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Ace Hardware Recognized as a Leader in Localized Social Marketing

Ace Hardware Corporation, the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the world, is proud to announce it was named the 2019 Category Leader in Retail (general) in the first Localized Social Marketing Benchmark Report (LSM Benchmark Report). The report was a collaborative research project conducted by the LSA, the leading global association that enables enterprises and small businesses to achieve more through local marketing, and SOCi, the leading platform for social and reputation management for multi-location brands.


The research examined the top franchise marketing brands on their performance in localized social marketing in three key areas: the brands’ localized presence, customer care (in the form of local ratings and reviews), and local community engagement. The report concluded that the top 10 brand performers grew three times faster than their category peers based on a 5-year trend of each brand’s revenue growth rate.

Over 75 percent of U.S. households are located within a 15-minute drive of an Ace Hardware store, and Ace leverages social media to connect and create conversations between each local store and its community. Ace retailers use social media to amplify local visibility, increase engagement, and provide local care that is relevant to their communities.

“We know that data is a critical part of any marketing strategy,” said Gary Drummond, Local Marketing Manager for Ace Hardware. “By arming our individual store owners with the ability to help and engage consumers at the local level, our stores can effectively connect to their community, answer reviews and provide a forum for helpful solutions in the home maintenance and repair landscape.”

The research studied a total of 163 Franchise brands included on The Franchise Times Top 100 Largest Franchises List and/or appeared on Entrepreneur’s list of the 100 fastest growing franchises. Covering ten industries including food and beverage, hotels, retail (general), business services, auto parts, home services, real estate, education, personal care, and retail (convenience), each franchise was ranked on a 100-point scale. Scoring was determined by examining a random selection of locations for each brand on top LSM platforms including Google My Business, Facebook and Yelp. As a result, the research evaluated 16,000+ individual locations and a total of more than 50,000 local pages.

For more information or to download your copy of the LSM Benchmark Report, visit this link.

About Ace Hardware

Ace Hardware is the largest retailer-owned hardware cooperative in the world with more than 5,200 locally owned and operated hardware stores in approximately 70 countries. Headquartered in Oak Brook, Ill., Ace and its subsidiaries operate an expansive network of distribution centers in the U.S. and have distribution capabilities in Ningbo, China; Colon, Panama; and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. Since 1924, Ace has become a part of local communities around the world and known as the place with the helpful hardware folks. For more information, visit acehardware.com or newsroom.acehardware.com

About The Local Search Association (LSA)

The Local Search Association (LSA) is a not-for-profit association of more than 300 media companies, agencies and technology companies that enable enterprises and small businesses to achieve more within local markets. From Facebook, USA Today and Google to DexYP, Microsoft and Yelp, LSA members represent today’s top organizations serving businesses with a local presence. LSA is dedicated to helping its members succeed through data and insights, education, events, consulting and more. For more information and to become a member visit https://www.thelsa.org.

About SOCi

#60 on the 2018 Inc. 5000 list of the fastest growing companies in America, SOCi is the leading social media and reputation management platform built to address the complex needs of highly visible Multi-Location businesses. An award-winning leader in the industry, SOCi has pioneered more than a dozen unique marketing tools to help multi-location brands oversee, maintain, and protect their brand at the national level, while simultaneously scaling presence across hundreds, sometimes thousands, of local pages. For more information on how SOCi can fuel the success of your social media channels while protecting what matters most–your online reputation–visit www.meetsoci.com.

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