MY FAMILY BUSINESS is real estate here in Brooklyn, New York. And in managing property, we have always been big buyers of hardware, paint, and other building materials. About 20 years ago, our largest supplier decided to sell their business.
They were a local hardware store, struggling under the competitive pressures of the big box stores that had entered New York. The owners were open to a good price, and I was excited by the opportunity to expand my knowledge of the industry. So I went for it and bought the business.
In the twenty years since, Hardware Express has grown. We now occupy five adjoining buildings. And we sell not only hardware, but also lumber, paint, tile, and kitchen goods.
The key to our growth has always been staying ahead of the game—looking for new opportunities and seizing on them when they present themselves. When the big box stores focused on retail customers, we focused on growing our B2B side. When we wanted to stock a broader set of products, we partnered with True Value. When our customers asked for more paint, we became an authorized Benjamin Moore dealer.
About a year ago, we realized we had fallen behind in one critical area: technology. We were operating on a legacy point-of-sale that had not changed in years. We wanted to offer our customers the modern experience they had grown accustomed to. But our prior technology partner simply didn’t have the capabilities.
We did a thorough analysis of the current point-of-sale vendors and decided to go with Rundoo. The team was young, ambitious, and focused on service.
We’re coming up on a year on Rundoo, and we have loved it. We are confident that Rundoo will grow with us for many decades, and I want to explain why.
First, Rundoo focuses on the whole experience.
Our retail customers appreciate the elegant checkout experience. They love that they can see their items on the card reader during checkout, giving them piece of mind that the sale is correct. And because the card reader is on Wi-Fi, we can check customers out anywhere in the store.
Our business customers love the Rundoo mobile app. They can view all of their purchases, send receipts to their customers, and pay bills from their fingertips.
Our staff enjoy how fast they can check out customers, place purchase orders, and receive inventory. New hires have picked up the system on their first day without any training.
And me, I enjoy the POS app. It lets me monitor the business metrics from my phone. I’m not usually in the store, but now I feel like I always have a pulse on the business.
Second, Rundoo works around their clients rather than expecting us to work around them.
When we decided to go live, Rundoo moved all of our data—customer, product, and historical sales data—over to their system. Then, they flew out from California to New York to get us live in person.
The Rundoo team now meets regularly with us so we can we share ideas for improvements and new features. And these ideas make their way into the product! Rundoo’s product has continued to improve every day since we went live.
Things have changed since I got into the business 20 years ago. The traditional way of doing business doesn’t cut it anymore. With the internet, mobile phones, and online payments, customer expectations have shifted dramatically. You have to have the latest technology to service today’s crowd, especially the younger generation.
My biggest piece of advice for any hardware store is to stay ahead of the game. Whether you’re deciding which products to stock, how to price, or what technology to use, you have to be at the cutting edge to survive and grow. If anyone is considering improving their technology system, I am happy to speak with you more about our decision.
