French putting their money on Germany

ManoMano, the European online marketplace specialising in DIY and garden products, doubled its trading volume to EUR 1.2 bn in 2020. And Germany, according to the French company, is the growth driver with an increase of 165 per cent. In the German market alone, ManoMano expanded its business volume to EUR 113 mio in 2020. This also amounts to double the 2019 sum. For the future, the company "continues to have high expectations for the largest B2C DIY market in Europe with a volume of EUR 82 bn and forecast growth of +26.3 per cent for online trade and +13.7 per cent for the stationary trade," writes ManoMano in a press release.
"Germany is the key market," says Philippe de Chanville, summarising the future strategy. Together with Christian Raisson, he runs the company, which the pair set up in 2013. Apart from the sheer size of the biggest DIY market in Europe, de Chanville cites two other reasons: "With digital penetration at seven per cent, there is a need for the online DIY business in Germany to catch up and as such it offers huge potential." The third reason is that Germany is the largest export market for ManoMano, "because German brands and products are in high demand by European customers on account of their quality." Thus 75 per cent of the retailers represented on the German platform are from Germany, and 40 per cent of the German retailers in turn export their products internationally via ManoMano.
As far as ManoMano is concerned, the coronavirus pandemic has played a lead role in its development last year and this year. On the one hand, it has driven digitalisation forward; on the other, it has prompted people to focus far more than before on the homes in which they are now spending a lot more time.

This also applies to the company's expansion in Germany, as Christian Raisson explains. "2021 will be a year of consolidation of the product and service offering for private and business customers as well as for ManoMano's retail partners," he says. It will also be a year of acceleration in Europe, especially in Germany. "By the end of 2021, the German platform is expected to be the second biggest platform of ManoMano and to become the number one in the next few years."
In addition to Germany and to its main market in…