Despite the recent rocky economy, Parker Hannifin Corp. has reached a major milestone with its ParkerStore retail concept — the company just announced that it will open its 2000th store October 4, in Chassieu, France, a suburb of Lyon. ParkerStores have doubled in the last four years, going from 1000 to 2000 locations globally.
Parker introduced the Industrial Retail concept in 1993, with the aim of offering an environment for the immediate and direct sale of industrial products through an approved, service-based platform. Working with Parker’s global distribution partners, Parker designed the ParkerStore concept to reach the walk-in maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) or “industrial retail” marketplace that had largely been ignored by competitors.
From warehouse to showroom
When the ParkerStore concept was developed, trade counters were the norm in the industrial space. Combining the trade counter and retail models, ParkerStores would allow customers to order custom, while-you-wait hydraulic hose assemblies while shopping for complementary products typically also required, such as couplings, filters, lubricants, oil, tooling and safety equipment. ParkerStore also provided immediate access to critical components, which would have a big impact on a business’ bottom line by helping to reduce the money and time lost due to equipment downtime.
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Parker Hannifin now has 2000 locations worldwide of its ParkerStore retail concept, including stand-alone stores and ones that are part of distributor networks.
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It took 15 years for the company to open 1000 stores but in the last four years alone, that number has doubled. The company says the benefit of the ParkerStore business model became evident in 2008 when the recession hit. ParkerStore provides a balance to distributor portfolios by providing a mix of original equipment manufacturer (OEM) and maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) customers, especially because most customers tend to repair and replace rather than purchase new equipment during a recession.
More than 90% of U.S. fluid connector distributors have at least one ParkerStore –
50% of those have two or more. However, many of the new stores being opened are of the standalone variety.
The Chassieu store will feature approximately 1600 ft2 of retail space dedicated to Parker products, including hydraulic components and pumps, hydraulic filters, connectors, pneumatics, compressed air treatment and more. This is the 12th ParkerStore that Patrick Martin, CEO and owner of industrial supply company Mabéo Industries, has opened in the last 14 years.
ParkerStores can be found in over 80 countries around the globe. For more information, visit www.parkerstore.com, or follow at www.facebook.com/ParkerStores and twitter.com/ParkerStore.