PPG puts brand 1st in strategy to reach commercial paint market

PPG Industries Inc. may be the world's biggest paint producer, but it plays second-fiddle to Sherwin-Williams Co. when it comes to selling directly to professionals.

The Pittsburgh company has a major presence in big box stores, such as Home Depot, Lowes and Wal-Mart, where its Glidden, Olympic and other brand-name paints reach do-it-yourselfers. But most commercial painters prefer to shop at stand-alone paint stores that can fill large orders, make deliveries and provide a higher level of service.

Cleveland-based Sherwin-Williams has a network of more than 3,700 company-owned stores in the United States. PPG has 635.

In an effort to win more business from professionals and boost sales, PPG spent the last few years acquiring retail outlets across the nation, growing the number of stores from 200 five years ago. It plans to add “a few hundred more” stores in the next couple of years, said Tom Dougherty, marketing director for PPG's architectural coatings business.

“You have to be in this kind of stores business,” Dougherty said, because that's where commercial painting contractors go. “That's why we set out to be in this business in a big way.”

But after several years of acquiring small and large chains, including Masterwork Paint and Westmoreland Supply in the Pittsburgh region last year, PPG was left with a hodgepodge of store brands.

Dougherty talked with reporters Tuesday from a renovated Masterwork store on McKnight Road in Ross that was rebranded as a PPG Paints store. The company is nearly finished updating its American stores to the name PPG Paints. It has more than 250 stores in Canada that operate under the name Dulux, which aren't being changed.

“The launch of the PPG Paints brand will enable us to focus our marketing investment in one brand that is recognized by professional audiences across the country,” Dougherty said.

Sherwin-Williams' paint stores generated $6.9 billion in sales last year, up 14 percent from 2013.

PPG doesn't break out sales figures for its paint-store business. But its overall performance coatings division produced revenue last year of $8.6 billion, up 10 percent from 2013. Performance coatings includes architectural paint, as well as coatings for aerospace, marine and automotive refinish applications.

The global paints and industrial coatings industry is expected to grow by 5.5 percent a year over the next five years, reaching a total value of $176.8 billion in 2020, according to an October report from Persistence Market Research. Growth is being driven by an expanding global population that is demanding more housing, consumer goods and automobiles, all of which gets painted.

PPG's strategy of growing its presence in both large retailers and stand-alone stores is unique in the coatings industry, said Ghansham Panjabi, an analyst with Robert W. Baird in Dallas. Most paint companies, such as Sherwin-Williams, focus on a single area.

“It is the right strategy in terms of being broadly exposed,” he said.

Marketing is more effective when it only needs to promote one brand, he said. “It's always easier to rally under one brand.”

Alex Nixon is a staff writer for Trib Total Media. He can be reached at 412-320-7928 or anixon@tribweb.com.