Rainer Strnad
DIY plus

Europe is changing 

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Something is happening in Europe or better still, there's a lot happening. In some parts of the old continent, the DIY retail business is being turned completely upside down.
The German market leader Obi, the third biggest European DIY store operator, is currently working on expanding and realigning its business boundaries. As a result of the takeover of the collapsed Baumax stores in Austria and the Czech Republic, Obi has reinforced its strong position in the middle of the continent and thus paved the way to expand its boundaries in Central and Eastern Europe.
Even in Obi's home market, Germany, things are changing. For years, foreign companies were not keen to test the German waters but then came Kingfisher with Screwfix in 2014. Now the British company is even planning on doubling up from nine to 18 stores here this year.
What's more, Clas Ohlsen is opening up a new store in Hamburg in May. Not only that, it is also working on its format, closing larger stores in Great Britain and focusing on smaller ones in the Greater London area.
Ironically, in Great Britain of all places, an incomparably boisterous match is being played out, due to the entrance of an unexpected player on the field. Namely, the Australian chain Bunnings, part of the Wesfarmers Group, which first knocked out the domestic competitor Masters, a joint venture between Lowe's and Woolworths, before taking over Homebase, the number two in Great Britain.
This was all happening at the same time as the market leader B&Q, part of the Kingfisher Group and number two in Europe, was preparing, not only to downsize its branch network but also to reinvent itself: purchasing, own brands and merchandise management will be standardised over all national and international boundaries and distribution channels.
While everyone is busy dealing with their own issues, the European market leader, the French Groupe Adeo, is busy expanding abroad and parallel to that, is also testing new formats, like Zôdio or other online business models by taking over smaller online shops.
So that's a great many changes in the European market. Although we haven't even touched on what is happening on the consumer side, which is diversifying into target groups that are much harder to define. As Euromonitor's analysis of Western European markets in this issue shows: There's a whole lot happening out there.
Rainer Strnad
Contact: Phone +49/72 43/575-207 E-Mail r.strnad@daehne.de
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