A branch in a state of flux

“The Next Generation in DIY” was the theme of the event, which was well attended by more than 500 representatives from the DIY branch. For Manfred Maus, BHB president and managing partner of the OBI franchise system, a changeover is currently taking place from the pioneers in this field to their heirs within the building and DIY branch, which is characterised by medium-sized independent entrepreneurs. In his eyes “the DIY branch is 30 years young”. However, at the same time he warned about the danger of not waking up in time to catch new developments: “Many an entrepreneur is perhaps slow in noticing that the rose is no longer still in bud but already full-blown.”
BHB president Manfred Maus greeting congress participants.
One of the central topics of the congress was “Internationalisation and mega-mergers”. Constantly hanging in the air was the possibility of involvement by American DIY giants in Europe, most particularly in Germany.
The list of speakers was international in its scope, ranging from Kate Swann, managing director of Sainsbury’s Homebase, number two in British DIY retailing, to Sir Geoffrey Mulcahy of Kingfisher and Stephan Bachand, president and chief executive of Canadian Tire, on to Castorama’s managing director Jean-Hughes Loyez and through to Martin Essl of Baumax in Austria.
For Dr David Bosshart, director of the Gottlieb Duttweiler Institute in Rüschlikon, Switzerland, a think-tank for economic and social questions, the customer is the winner in this current phase of upheaval. Any businesses that fail to focus attention consistently on their customer’s interests will lose out and eventually disappear. This radically formulated argument was also picked up by other speakers, many of them company spokespersons. They made clear that only through consistent customer fixation can turnover be increased. This applies to German enterprises but is equally valid for each and every foreign operator as well.
So Noel Wijsmans, marketing director of Ikea Germany, and Simonetta Carbonaro of the Domus Academy in Milan, proposed that worlds of participative experience must be created for this imaginary customer. The majority of customers no longer even know quite what they want: they are looking for ideas and suggestions to enable them to enhance their own homes. Whoever produces the best services and solutions will have the greatest success.