3. Blish-Mize offers
Monthly Specials.
Each month Blish-Mize offers a selection
of products at special prices. These prices
will allow you to make great margins and
pass those on to the customer.
“Consumers want to feel that they
are getting the best value,” Long says.
“Our monthly promotions will help you
drive foot traffic, establish new customer
relationships and make good margins. It is
a win-win for everyone.”
4. Blish-Mize makes
online monthly promotions
even easier.
At the end of 2013 Blish-Mize added
several new search and sort options to make
it easier to find the products you want.
These new options include sorting by:
Past 12 Months’ Purchases.
This will
have all your purchases from the last 12
months, with best-selling items at the top
of your list.
Blish-Mize Top Sales Ranking.
Sort
the items on the selected promotion by
their sales ranking (top to bottom) in the
Distribution Center. You can check for
items that are Blish-Mize best-sellers that
you may have missed and could be selling
in your store.
Featured Items.
There are often feature
items within a selected promotion that
deserve special attention. Those items
will come to the top of the list and have a
bright blue tab indicating a special deal.
Newest First.
New items are listed on
top. Blish-Mize adds many items every year
based on your needs and requests. Now
you can search this way too.
5. Blish-Mize delivers
without hidden costs.
With an industry-leading fill rate and
more than 60,000 items, Blish-Mize strives
to have what you want, when you need it.
Delivery is cost-effective and timely.
Blish-Mize is also competitive when it
comes to freight, monitoring the market
every few months and eliminating the
need to calculate fuel surcharges.
Greg Lutz, executive vice president of
operations at Blish-Mize, has it down to
a science.
“We review our routes on an ongoing
basis and make minor adjustments to
keep our miles driven down. We break
each route down weekly into several
categories. We track miles, stops, weight
and various other costs to keep any
potential surprises out of the process. We
are constantly monitoring our processes.”
Lutz also mentions that emissions
regulations have driven equipment costs
higher but focusing on efficiencies helps
keep costs lower and more consistent.
6. Blish-Mize’s
dedicated team offers
dependable delivery.
With Blish-Mize’s distribution services,
you can rely on quick turnaround between
ordering and delivery. In fact, before
product hits the store shelf, a dedicated
warehouse team works hard for you
by scanning items several times before
shipping to ensure your order is accurate.
The Blish-Mize Distribution Center,
located in Atchison, Kan., is centrally
located in the U.S., allowing for timely
departure schedules and deliveries for
your orders.
The personable service from the
Delivery Truck Team is another item Tim
Hassenstab of A&H Building Supply can
add to his list of reasons why he chooses
to work with Blish-Mize.
“We know the drivers by name, and
should we need to make a return we can do
so easily,” he says. “Blish-Mize is very easy
to deal with.”
7. Blish-Mize offers the best
customer care.
“Our motto since 1871 has been,
‘Take care of the customer or someone else
will,’” says Customer Service Manager
Lloyd Evans. “We know the customer
comes first and we are prepared to make
your customer service experience the best.”
You can call the Blish-Mize team
at 800-995-0525 or email them at
They will
do what is possible to make your customer
service experience a positive one.
“We have a very dedicated customer
service team with exceptional product
knowledge and welcome the opportunity
to service all your needs, including doing
product quotations,” says Evans.
“Our business is to make your business
succeed, and we are serious about it.”
To learn more about how Blish-Mize
can increase your profits, email
or ask your Sales
Representative for more information.
STORE OPERATIONS
Staff at Blish-Mize’s Distribution Center in Atchison, Kan., scan items several times for accuracy in shipping.
6
Spring 2014 •
Hardlines
Strategies
