The Marketplace Project is one of the most exciting and innovative initiatives underway across the GracoRoberts family of brands, as it touches all departments and companies. This project is designed to transform how we collectively serve our customers to offer an ecommerce buying experience that delivers real-time product availability, more inventory, greater choice, streamlined operations, and a stronger global infrastructure across the GracoRoberts family of brands.
Phase 1 officially kicked off with workshops in July at the Arlington facility, bringing together developers and business analysts. We welcomed Matt Ellis and Matt Letts (Silmid), Matt Hodaba (SkyGeek), and Justin Anderson (JayLynn Consulting) to Arlington—and what a week it was! This wasn’t just another meeting; it was a milestone in building alignment across the enterprise. Out of these workshops, we:
Set clear goals and defined what success looks like
Collected key business needs and technical ideas
Got teams working together under one plan
Designated subject matter experts (SMEs) and booked Blueprint meetings
Chose the direction for the Global Product Information Management (PIM) project
Planned the official project kick-off
Phase 1 of the Marketplace focuses on the logistics of ensuring that we can drop ship any product from any warehouse/company to any customer across silmid.com, skygeek.com, and gracoroberts.com.
Automate how sales orders turn into drop ship purchase orders across companies, eliminating manual handoffs
Provide real-time inventory visibility across all brands, empowering teams and customers alike
Make it easier to track orders, update their status, and fulfill deliveries
Reduce manual effort, shipping redundancies, and cross-shipping between brands and locations
Lay the foundation for a more scalable and efficient future
We are currently in the Blueprinting Phase, working through eight design modules with SMEs and developers across all brands. What makes this project unique is our modular, phased approach. Instead of waiting for the entire design to be finalized, development begins as soon as the first modules are approved. This allows us to design and build in parallel, keeping momentum strong and ensuring faster delivery of value.
Blueprinting runs from August through late September, with development continuing through Q4. By the end of 2025, we expect to complete development and move into User Acceptance Testing (UAT) early in the new year. These milestones will bring us one step closer to launching a fully integrated Marketplace that not only drives internal efficiency but also positions us as an industry leader in digital innovation.
Together, we are building something game-changing. The Marketplace will strengthen collaboration across our brands, reduce complexity, and—most importantly—improve the customer experience.