For those who aren’t familiar with you, could you give us a little bit about your background, and your journey to where you are now?
I have been CEO of United Hardware since 2020, Ireland’s leading buying and marketing group for builders’ merchants, DIY, and home & garden retail stores. United Hardware is a co-operative with 160 member stores with 90 under the Homevalue brand and combined sales of over €400m. Our primary aim is to enable our members to get the best possible deals from suppliers through exclusive supplier offers and excellent terms via centralised purchasing, marketing, and event activities.
Most recently, we’ve announced a significant corporate restructuring project which will help us to become even more competitive in the market, which I believe will drive growth in membership and branding as well as improving the profits we return to our members. We’re excited about the future at United Hardware, and now that the merger is completed, we can work towards reaching our full potential. This excitement echoes much of the optimism we’re seeing within the sector and across the membership of Hardware Association Ireland (HAI).
Before joining United Hardware, I served as CEO at a number of companies, including Bunzl in Ireland and McCabe’s Pharmacy Group. Before McCabe’s, I held senior positions with Statoil, Topaz Energy Group, and Roches Stores, so it’s fair to say I’ve built a career very specifically around the retail and wholesale sectors. Before finishing with Bunzl in April 2020, I was extremely busy managing the operational challenges brought on by the pandemic while also meeting the massive demand for sanitation and safety products.
Throughout the earlier part of my career, I was lucky enough to gain exposure to the various functions of running a business; in Roches, I held both retail operations and HR-related roles; in Statoil I was responsible for supply chain, operations, and HR. When Statoil was sold and rebranded to Topaz I was appointed as Sales and Marketing Director and managed purchasing, category management and property. This exposure to different parts of businesses was invaluable to making the eventual leap to becoming a CEO, where ultimately, you are responsible for the overall running of the business.
All that said, the single biggest advantage I had when taking over as CEO of United Hardware was that I was previously Non-Executive Chairman of the Group. This meant I had intimate knowledge of the opportunities and challenges facing the Group as well as relationships with the Board, and very importantly, understood the nuanced priorities of our members, who are all very successful businesspeople with differing needs and expectations.
What drew you to the Presidential role and how will you approach your term as HAI President?
I was drawn to the role when following HAI closely over the last number of years and having seen the great stewardship afforded to the same role by my peers in the industry during this time. Several fantastic contributions have been made during the tenures of previous presidents.
As such, I became president of HAI at the start of 2023, following Michael O’Donohoe’s departure and I am very much honoured to be in the role following his representation. One year on, there has been plenty of change with new and emerging issues coming and going, which represent both risks for the sector and opportunities.
Leveraging on my own experiences, I believe that industry representation is hugely important to establish success. With my experience from United Hardware in championing and supporting our members I hope that I can add some value, experience, and expertise to the role (and on behalf of the wider community of HAI members), complementing the work of my predecessors. HAI is a tremendous organisation that has done great work for the industry, and it will be even more beneficial to get closer to the network, and in particular the HAI team, including Martin, Jim, Aoife, and Orla.
Ultimately, our mission at HAI remains the same, to advance the mutual interests of hardware and builder merchants through effective representation, training and development, market intelligence, and networking opportunities.
What do you think will be the most important driver of change in the industry in the next few years?
In response to the challenges posed by Brexit, COVID-19, and global events like the Russian invasion of Ukraine, HAI conducted a major Strategic Report to reevaluate the sector and the value proposition of the association. The review sought to enquire about market sentiment, identify and quantify the key challenges facing the sector and outline the responses of the sector to these challenges.
I’m sure many of you will have seen the report and the insights gleaned from it will have resonated with the needs of members and the challenges they are facing.
Staff retention and recruitment are a major challenge as well as maintaining and increasing profits in a time of increasing costs. Positively, the report revealed high levels of optimism for the future among our members, while also sharing some insights into the areas of concern. It’s important to see that optimism is high amongst members, especially given the challenges faced by the sector recently.
To realise the ambitions of members, however, there are a few challenges faced by most. Talent remains a significant issue both directly in the form of recruitment and retention, but also in the context of a shortage of trades professionals which continues to slow down activity in our sector. This is affecting building projects, and the war for talent is a central theme. To navigate these challenges, members of HAI plan to invest in upskilling and training staff, alongside upgrading their premises and IT systems.
Resilient as ever, HAI members intend to take a proactive approach to these challenges and through better awareness of the issues they face, we’re hopeful of being able to work with members to best address these issues.
As members continue to invest in staff, marketing and upgrading their premises and IT systems to future-proof their businesses we plan to continue to be the voice of the sector and work harder to improve the overall market environment, enhance the operational performance of our members, and ensure they have relevant information they need to make good, long-term decisions while remaining agile to the current environment.
How do you believe HAI helps the sector and what changes, if any, do you plan to implement in your new role?
In my role as President, I hope to continue to strengthen membership and representation. HAI plays a crucial role in being the voice of the sector which we can continue to leverage further, to help improve market conditions for members, build greater intelligence within the sector and ensure that members’ voices are heard clearly and effectively by external stakeholders. Our market is growing, and our members are well-placed to weather the storms that may come our way. Collectively, we are stronger together and it’s important we leverage the collective approach and focus on all members, big or small to ensure that we address the issues and challenges we face, and embrace the opportunities presented to us, together.
As a group, we can work together and with members to enhance operational performance and provide essential information. I believe that in this role, we can further address proactively, the staffing challenges faced throughout the sector by supporting initiatives for staff development, marketing, and technological upgrades and by sharing learnings and expertise. Among the core findings from our recent research, the extent to which recruitment and retention of staff is the most pressing issue for our members, taking precedence over all others, is significant. We must now work with members in this regard to provide enhanced or updated solutions, training, and development opportunities to help all members navigate and overcome this challenge, in addition to the existing training and development on offer. HAI provides valuable services already, including representation, training and development, market intelligence, and networking opportunities.
We have already seen the benefits of our intelligence-driven approach to help enhance our services and direct our resources. I plan to continue to focus on strengthening the collective network by ensuring informed decision-making by all members. We can provide learnings and new information and enhanced representation for members by platforming them, and their needs and ensuring that their voice is heard by the right people. Collectively we can achieve more in this regard. Additionally, supporting members in their investments in marketing and technology will be a key focus to futureproof their businesses.
