IMARK Group Expands, Broadens Platform

Earlier this week IMARK joined forces with two plumbing-oriented groups to expand the organization. The electrical industry’s first, largest (by member count), and oldest, member-owned and member-governed marketing group merged with two of the largest (by member count) plumbing groups – Omni and Equity Plumbing.  The result is that the cooperative, IMARK Group, now has two divisions – IMARK Electrical and IMARK Plumbing.

According to the press release:

IMARK Group, Inc., Omni Corporate Services Ltd., Inc., and Equity Plumbing, LLC join forces to form new group

In a joint statement the Boards of IMARK Group, Inc, Omni Corporate Services Ltd., Inc, and Equity Plumbing, LLC announced a merger of the three organizations into one group, thus becoming the only multi-vertical member owned & member-controlled marketing group servicing the electrical and plumbing industries.

Effective January 1, 2019, IMARK Group will be the new organizations’ name.  IMARK will operate the respective verticals IMARK Electrical and IMARK Plumbing.

Omni Corporate Services Ltd., Inc a leading member-owned group of plumbing & HVAC wholesalers across the United States and Equity Plumbing, LLC, formerly privately held and the largest United States plumbing group in terms of membership, will be combining to form the new groups plumbing vertical, IMARK Plumbing.

IMARK Electrical is the largest marketing group in the US electrical industry and operates a growing organization in Canada. IMARK is a member-owned, member-governed group featuring full transparency to all member/owners.

IMARK Electrical is also a member-owner of IMELCO, an international group of electrical wholesale cooperatives across Europe, Russia, Australia, Canada and the United States.

“We are excited about this new organization and the opportunities before us,” stated John Aykroyd, current President of Omni Corporate Services Ltd., Inc. and the new President of IMARK Plumbing. “The synergies in our two industries and the convergence of many professional installers in the trades, combined with our collective ability to service them, will be second to none!”

Matt Roos, founder of Equity Plumbing, LLC and now Executive Vice President of IMARK Plumbing and IMARK Electrical added, “Our experience with the merger of Equity/EDN into IMARK nine years ago enhanced our market presence and proved extremely beneficial to all our members and suppliers. With consolidation continuing in all market segments, we are confident that this merger will provide cost effective services and enhanced financial returns for all our members.”

Bob Smith, President & CEO of the expanded IMARK Group stated, “Our Member-Owned, Member-Governed model offers our member/owners the clearest and most transparent array of group benefits and opportunities. We grew the electrical vertical based on this value proposition to the market leadership position in the U.S. and most recently internationally through our membership in IMELCO (also member-owned). Joining with Omni Corporate Services Ltd., Inc. and Equity Plumbing, LLC our cohesive philosophies and management strength will serve us well as we continue to grow in a rapidly changing world.”

Bob Smith will continue as President and CEO of IMARK Group and should be congratulated for the vision in taking the electrical industry’s first (and hence oldest) buying / marketing group to the next level with its fourth merger.

Some thoughts:

• IMARK, as those in the electrical industry know, is the culmination of marketing groups dating back to 1968 with the formation of SIED (Southern Independent Electrical Distributors). MAED (Mid-Atlantic Electrical Distributors) was formed in 1975 and the two groups merged in 1987 to form TIED (The Independent Electrical Distributor). In 1982, WIED (Western Independent Electrical Distributors) was formed … and little-known fact … MAED shared its by-laws with WIED to help the group form. TIED and WIED merged in January 1996 to form IMARK Group.  Hence why IMARK has such a pedigree of supporting independent distributors as it is the original buying / marketing group in the electrical industry.
  • And IMARK now has a Canadian division and is a member of IMELCO, the leading, world-wide, member-owned marketing group.
• Omni has approximately 250 plumbing and HVAC distributors. And, presumably, a number of the plumbing distributors are also PVF distributors (which is typical in the plumbing industry.)
• Equity Plumbing has over 400 plumbing distributors as members.

So, what does / could this mean?

• IMARK Group has evolved into an independent distributor, member-owned, member-governed marketing group platform committed to transparency and supported by a broad-based member-elected board.
• The company will have dedicated electrical and plumbing groups.
  • Coincidentally, over 80 IMARK members also have plumbing divisions. While some are members of Omni and or Equity, others are either not affiliated with a group or a member of another group. Emphasizing its commitment to serving its members and providing “choice”, so that members can make decisions that are best for them, IMARK has advised members that they can retain “whatever” plumbing group relationships they prefer.
• It could create unique opportunities down the line for electrical manufacturers who want to expand into the plumbing channel (yes, plumbing distributors sell selected electrical products … lamps, fixtures, perhaps some lighting controls / devices, tools, etc).
• With some Omni and Equity members involved in the HVAC and PVF spaces, IMARK could launch dedicated divisions to support those industries … or collaborate with other like-minded marketing cooperatives in a broader platform.
• Perhaps expand into a showroom lighting offering?
• Broaden its Canadian platform?

Further, given the array of marketing, national accounts, eCommerce / eBusiness, supply chain enhancement, purchasing and other programs that each organization offers, as well as organizational best practice sharing and networking opportunities, the combined organizations will be reviewing to offer their members an array of initiatives to help strengthen these independent members.

And, speaking of “strengthening”, given the complementary nature of some of these businesses, it could lead to diversification opportunities for distributors from each channel … or alliances to support local customers.

IMARK Group will now have over 800 independent electrical distributor members and over 650 independent plumbing members, easily making it the largest network of independently-owned distributors in each industry that are culturally similar.  And, with a changing marketplace, and now a viable option, it would not be a surprise that IMARK continued to expand into other verticals with like-minded distributors.

And the question may be “what is in it for the traditional IMARK electrical distributor?” The answer could be “strength in numbers.”  Through scale additional resources can be allocated to bring more services, new shared services, and additional ideas to support the membership … and each member.  IMARK has always had a culture of providing “options” (choice) to its members. A larger membership enables more choices to be offered so that members can select what is best for each of them.

Having recently presented at a NCBA (National Cooperative Business Association) conference, and in speaking to a number of organizations, it is evident that a core tenet of cooperatives is transparency to their memberships … the ability to provide “choice”, transparently.

What are your thoughts about groups becoming broader platforms? What do you see as potential opportunities?