Mitre 10

Mitre 10 Hardware Group

File:Mitre 10 logo.png
Company type	Cooperative
Industry	Retail/Trade Timber and Hardware
Founded	Victoria, Australia in 1959
Founder	Tom Molomby, Tom Danaher, Reg Buchanan, Jack Womersley and Ian Nisbet.
Headquarters	Melbourne , Australia
Area served	Australia, New Zealand
Key people	Mark Burrowes, C.E.O.
Products	Timber and Hardware
Revenue	A$1.06 billion (2009)
Operating income	A$371.6 million (2009)[2]
Number of employees	33,500
Website	http://www.mitre10.com.au (Australia) http://www.mitre10.co.nz (New Zealand)

Mitre 10 is a retail and trade hardware store chain, with over 700 locations in all states of Australia as well as under 250 in New Zealand. The operations in Australia and New Zealand are two separate companies, each based on a co-operative system where the store owners are members of the national group and each has voting rights. The chain name references the mitre joint, but was inspired by the Mitre Tavern in Melbourne.

In 2008 Mitre 10 was named the number 1 most trusted retail brand in New Zealand by the New Zealand edition of Reader's Digest, and 20th overall, Bunnings Warehouse came in at 61st. Mitre 10 came 17th overall in the 2007 survey.

The 2008 Mitre 10 Ian Nisbet award was awarded to Hardy's Mitre 10 Mega of Pakenham, Victoria, at the 2008 Mitre 10 Expo.

History

The move to set up a co-operative group of hardware stores, originated from a meeting held in Victoria, June 1959, with five men who would become Mitre 10's founding fathers — Tom Molomby, Tom Danaher, Reg Buchanan, Jack Womersley and Ian Nisbet. The meeting was held in the Mitre Tavern, and the group eventually hoped to build things up to ten stores, so they decided to call the company Mitre 10. This move occurred specifically to maximise funds and energy with regards to advertising and promotions and to demonstrate that independent operators offered service, advice and competitive prices. The group quickly grew in membership to the point where it required a full time management team.

The new company soon expanded operations, with fifteen New South Wales members joining the group by February 1961. Queensland soon followed with seven retailers, under the chairmanship of Arthur Scurr, joining the cooperative in January 1962, followed by a further sixteen members from Newcastle in October the same year. With the company successfully operational in the three Eastern states by the end of 1962 and South Australia and Western Australia soon running their own state based co-operatives, attentions turned to crossing the Tasman. After initial early discussions in Auckland, Mitre 10 New Zealand was established on June 20, 1974. In 1981

In Q4 of 2008 Woolworths and Mitre 10 were in talks of an aquare the company. The Australian Financial Review reported Mitre 10 had held talks with other companies since beginning to find a major buyer or investor, although Woolworths decided a takeover was too complex. It is still believed to be in talks with the most logical buyer Metcash Trading, owner of IGA, Cellarbrations, and The Bottle-O, analysts say Metcash had been on lookout for a ‘fourth pillar’ for some time to add to its operations, and that Mitre 10 may be perfect.

Marketing and merchandise

Slogans

The Australian operation of Mitre 10 uses three slogans;

• All the help you need
• Mighty Helpful
• Finally someone's fixing hardware

Mitre 10 New Zealand uses two slogans;

• Best Range. Lowest Prices. End of Story
• DIY it's in our DNA

Private label brands

Paint

• Accent (premium paint brand, exterior paint, liquid adhesive, silicone)
• Buy Right (low budget products)
• Spring Design (low budget products)

Garden and outdoors

• Gard&Grow (wheelbarrows, general garden care products, fertilisers, and potting mix)
• Illuka (complete outdoor settings)
• Basix (former complete outdoor settings range)

General tools and hardware

• Warrior (power tools, hand tools)
• Icon (power tools)
• Safety 1st (ladders, painter's platforms)
• Home Sentry (door handles, padlocks, etc.)

There will also be a new power tools range coming in the months to November 2009, will undercut prices of Ryobi, Ozito, and Global Machinery Company, with the quality of the products equal to DeWalt or Makita.

Kitchen and bathrooms

• Imagine Kitchen (full kitchen range)
• Basix (bathroom fittings)
• Renew (bathroom and trade plumbing hardware)

Sponsorships

Mitre 10 Australia has corporate sponsorships agreements or supports the following;

• Landcare
• Lighthouse Foundation [1]
• Waterways Projects
• Junior Landcare
• Lighthouse Foundation
• Ollie Saves the Planet!
• Goodbye Graffiti
• Melbourne International Flower and Garden Show
• Random Acts of Kindness (Nine Network reality show)

Sales

Mitre 10 has sales throughout the year which are set by Mitre 10 Australia these usually include, Father's day, Easter holidays, and Christmas and Boxing day sales, there are also sales which individual stores have on their own.

There is also the Annual 20% off store-wide sale, which came under the spotlight in August 2009 when the A.C.C.C. raised concerns with Mitre 10 Australia that its television and website advertising failed to disclose products that were excluded from the sale, these include products whose RRPs were set at trade price, special orders, store services (such as tool hire, tool sharping, and deliveries) and gift card purchases.

Store types

Mitre 10 in Wagga Wagga, New South Wales

Mitre 10 Mega

Mega is designed as a one stop shop for big projects, to compete with Bunnings Warehouse. The main focus of the Mega is customer service, it markets itself as "All the help you need", stores have customer service attendants stationed in different departments of the store ie, plumbing, trade timber, paint, the majority of these have a trade qualification. The first Mitre 10 Mega was open at Hastings, New Zealand in February 2004, after three years of researching U.S. home improvement retailers Lowes and The Home Depot. Mitre 10 Australia opened its first Mega on the 7th June, 2004 at Chelsea Heights.

Current situation of Australian Mega stores

In 2007 there were six Mega stores across Australia, one in Queensland, five in Victoria, Mitre 10 Australia originally had planned to have opened 50 Mega stores across the country in metropolitan and regional hubs by the end of 2009. As at August 2009 two stores have closed the Ringwood, Victoria store closed due to financial difficulty, with the store employing over 130 people, while the Campbellfield, Victoria store was closed in March 2009 due to the building having structural problems, the store employed 54 people, with the closure staff were redeployed to other stores. Hardy's Mitre 10 Mega in Pakenham, Victoria is the only store redeveloped from a smaller Mitre 10 Home and Trade store, still operating, with plans to expand. Four Mega stores are still operating in Australia, one in Beenleigh, Queensland, Pakenham, Victoria, Lilydale, Victoria, and Chelsea Heights, Victoria. There are currently no plans to open more Mega stores, pending the G.F.C..

Success of New Zealand Mega stores

Mitre 10 New Zealand has more than 20 Mega stores across the country first being the Hastings store opened in 2004, since then Mitre 10 New Zealand has become the retail hardware market leader. The Mega store concept has been more successful in New Zealand, while in Australia they have struggled.

Other types

Although Mitre 10 New Zeland and Mitre 10 Australia are two completely different companies, they do share the same store concepts;

• The Mitre 10 Australia Hardware Group has four types of store. Mega, Handy, Solutions, Home & Trade.
• The Mitre 10 New Zealand Group has three types of store; Mega, Home & Trade, Solutions.

External links

• Mitre 10 Australia: http://www.mitre10.com.au
• Mitre 10 New Zealand: http://www.mitre10.co.nz