Compact confidential

The small-format concept has finally arrived in Germany, Europe’s biggest single DIY market. Following the opening by the UK’s Kingfisher Group of four test stores belonging to its Screwfix distribution channel, which has proved extremely successful in Great Britain, Hornbach is the first German operator to follow suit. Germany’s third-biggest DIY retailer is testing Hornbach Compact, its small-format concept, in the small town of Bad Bergzabern, just 16 km from the company’s headquarters in Landau and barely ten kilometres from the French border.
Here DIY enthusiasts and tradespeople will find DIY products and building materials, and just these items, presented on a retail area of 800 m². There’s no sign of either the normal packs and items that customers put into their shopping trolleys or of the shopping trolleys themselves. Instead customers receive a virtual shopping trolley in the form of a tablet and scanner, or alternatively a paper shopping list. Armed with these, they then set off in search of cordless screwdrivers, shower heads etc. in the store.
The products are organised into themed zones, as in the big-box Hornbach stores. For example, machinery, tools and lighting are found close to the entrance, while customers will locate tiles, plumbing products and even small display bathrooms further back in the store.
Hornbach presents the products in each zone clearly displayed one above the other on long partition walls. Just one of each article is on display in the sales area, naturally removed from its packaging and with a barcode on it. To make a purchase, the customer scans the barcode with the tablet, or simply writes the product down on the list.

At the check-out, the operator reads out the tablet, the customer pays as usual and then receives a slip with a number on it. Customers don’t have to wait long – an employee in the adjacent warehouse packs the purchases in a matter of minutes and brings them to the pick-up area.
“Chop-chop is the motto here,” explains Jochen Braun, head of marketing innovations in Bad Bergzabern, outlining the mode of operation of the German DIY chain. He adds that all items are available immediately in store “in normal project quantities for Hornbach”.
It is also possible to reserve items from home or by mobile…