Brico Cash wants to grow

Concentration in the French DIY market is extensive. The three largest players together achieve a market share of most recently 86 per cent. In addition to the two heavy weights Adeo (with the retail brands Leroy Merlin, Weldom and Bricoman) and Kingfisher (with Castorama and Brico Dépôt) only one other group achieves a double-digit percentage market share: ITM Equipement de la Maison is the name of the home improvement division of the cooperative group Les Mousquetaires.
The musketeers have only been at third place in the French industry ranking since the start of 2018. At the turn of the year, the former number four - ITM/Mousquetaires with the sales channels Bricomarché and Brico Cash - took over the French locations of Bricorama, then the number six on the market.
So the group now has a total of 874 locations: 468 under Bricomarché, 34 under Brico Cash and 167 under Bricorama. Together they made overall sales of more than EUR 3.47 bn in the year 2018 - which might not be a quantité négligeable in the realm of the entire Les Mousquetaires group, however this position is not as large as it may seem: the annual sales of this trading cooperative with more than 4 000 locations in France, Belgium, Poland and Portugal amounts to EUR 44.5 bn. The main focus lies on food retail with the brands Intermarché and Netto.
The DIY sales channel with the fewest locations and therefore perhaps the least known of the group is Brico Cash - whereby "DIY" describes only a part of the format, even though that's the term in the name ("brico"): with its high racks and pallets throughout the retail space, it is a warehouse format which is targeted at both experienced handymen in the hard DIY field as well as professionals. Private customers bring in the largest share of sales.
Apartment conversions and renovations are the main areas which Brico Cash concentrates on. The company emphasises that 12 000 SKUs are available in "construction site quantities". A typical permanently low price strategy is pursued. The range focuses on the major as well as specialist brands, but also offers promotional products in limited quantities. Brico Cash has not yet run any own brands.

Les Mousquetaires sees a lot of potential expansion for this format. "70 depots are…