Instore Days success attributed to camaraderie and great deals

Fantastic camaraderie, lots of deals being done, and great attendance rates were a winning formula for an excellent Ruralco Instore Days according to Ruralco CEO Rob Sharkie.

WORDS BY ANITA BODY AND IMAGES BY ANNIE STUDHOLME AND RURALCO

Well over 2,000 people attended the two-day event at Ruralco’s Ashburton store, with around 90 suppliers in attendance sharing their industry knowledge and expertise with local farmers. “A big thank you goes out to the Ashburton community for their support of this event. While it can be a bit disruptive with the extra traffic and pressure on parking, Instore Days is great for the town, with plenty of increased retail activity. The hospitality sector also gets a boost with more visitors staying and eating in Ashburton,” says Rob. Recent years have also seen an increase in Ruralco’s online presence, and this year many local, and not so local farmers took advantage of the specially negotiated Instore Days pricing from the comfort of their own homes. The first online transaction was recorded at 12.45am on the first day of Instore Days, and online orders were placed from all over the South Island, and from some North Island locations. “Planning will get underway soon for next year’s event, which will be the 29th Instore Days occurring in the co-operatives 60th year of business—definitely a cause for celebration,” says Rob. Also celebrating following this year’s Instore Days, were the Best Site winners in both the Retail and Partner categories. Judges for the Partner category and Ruralco Directors, Andrew Barlass and Sir David Carter described the standard of sites as superb, and were particularly impressed with the winner, Superutes 4x4—a first time siteholder at Instore Days. Runner up, Hynds Rural, were commended on their enthusiasm and expertise, recognising concrete products can be difficult to display in a marquee. The win for Superutes 4x4 was a great way to cap off Nick Moore’s first Instore Days. “It’s my first time here and it has been great to see new customers and to have the opportunity to speak about our brand.” The Ashburton based business specialises in 4WD and outdoor adventure and has only been operating since May last year. “Ashburton’s a great place for 4WD and farming, and we saw a gap in the market so decided to give it a go. We’ve seen a big increase in interest over the last few months as awareness of the business takes off. Instore Days and partnering with Ruralco has certainly helped.” Gaining the Runner Up placing was a good way for Hynds Rural to follow up their category win last year. Marketing and Project Co-ordinator, Candace Moir said it was always challenging to display the concrete products Hynds was well known for, but the knowledge and enthusiasm of the team certainly made up for that. “Hynds is a family-owned business, which aligns really well with Ruralco. Hard work certainly pays off and it is great to be recognised for that.” That family theme was also evident in the comments from both the winner and the runner up in the Best Site Retail category. Winners, BA Pumps & Sprayers is another New Zealand owned company which specialises in manufacturing and designing all its products from its manufacturing facility in Cambridge. Territory Manager, Adrian McAllister says the business has a long-term relationship with Ruralco, having attended a number of Instore Days. “It’s good for ideas and having discussions leading up to our busy time, with spring just around the

corner. Forward planning is always important and being here allows for having good conversations about what we can achieve.” Judges for the Best Site Retail, Shannon Munro, and Brian McFelin, praised BA Pumps & Spraying for the way they displayed their site along with their engaging interactions, while it was the passion for their product that impressed the judges in awarding the Runner Up prize to Summit Steel and Wire. Summit Steel & Wire Territory Manager, Mark O’Keefe describes Instore Days as being a privilege to attend. “It puts us amongst the best suppliers in their respective fields, and it’s one of our favourite events to attend. The Ruralco team put so much effort into it and we are always made to feel welcome.” He says the New Zealand owned company which has its manufacturing plant in Christchurch, shares Ruralco’s values and philosophy, especially around how we engage with our customers. “We welcome any opportunity to fly the Summit Steel flag and talk to the end-user about who we are and what we do. We are people selling to people—it’s about finding the best solutions.” In addition to the usual site winner prizes, there was also a special Outstanding Instore Days Advocate award presented to Ashburton based, Stocker Solutions. While a long-standing Instore Days attendee, Shane and Cheryl Stocker made the decision to promote the event at their premises this year, literally rolling out the red carpet and putting gazebos up in their carpark. “It’s the first time we have done this, and we saw it as an opportunity to showcase all of our products, which are a bit big for the Ruralco site, and as a way to involve all of our staff.” Instore Days Site Winners:

BEST SITE – PARTNER Winner: SuperUtes 4x4 Runner Up: Hynds Rural BEST SITE – RETAIL Winner: BA Pumps & Sprayers Runner Up: Summit Steel & Wire OUTSTANDING INSTORE DAYS ADVOCATE Stocker Solutions

ABOVE: Ruralco Directors Sir David Carter & Andrew Barlass presenting SuperUtes 4x4 Nick Moore with the 2022 Best Site - Partner award

BELOW LEFT: Ruralco Chair Jessie Chan & Ruralco CEO Rob Sharkie presenting Stocker Solutions Shane Stocker with the Outstanding Instore Days Advocate prize BELOW: Ruralco Group Manager Farm Supplies Jono Pavey presenting BA Pumps & Sprayers Adrian McAllister with the 2022 Best Site - Retail award

$10,000

Every $250 spent during the month of June and up until 10 July gave members an opportunity to accumulate entries to go in the draw, with over 95,000 entries received for this year’s big Instore Days prizes.

Congratulations to the winners of this year’s Instore Days major prizes

2022 HONDA

PIONEER 520

RRP $20,119

$10,000

HOUSE OF TRAVEL VOUCHER

GRAHAM & JANE THOMAS GRAJAN FARMS ANDREW DONALDSON PUNAWAI PASTURE

Len & Barbara Murdoch $250 Ruralco Voucher

B J & M A Stock Limited $100 Ruralco Gift Hamper M R Seyb & M F King $3,500 travel voucher for theroadtrip.co.nz Peter Swann Ironman Portable Solar Panel Kit

RURALCO COLOURING COMPETITION: Ella Jane Cocks Winner age 8–11 years Clyde Carr Runner up age 8–11 years Angus Moore Winner age 4–7 years Evie Mcilwaine Runner up age 4–7 years

Rosa Fields Limited Weber smokefire pellet BBQ valued over $2,799 P A Lowe Deane family pack O’Connell Dairy Ltd Deane family pack

K A Hurst & F E Mackenzie S T & C J Bell Limited Arranlea Farm Ltd Grajan Farm Limited I H & S J Marr M A Bruce All inclusive hosted tour around the Summit Steel factory

T R & M E Burgess Chainsaw Blackford Farming Ltd Chainsaw R H & S C Duncan 2022 Honda EU22i – Generator M C Loe Honda 2021 HPM18 Lawnmowers Springwood Farm Ltd Honda 2021 HPM18 Lawnmowers

Van Der Salm Farming Ltd Gallagher M6000I Energizer Deebury Pastoral Maronan Gallagher M6000I Energizer Fairfax Stonehouse Farm Ltd Gallagher M6000I Energizer

Andrew & Clare Quigley, Waimanu Dairy Queenstown Trip Lynmoor Farming Co Limited $1,000 Gift Card Pencarrow Farm Limited $1,000 Gift Card

M A Wightman $500 PlaceMakers Gift Card

Willoughby Farms 200kg of MinMax E J & A M Kiser 100kg of MinMax