Turkey's first warehouse-style Koctas store

Officially opened during a ceremony at the beginning of June, the Kartal DIY superstore is the first Koçtas outlet in the Istanbul conurbation. Here the marketing concept of the Warehouse stores belonging to the British Castorama subsidiary B&Q, which has had a 50 per cent stake in Koçtas since February 2000, has been implemented on a retail area of  8 700 m². The new store’s product mix includes bathroom furnishings and fittings, kitchens, decorating and gardening articles, hardware and building materials. Employed in the new DIY store is a staff of 180, since special importance is attached to providing customers with support in the form of expert advisors. Their duties include offering customers free courses on certain do-it-yourself topics. Also available at the new Koçtas store are delivery and installation services. What is more, there is a special trade team to provide services to professional customers. There are 180 employees ready with help and advice for customersDuring the opening ceremony Mustafa V. Koç, chairman of the board, underlined the big competitive advantage gained by Koçtas¸ entering into partnership with B&Q. In his words, “Through this partnership we are bringing B&Q’s worldwide proven expertise to the Turkish DIY market. Now the opening of our Kartal store not only means a turning point in the implementation of our own growth strategies but is also an indication of our determination to continue investing in Turkey’s future.” Koçtas¸ now operates six home improvement stores altogether following the new opening in Kartal – two in Izmir and one each in Adana, Antalya and Bodrum. The combined retail area amounts to almost 30 000 m². Last year the company achieved a net turnover of 34 mio euro. One more new opening has been announced for this year, an outlet that is due to come into operation in Bakirkôy, also in the Istanbul conurbation, during November. This store, too, like all future new openings, will bear the hallmark of B&Q’s Warehouse format. Koçtas’s competitors both come from Germany. Metro operates six outlets under the Praktiker colours, which makes it market leader. By 2005 there should be between 20 and 25 operational Praktiker stores. Bauhaus has two locations in Turkey and is planning the opening of two new stores.