Case Study: Harbor Freight Tools achieves centralized, accurate product data and faster publishing with Stibo Systems' STEP

STEP improves efficiency and quality of product data

Harbor Freight Tools, the world's largest tool and equipment catalogue retailer, was rapidly expanding from a catalogue-only business into online and brick-and-mortar retail, opening dozens of stores a year. That growth exposed limits in its homegrown systems: product data lived in multiple disjointed databases, hundreds of localised flyers were managed manually by hundreds of employees, data errors and unstable IT infrastructure slowed publishing, and regulatory and recall processes were costly and risky.

Harbor Freight implemented Stibo Systems’ STEP master data platform to create a single product repository with seamless interfaces and automated publishing to web, in‑store and print channels. The result: faster, more accurate product launches, streamlined workflows (including InDesign publishing), improved data governance and compliance, better localised pricing and promotions, fewer customer inquiries and lower call‑center costs — a robust foundation for online growth and ongoing expansion.

Harbor Freight Tools

George Argodale

Chief Information Officer