Changing rules of the game

I've watched and helped a lot of suppliers wrestle with the same question: "They've asked us if we can manufacture their own brand. Do we say yes?" And underneath it, the real fear: if we do, are we handing them the knife they'll use on us later? Are we letting a new competitor into our own landscape? Tough questions, aren’t they?

I understand the challenge. I spent years on the buying side, at Adeo and then Kingfisher, building international tenders and negotiating with suppliers. So let me say it plainly: the private label is not your enemy. But the way many suppliers think about it is stuck about fifteen years in the past.

There was a time when private label meant one thing: a cheaper option, sitting one shelf below the national brand, doing an honest job for the price-conscious shopper. Nobody confused it with innovation.

That era is over. Today, Kingfisher's own exclusive brands account for 43 per cent of group sales across a GBP 12.9bn business. They're designed, positioned, marketed brands with their own identity and their own loyal following. Across European retail, private label has crossed 40 per cent of value share, and in some DIY categories retailers are openly aiming for 70 to 80 per cent.

The change that matters isn't the percentage. It's the intent. Retailers stopped buying products and started building brands. You can actually feel it, the briefs get more ambitious. That's what's happening right now, in 2026 and many suppliers haven't fully registered it yet.

On Hornbach's own website, you can read it in black and white: their product range is their biggest lever, and designing it is a top priority for them as a retailer. A top priority.

Adeo has been building own brands for 20 years and now carries 61,000 products across 15 brands, for comparison, a standard Leroy Merlin store holds around 60,000 references. And they've developed a real ability to adapt their own brands locally, with up to 80 per cent of the offer tailored to the specific needs of each territory.

That last point leads straight into the next one: Europe isn't one big market. Yes, I'm French and European but I shop like a French shopper, just as my neighbours shop like German, British…