In 2026, the hardware industry is undergoing a digital and intelligent transformation.
In Baoding, Hebei, there is Lao Zheng, a hardware store owner who has been running a hardware store for 16 years. His business story vividly reflects the huge changes that AI technology has brought to this traditional industry.
In the past, Lao Zheng’s biggest headache was the problem of purchasing goods.
There are many types of hardware with complex specifications. There are hundreds of models of screws alone, and there are countless water pipe fittings.
In the past, he purchased goods based on experience, and bought more of the goods he thought would sell well. However, the result was that he often bought too much and couldn’t sell it, leaving a large amount of goods backlogged in the warehouse, taking up space and money.
One year, he purchased a batch of faucets with special specifications. He thought they would sell well, but he only sold three in a year, and the rest became idle items.
Over the past sixteen years, the backlog of inventory in the warehouse was worth more than 200,000 yuan, which made him very worried.
Last year, his son installed an AI intelligent purchase, sale and inventory system for him, saying that it is now used in the hardware industry.
Lao Zheng didn’t believe it at first, thinking that the hardware industry relied on the experience of master craftsmen. How could a machine understand the specifications and models of products?
But after half a year of using it, he completely changed his mind.
The core of this AI system is multi-dimensional data analysis.
It incorporates all information such as sales data, seasonal changes, surrounding construction sites, and decoration peak and off-season patterns in the past five years into the scope of analysis, and automatically analyzes the sales trend of each commodity.
For example, March to May is the peak season for decoration, and sales of water pipes, wires, switches and sockets will increase by 40%; June to August is the busy farming season, and sales of agricultural tools will increase; September to November is the rush period for construction projects, and the demand for construction hardware will surge.
Based on these rules, AI pushed purchasing suggestions to Lao Zheng two weeks in advance, telling him how much of each commodity should be purchased and when.
Lao Zheng said that in the past, he relied on feeling when buying goods. When he saw that there were only two boxes of a certain type of screw left in the warehouse, he quickly bought ten boxes. As a result, that type of screw was about to be eliminated, and ten boxes were sold for half a year.
Now AI tells him that only one box of this screw has been sold in the past three months, and it is recommended to only buy two boxes, leaving funds for new products with better sales.
After he did this, the inventory turnover days dropped from the previous 90 days to 45 days, and the freed up cash flow was enough to open another store.
What’s even more powerful is AI’s price inquiry function.
In the past, when Lao Zheng purchased goods, he would call several suppliers and ask who was cheaper. However, the information was not transparent, and he often ended up paying too much.
Now AI automatically connects to multiple procurement platforms, compares prices in real time, and can also analyze the supplier’s historical reputation, delivery on-time rate, and return and exchange policies.
Lao Zheng said that in the past, when he purchased a batch of goods, the price depended on the supplier’s quotation. Now AI told him that this batch of goods would sell for 1,200 yuan on platform A and 1,050 yuan on platform B. The supplier on platform B had a better reputation, so of course he chose B.
Over the past year, the purchase cost has been reduced by 8%, and the money saved is enough to pay half a year’s rent.
AI also helped Lao Zheng develop his online business.
In the past, he only did retail sales in the store, and nearby construction sites and decoration teams came to the store to buy.
Now AI has helped him build an online mall. Customers place orders in the mini program, and AI automatically matches the inventory. If it is in stock, it will directly notify the delivery, and if it is out of stock, it will automatically trigger replenishment.
There is a foreman from the decoration team who used to come to the store twice a week. Now he places orders directly on his mobile phone and AI arranges for door-to-door delivery. Lao Zheng doesn’t even have to meet in person to get the money.
Online business now accounts for 35 percent of his total revenue and is growing.
Lao Zheng settled the account.
The backlog of inventory in the warehouse used to be worth 200,000 yuan, but now it has dropped to less than 50,000 yuan.
The inventory turnover days have dropped from ninety days to forty-five days, which means that the same funds can be transferred twice more a year, and profits will naturally increase.
Coupled with lower procurement costs and new online businesses, monthly income has increased from 18,000 to 28,000, an increase of more than 50%.
The most important thing is that he no longer has to squat in the warehouse and count screws every day. AI pushes the inventory data to his mobile phone in real time, and he can control the overall situation while sitting at home.
The “Chang Lobster” AI system launched by Changjietong can independently plan, call and execute procurement inquiry and price comparison tasks, automatically dismantle tasks, search for prices and compare prices, and present results, truly achieving “getting things done with just a few clicks”.
For small and micro hardware store owners like Lao Zheng, AI is not a patent of large companies. A system costs several thousand dollars, and even small stores can afford it.
The key is that AI gives small stores the confidence to challenge the large building materials market.
Large stores rely on scale, while small stores rely on flexibility and precision. AI makes flexibility and precision possible.
Lao Zheng now says to everyone he meets that AI is not here to steal jobs, but to deliver tools.
In the past, he felt that the more he worked in the hardware store, the more tiring he became, but now he found that with AI, the more he worked, the easier it became.
His next plan is to use AI tools to open another branch and copy this model.
He said that he did not dare to open a branch before because he was afraid that he would not be able to manage it.
Now with AI, the inventory, sales, and purchasing data of the two stores are all on one screen. He can monitor them while sitting at home, and he feels much more at ease.
A hardware store owner who still relies on manual bookkeeping in 2026 is like an accountant who still uses an abacus to calculate accounts. It’s not that he can’t do it, but he does it too slowly, too wastefully, and too uncompetitively.
The AI ruler sets a new standard for the hardware industry.
