PAINT STORES REBRANDED
Rebrands as PPG Paints, using Pittsburgh as pilot market
For the past decade, PPG Industries has touted its increasing dominance in the global coatings market as it shed the bulk of its traditional chemicals and glass businesses.
Despite that push into paints, though, PPG didn’t operate any company-owned stores near its Pittsburgh headquarters. Wouldbe customers sometimes had a tough time figuring out where to buy PPG brand colors for their kitchen remodel or a spruce-up of the exterior shutters.
As it rolls out its newly rebranded PPG Paints stores this month, the Downtown-based corporation has high hopes of solidifying its presence in its hometown and across the country.
There are 630 stores nationwide, including 16 in the Pittsburgh market that PPG picked up last year when it acquired independent dealers Westmoreland Supply and Masterwork Paint & Decoration.
PPG now ranks second in the U.S. in number of companyowned paint stores behind industry leader Sherwin-Williams, which is based in Cleveland.
Using a blitz of advertising and promotions, PPG is using Pittsburgh as a pilot market for positioning its company stores as specialized retail paint centers where homeowners can get personal assistance picking the right shade, or contractors can drive up to a loading dock to pick up special orders.
“We knew for a while that people may not know the full scope of the PPG brand in the Pittsburgh market,” said Tom Dougherty, director of marketing for PPG architectural coatings, the business unit that includes consumer paints, company stores and sales of PPG brands through 4,000 independent dealers and big-box national retailers including Lowe’s and Home Depot.
“Now we’re using the PPG name on all our stores as leverage.”
The company won’t break out revenues for consumer paints but the unit is part of its performance coatings business that generated $8.7 billion in sales last year. The company’s total global sales in 2014 were $15.4 billion.
The initiative to capitalize on the PPG name brand resulted largely from the 2013 acquisition of Dutch-based AkzoNobel’s North American architectural paints unit for $1.05 billion.
Through that deal, PPG added
brands including Glidden, Devoe and Liquid Nails, and doubled the number of corporate stores it owns. About 300 Glidden stores were part of the purchase and are among those getting a new name.
Before the recent rebranding, PPG operated its own company stores under several names such as Pittsburgh Paints, Porter Paints and PPG High-Performance.
“If it sounds confusing, IN it 2013 was,” Mr. DoughertyIN 2014 said. “It was a pretty fragmented network.”
Because the Masterwork and Westmoreland Supply dealerships “covered the market nicely,” PPG didn’t develop local stores, he said.
Masterwork had 13 locations and Westmoreland Supply had 12 stores when PPG bought them last year but some stores were closed because they competed in the same locations. About 60 employees work at the 16 regional stores and nationwide the stores employ about 3,000.
During a tour on Tuesday of the PPG Paints store on McKnight Road, Ross, formerly a Masterworks location, Mr. Dougherty stressed that the companyowned outlets aren’t targeting “the grab-and-go customers.”
Outside and inside, the 7,500-square-foot store features lots of bright PPG Paints logos in the company’s signature shade of blue, and the shelves are lined with PPG brands including Manor Hall, Pure Performance and SunProof.
It also carries brushes, pans, adhesives, wall and ceiling textures, and features a “ProPlace” corner where professional painters can sip coffee while they consult with staff on significant orders.
Employees use paint tinters placed strategically near the main counter — instead of in the rear of the store — so that they can interact more easily with customers.
On one wall, a work station features paint color strips, brochures and a 42inch % CHANGE digital touchscreen where customers can test shades and palettes, sharing those images via email with family or friends.
At stores in McMurray, Cranberry and Greensburg, designers will work with customers on matching colors to home fabrics and furniture.
Local consumers’ response to the new brandname stores and to a promotional campaign that includes full-page newspaper ads, outdoor billboards, radio spots, digital ads, community event sponsorships and social media has “exceeded our expectations,” Mr. Dougherty said.
PPG declined to disclose how much it spent on the marketing campaign, but Dee Schlotter, PPG’s national color brand manager said on a recent day when a color consultant was providing tips at the Ross store, “There was a line waiting.”
“We want to make them talk about PPG as the hometown paint supplier,” Mr. Dougherty said.