Mega tightens Countrywide banner
By Michael J. Knell -- Furniture Today, February 17, 2002
SASKATOON, Saskatchewan — Mega Group's Countrywide banner has adopted ProfitSystems as its point-of-sale information system, the first of many changes designed to make the banner a more disciplined and consumer-focused retail chain.
Other changes include more disciplined merchandising and a shuffling of Mega's senior management team.
"Countrywide will become a structured retail system," said Michael Graydon, president and chief executive officer of Mega Group, the co-operatively owned furniture buying and marketing group based here. "We're putting together a much tighter positioning plan."
Of Countrywide's existing 68 stores, 45 have joined the new program. "Some of them just don't fit the mold," he said, "so we're devising an exit strategy for them."
Once the new system has proven itself, Graydon sees it as Mega's growth driver. "Across Canada, Countrywide has the potential to have 150 stores within five years," he said.
Bob Shelton, formerly Countrywide banner manager, has been named Mega's director of merchandising for upholstery. He will be responsible for creating upholstery programs not only for Countrywide but for the Multi Meubles banner and for non-banner members.
He will continue to be based in Peterborough, Ontario.
Also, Bill Speers was named director of merchandising for case goods and bedding. Speers, based in Mega's merchandising office in Vancouver, British Columbia, has been furniture merchandising manager.
Succeeding Shelton as Countrywide banner manager is Michael Vancura. He has been a sales representative for upholstery maker Sklar-Peppler and bedding producer Kingsdown Canada, and has held management posts at Cantrex Group.
Vancura will be based in Mega's Boucherville, Quebec, office and will report to Benoit Simard, vice president/retail operations.
In addition to having a common POS system, which will be administered out of Mega's headquarters here, Countrywide stores will have a more consistent interior layout, exterior signage and merchandising lineup. Much of the interior is based on Concept Décor, a program originally designed for Multi Meubles but since expanded throughout Mega.
"Much of what we learned with Concept Décor has been incorporated into the new store interior," Graydon said. "There will be a lot more use of texture and color."
The average Countrywide store has 15,000 square feet of selling space. The new box will concentrate on furniture, bedding and appliances. "Whether to be in electronics will be up to the individual store," he said, adding that the new system isn't designed to cover brown goods.
Graydon said those members remaining in the program have agreed to work more closely together and to devote more of their floor space to the core lineup.
"We're going to define all aspects of the operation, right down to display," he said. "We have to start acting as a group, not just a collection of individuals."
He admitted manufacturers often complain that members don't buy the deals the group negotiates. Under the new plan, he said this won't happen. When merchandisers sit down with resources, they'll be placing orders, not simply negotiating terms and rebates, Graydon said.
The more disciplined approach will include little in the way of promotional goods. "Medium to medium-high is the natural focus for Countrywide," he said. While he doesn't anticipate cutting the roster of suppliers, offerings will become narrower.
The changes should be fully implemented over the next 18 to 24 months.
The role of Countrywide's action committee, made up of members, will change. "It will do less merchandising and more strategic planning," Graydon said. "They will become more like a board of directors."
While Countrywide is strong in Alberta and Saskatchewan, "we don't have significant penetration in either British Columbia or Ontario," he said. "These are markets these stores are designed to succeed in." The chain also doesn't have strong roots in Atlantic Canada.
Growth will allow Mega to provide such services as regional distribution and direct import programs, both of which need big numbers to be cost effective, Graydon said.
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