During the HES Summit meeting, HES General Manager Jim Ristow announced eight new major suppliers were added to the group’s direct order warehouse

Brand Source and Home Rental Source (HRS), the rent to own arm of AVB/Brand Source buying group held its annual National Spring Buying Fair and HES Summit last week, with over 1,500 members and supplier principals in attendance.

Brand Source Executive Director Bob Lawrence opened the general session by announcing that Brand Source will be supporting Ronald McDonald Houses across the nation by providing major appliances and electronics to the homes. Ronald McDonald House exists to provide a home-away-from-home for families who have traveled out of their home towns seeking medical treatment for their children. More than just a place to sleep, the Ronald McDonald House provides a warm, safe, and comfortable home-like environment for families who are caring for seriously ill children. A surprise guest, Ronald McDonald, took the stage to personally thank every member in attendance for their help. The event’s keynote speaker Orville Ray Wilson, author of Guerrilla Selling and Guerrilla Retailing provided the crowd of over 1,000 dealers with "unconventional weapons and tactics for increasing their sales."

This year’s National Buying Fair featured workshops focused specifically on the Appliance industry and the A/V Specialty industry, allowing members to narrow their focus on issues related directly to their individual stores.

During the HES Summit meeting, HES General Manager Jim Ristow announced eight new major suppliers were added to the group’s direct order warehouse, bringing the total number of electronics and appliance suppliers to 21. According to Ristow, the warehouse distribution system allows members to participate in vendor-direct programs with prohibitively high order requirements, while helping manufacturers distribute their wares to qualified retailers in a controlled manner. Members also receive free shipping on deliveries of $5,000 or more and can mix and match their orders to meet their needs.

"Our suppliers want to sell our member," said Ristow, "but they no longer have the infrastructure to do it anymore. By buying as a national account we can provide the products to our members at or below sheet price." The warehousing approach also relieves dealers of carrying costly big-ticket overhead, which can depreciate quickly as marketplace pricing erodes, Ristow noted.

Brand Source marketing manager, Bob Donaldson, announced the group’s extended service plan program, Expert Protection, would exceed total sales of two former group lines in it’s first full year of operations. Donaldson also introduced a new 6-year parts and labor service plan for major appliances, offering Brand Source customers greater product protection not available at the box stores.

Brand Source furniture manager Mike Allen announced the group now offers three new floor plan layouts for the group’s turn key Sleep Source mattress stores. The three store plans are aimed at the small, medium and large sized markets. Sleep Source stores are now available to all retailers and, according to Allen, "you provide the store, we provide all of the product and displays you need!"

This year’s Buying Fair featured two giant ballrooms, one for major appliances and furniture, the other filled with consumer electronics products, with 125 suppliers that spilled out into the atrium. "This is our biggest Spring Buying Fair ever," stated Bob Lawrence, who indicated attendance was up by 25% over last year’s spring event and featured over 24 new suppliers offering members buying fair specials.

Brand Source is a national buying group of Appliance, Electronics, Furniture and Rental dealers, with over 2,200 store-fronts across the United States.