Ace Hardware Extends Helpful Brand Promise With Same Day Delivery

OAK BROOK, IL--(Marketwired - Feb 17, 2015) - Ace Hardware, the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the world, today announced the rollout of its latest pilot program designed to further extend Ace's helpful brand promise as the company continues to add new ways to serve the needs of customers and attract new shoppers. Recently launched in select pilot stores across the country, Ace's Express Delivery program allows customers to find the products they need on acehardware.com and have them delivered by a helpful associate from their neighborhood Ace the same day.* Ace has plans to test a variety of program components in preparation for a national roll-out.

"With 4,400 stores stocking the most locally relevant product assortments, Ace has a unique opportunity to become a big player in the same day delivery landscape once our pilot program concludes," said John Surane, Executive Vice President, Marketing, Merchandising, and Sales, Ace Hardware Corporation. "About 61% of consumers across the country live within five miles of their neighborhood Ace, and that proximity to the household sets us apart. The Ace Hardware brand has always been synonymous with helpful and excellent customer service, so Express Delivery from your local Ace store represents a perfect extension of our brand promise -- Amazing Every Customer, Every Time. We also think there's a huge value to consumers in having their products delivered by a helpful Ace associate, who they might even recognize from their local store."

Ace's Express Delivery pilot officially rolled out in 33 stores on Jan. 26 in select neighborhoods in Florida, Illinois, Colorado, Maryland, Texas and Arizona. The program is an extension of Ace's existing In-Store Pickup program, which allows customers to buy online and pickup in store and is currently available at more than 1,600 Ace stores across the country. With Express Delivery, whether consumers need to finish a project quickly, can't fit a large item in their car, need a large number of products delivered to their business, or just can't make it to the store that day, the convenient same day delivery service allows consumers to find the products they need online and have them delivered by a helpful Ace associate. For more information on Express Delivery, visit www.acehardware.com/expressdelivery.

*The Express Delivery pilot program currently offers same day delivery of eligible products, for a $5 delivery fee, to customers within five miles of the participating Ace store when they order by 1 p.m. local time. Additional terms and restrictions apply. See www.acehardware.com/expressdelivery for more details.

About Ace Hardware
For more than 90 years, Ace Hardware has been known as the place with the helpful hardware folks in thousands of neighborhoods across America, providing customers with a more personal kind of helpful. In 2014, Ace ranked "Highest in Customer Satisfaction with Home Improvement Retail Stores, Eight Years in a Row," according to J.D. Power. With more than 4,900 hardware stores locally owned and operated across the globe, Ace is the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the world. Headquartered in Oak Brook, Ill., Ace and its subsidiaries currently operate 14 distribution centers in the U.S. and also have distribution capabilities in Shanghai, China; Panama City, Panama; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Its retailers' stores are located in all 50 states, the District of Columbia and approximately 60 countries. For more information on Ace, visit www.acehardware.com.