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Ace Hardware acquires The Grommet, bolsters e-commerce, product strategy vs. giant rivals

Ace Hardware competes with giants like Home Depot, Lowe's, and Amazon. The retailer now has a majority stake to ensure it has unique products and a better omnichannel strategy.
Written by Larry Dignan, Contributor

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Ace Hardware acquired a majority stake in The Grommet, an e-commerce startup, that ensures the retailer has a unique assortment, e-commerce knowhow, and fulfillment capabilities.

The Grommet stake also highlights how Ace Hardware plans to differentiate against giants such as Home Depot, Lowe's, and Amazon. Ace has a supply chain and network of 5,034 stores to go along with The Grommet's product discovery platform.

Ace Hardware is planning to use The Grommet's focus on new product launches from independent entrepreneurs to give its brick-and-mortar stores something unique. The two companies started working together in 2016.

Meanwhile, the two companies plan to hone their strategies to help local businesses and innovation. According to the companies, current customers of The Grommet visit Ace more than 50 percent more times than the average Ace Rewards customer and spend 2.8 times as much. The Grommet has more than three million subscribers.

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Although Ace Hardware is the majority owner of The Grommet, the retailer said its e-commerce arm will have "considerable autonomy" without changes to strategy.

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