Why This Matters to Distributors:Two years after acquiring True Value, Do it Best is building common purchasing, distribution and technology capabilities across a network of more than 8,000 locations. The integration offers a look at how a distributor can use an acquisition to gain scale behind the scenes while preserving established brands and local customer relationships.
Do it Best Group is moving deeper into its integration of True Value, connecting the acquired business with a broader purchasing, distribution and technology network while continuing to operate multiple retail brands.
The Fort Wayne, Indiana-based cooperative acquired True Value in November 2024. Do it Best now reports $6 billion in annual sales, more than 8,000 locations in the U.S. and more than 60 countries, more than 12 U.S. distribution centers and approximately 3,000 employees.
For distributors, the significance of the combination increasingly lies in what Do it Best is doing with that additional scale. The cooperative is bringing Do it Best and True Value retailers into a larger network of suppliers, buying programs and shared technology while continuing to support the Do it Best and True Value brands and independent retailers operating under their own names.
That approach separates the customer-facing brands from much of the infrastructure behind them. Purchasing, distribution and technology can be shared across the larger organization without requiring individual retailers to give up established identities in their local markets.
The model addresses a fundamental issue in distribution consolidation. Acquisitions can quickly add revenue, customers, purchasing volume, and geographic reach, but capturing longer-term benefits requires integrating operations without damaging the customer and supplier relationships that made the acquired company valuable.
Do it Best describes itself as the world’s largest hardware, lumber and building materials buying cooperative in the home improvement industry. Its distribution network handles products across more than two dozen categories, including hardware, power tools, electrical, plumbing, paint, cleaning supplies and building materials. The company’s trucks travel more than 25 million miles annually
Collective purchasing has been central to the cooperative since its founding. Do it Best traces its roots to 1945, when Arnold Gerberding and 75 independent hardware and building materials dealers formed Hardware Wholesalers Inc. to increase their purchasing power. The organization became Do it Best Corp. in 1998 after merging with Our Own Hardware.
The True Value acquisition significantly expanded that buying base. For manufacturers, the combination provides access to a larger network of independent retailers through a single cooperative organization. For Do it Best, additional purchasing volume can increase its scale with suppliers and allow investments in distribution and technology to be spread across a larger business.
Technology is becoming another component of integration. Do it Best has begun establishing common digital capabilities that can support retailers operating under varied brands, including a loyalty infrastructure encompassing Best Rewards and the True Value Rewards Loyalty Program.
Under program terms eligible purchases through DoitBest.com and TrueValue.com, as well as purchases at participating stores, can qualify for rewards. The structure provides common technology behind the two consumer brands rather than requiring separate loyalty infrastructure for each business
That has broader implications for distributors integrating acquisitions. Acquired businesses often bring separate e-commerce platforms, customer databases, product information, and other technology. Maintaining those systems independently can preserve the complexity and costs that an acquisition potentially provides an opportunity to eliminate.
The economics are particularly important for the independent businesses Do it Best serves. Developing e-commerce, customer loyalty, analytics, product information, and other digital capabilities individually can require substantial investment. A cooperative can spread those costs across thousands of locations and a much larger revenue base.
True Value is also part of a broader expansion of the Do it Best network. The cooperative completed its merger with United Hardware in May 2025, a transaction Do it Best said increased its membership by more than 20% and added another distribution center to its network.
United Hardware operates the Hardware Hank brand and serves more than 700 stores across the Midwest. The organization provides services including category management, merchandising, replenishment, e-commerce, customer service, and marketing.
The True Value acquisition and United Hardware combination have left Do it Best supporting businesses operating under several established retail identities, including Do it Best, True Value, Hardware Hank, and locally owned brands. The strategy is creating a larger common distribution and purchasing organization behind those identities rather than converting the entire network to a single retail brand.
For distributors, that distinction is important. The economic value of an acquisition does not necessarily require eliminating the acquired company’s name. It can come from combining purchasing, distribution, technology, and other functions while preserving a brand that continues to carry value with customers in its market.
The most difficult test for Do it Best is how effectively it can translate its expanded scale into operating improvements. Buying True Value immediately increased the size and reach of the organization, but integrating purchasing, supplier programs, technology, and distribution is a longer process.
Do it Best also faces the added complexity of serving independently owned businesses rather than operating a chain of company-owned stores. Its members retain control of their local businesses, making the cooperative’s role one of building common capabilities that individual retailers can use rather than imposing a single operating model across the network.
The next public look at that integration will come during Do it Best’s Fall Market, scheduled for Sept. 25-28 in Indianapolis. The company expects more than 9,300 attendees and 1,200 vendors, with Do it Best members and True Value retailers able to access buying programs and vendors across the combined organization.
CEO Dan Starr is scheduled to provide a business and financial update on Sept. 27 during the cooperative’s annual shareholders meeting. Any new financial or operating details could provide a clearer measure of how far Do it Best has progressed from acquiring True Value to operating the businesses as a more integrated distribution organization.
For distributors watching the combination, the central issue is no longer how much bigger Do it Best became when it bought True Value. It is whether the cooperative can turn that scale into more efficient purchasing, distribution and technology while preserving the independent businesses and established brands that make up its network.
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