“Many suppliers will be delighted”

Why is Obi centralizing its purchasing, and why now? Obi already restructured its purchasing department two and a half years ago.

Martin Nanke: It is a clear further development of the organization and the next logical step, especially given our company-wide internationalization strategy. In Germany, we have created an ecosystem that works very well with the new e-commerce platform, the Hey Obi customer loyalty program, the marketplace business, retail media, and solution partnering. We are rolling out this standard at a fairly rapid pace in all Obi countries. We are present in almost all Obi countries with Hey Obi, with only Slovenia and Switzerland still missing. We are now bringing the new e-commerce platform with the marketplace business to Austria and Poland, then to Italy, as well as solution partnering, i.e., project business through third parties. With this ecosystem, we have a well-thought-out offering for our customers throughout Europe.

Let me get this straight: the sales tool for e-commerce, which only accounts for a small part of Obi's sales, is the reason why you are changing the entire purchasing structure?

That's only part of the answer. It's very important to me that we look at the entire ecosystem and how it all fits together. We don't view offline and online separately. Our e-commerce platform generates a lot of business. Well over 50 percent of our customers visit our online platform to gather information before making a purchase. Our goal is to carry every relevant home and garden product in our range. The marketplace business helps us achieve this. If we look at the purchasing structures, there are elements of the ecosystem that we can leverage extremely well across all countries. Our category managers are responsible for both brick-and-mortar and online channels. Our strategy is to have a European ecosystem. In this respect, we are positioning ourselves on a European level.

The second point: The DIY market in Europe is under pressure. That is why we want to leverage Obi's strength as a pan-European retailer and use our entire purchasing volume to position ourselves as well as possible in the market – in other words, not just think and act for individual countries. That is the second key aspect of this change. We are convinced that those who do not fully exploit their potential and do not operate as a…