McLARNEY
G
lenn Bingley is completely upfront about what needed to
change at United Farmers of Alberta Co-operative Ltd.
(UFA). “I admit there was a need to change the company
to meet the needs of our members, and that meant we had to focus
on the retail fundamentals.”
UFA has two businesses: petroleum and agribusiness. The latter
consists of 35 UFA Farm & Ranch Supply Stores throughout
Alberta, one building centre in Fort McMurray, and the commercial
agriculture side. In 2015, as the oil industry was suffering, the
retail side came under scrutiny—and was found wanting. As COO
of retail operations for UFA, Bingley heads up that business. “We
had lost our retail focus, and we had lost our ability to focus on
the local community.”
UFA generated a total of $1.5 billion in revenue last year, with
$1.2 billion coming from petroleum sales. The co-op’s combined ag
retail business totalled $366 million in 2017, up from $348 million
in 2016. The overall business was up five percent, with categories
like fencing and feed leading the way.
With a background working at Home Depot Canada for 17
years, Bingley is now focusing his team’s efforts on improving
service and refining product assortments. Both, says Bingley, had
suffered in recent years under previous management with a different
retail vision. Stores lacked cohesion and product lines were
inconsistent from store to store. “So we’ve been working hard for
just over two years to change the business—and the members are
really noticing this.”
IN PURSUIT OF THE CORE AG CUSTOMER
UFA’s customer base consists of farmers, ranchers, and rural homeowners.
The core products for the Farm & Ranch Supply stores
include both commercial items farmers and acreage owners use
to maintain their operations and retail home improvement lines
for home and farm renovation and repair.
The division’s supply chain team developed a new market strategy
in 2017 that focused on key categories, such as calving supplies
and fence posts, to improve the availability of seasonal products
when co-op members and customers need them. These items were
Glenn Bingley, COO of retail
operations for UFA, is focusing his
team’s efforts on improving service
and refining product assortments.
added into store inventories at the start of the season to ensure
seasonal items would be available as soon as the weather permitted.
“They expect us to have that stuff in stock,” Bingley says.
Consistency of both products and services has been a goal for the
stores across the chain. With a more rigorous approach, the company
has also gotten better at fine-tuning standardized assortments
to fit with the size of each store and market they serve.
The core ag categories performed well, “But lumber and building
materials follow close behind,” says Bingley. In fact, those
traditional LBM categories saw bigger growth last year than the
ag side—up eight percent—Bingley says. Of the stores’ overall sales,
$145.8 million was generated on the hardlines and LBM side. But,
he points out, “Everything is sold out of the stores,” with the commercial
side supported by its own external sales force that drives
the orders back to the retail outlets.
38 THIRD QUARTER / 2018
Hardlines Home Improvement Quarterly
www.hardlines.ca