Serving forward
From pricing tech to customer engagement and global scale, Clay Jackson, Orgill’s new COO, brings a leadership approach rooted in culture and readiness to build what’s next.
Clay Jackson, a retail executive with more than two decades of experience at Tractor Supply Company, joined Orgill as executive vice president and chief operating officer in January. As part of his previous role as vice president of merchandise planning and inventory at Tractor Supply, he oversaw $15 billion in merchandise strategy and category management.
At Orgill, he’s responsible for overseeing purchasing, operations and retail services, reporting directly to president and CEO Boyden Moore. His leadership is expected to enhance Orgill’s strategic growth and operational excellence.
Orgill’s new Concept Center isn’t just a showplace—it’s a year-round collaboration space where Clay Jackson, the company’s new executive vice president and chief operating officer, says he envisions customers, vendors and teams coming together to explore ideas, test solutions and shape the future of retail.
Jackson’s arrival coincides with Orgill’s significant investments in infrastructure and technology, including the development of a new 500,000-square-foot Concept Center in Collierville, Tennessee. This facility is designed to serve as a real-world retail laboratory, enabling Orgill to build and test retail concepts, and is expected to be completed in Q2 of this year.
In an exclusive interview with Hardware Connection, Jackson discusses his move to Orgill, the company’s evolving strategies and the future of independent retailers in a rapidly changing marketplace.
Hardware Connection: You had a long and successful career with Tractor Supply. Which lessons from your time there are you bringing to Orgill?
Clay Jackson: First, let me say how truly blessed I was to grow up at Tractor Supply and help build it out. Just a fantastic company, and I think the results speak for themselves.
I’ll bring an understanding of how to drive enterprise alignment, synchronization and the ability to optimize across the entire end-to-end value chain, coupled with a growth mindset and high expectations to consistently deliver top performance. I’d be remiss if I didn’t also mention the ability to strengthen culture as a competitive advantage and develop talent.
Tractor Supply built a strong customer loyalty engagement program, Neighbor’s Club. What kind of opportunities do you see for something similar at Orgill?
We already have FanBuilder, and it’s been up and running for a number of years. I see the potential of using FanBuilder to further understand our customers’ needs, segmentation and how that shapes our assortment, pricing and promotional strategies across the 50-plus countries we serve.
Tractor Supply was a fast-paced, high-growth environment. Could you compare that to what you’re seeing so far at Orgill?
Sure—it definitely feels very similar in terms of pace, with good revenue growth over the last 25 years, just on a smaller scale. I believe there’s even more significant growth opportunity ahead, both in the United States and internationally as market and industry disruption continue to play out. It’s a big reason I’m here.
Jackson stays close to the day-to-day work, supporting his teams and focusing on what they need to succeed and grow together. Here, Jackson meets with team members at the Orgill headquarters in Collierville, Tenn. From left: Lisa Pirtle, vice president of purchasing, replenishment and vendor support; Andrew Yount, director of vendor support; Jackson; Jodi Fontana, senior vice president, accounting and controller.
How would you describe your leadership style?
Servant leader. And a situational leader. That is really, really important to me. It’s about putting the needs of the company, the business, the teams and the customers we serve ahead of everything else. My role is to serve all the teams across the enterprise who work hard every day to serve our distribution centers, that serve our customers, who serve the end consumer. A very customer-centric mindset, which aligns well with the Orgill mission.
Orgill has been expanding its service offerings to retailers. Is there any initiative you’re particularly excited about?
We’re in the middle of implementing a new pricing tool which will only build on our price intelligence capabilities. The continued buildout of FanBuilder. The integrated e-commerce platform is great, and we have a robust pipeline of enhancements to continue to evolve it. We also champion our industry PIM. It makes product data available to our customers for so many items across the industry, regardless of whether we sell the items or not. That was revolutionary when Orgill did that several years ago. We also have several in-store technology pilots being tested. Overall, we’re finding ways to get better and better at all those things. With Orgill’s retail services, we work hard to eliminate scale disadvantages for small businesses and independent retailers.
How will the opening of the Orgill Concept Center change your job?
Ah, another reason I joined the team. What an incredible facility and investment—a 500,000-square-foot facility that will allow us to collaborate with our customers year-round, showcasing the latest in product innovation and assortments. It will also be a great facility for our vendor community to utilize. It has been really impressive to see the thought the team has put into every detail, and we’re just a couple months from the grand opening.
What advice would you give to independent retailers as they contend with the recent marketplace and supply chain unpredictability due to tariffs?
Stay agile and responsive. Reemphasize the importance of customer service, personalization and communication with all store team members. Stay updated with Orgill communications and be ready to flex products and assortments across the 80,000 SKUs we carry.
