Still two brands?

The British Kingfisher group has announced an integration and consolidation plan for its acti­vities in Romania. The plan includes the closure of three Praktiker stores in Bacau, Ploiesti and Focsani. Kingfisher made the take­over of the Romanian Praktiker chain with 27 stores known at the start of August 2017 and it was completed in December. There are still currently 26 Praktiker locations. It is unclear whether the brand will be maintained. Kingfisher has been present in the country since the takeover of the then 15 Bricostore stores in 2013 which were converted to the Brico Dépôt format.
The plan which has now been initiated aims at covering the entire Romanian market with the help of an integrated offer through the stationary businesses and an online shop. To begin with, customer experience in the stores is to be improved, including the implementation of IT solutions that sustain the company's goals. The company wants to offer its customers better organised stores with stocks adapted to their demand and new product ranges.
Adela Smeu, CEO Brico Dépôt Romania, has this to say: "We trust that through these changes we can satisfy our customers' needs and they will have access to new ranges of Kingfisher products in better organised stores. Our objective is that, in the medium term, our offer is available to every customer in Romania, no matter where he lives, both through physical stores, but also through an online store."

After the German parent company went bankrupt in 2013, the Romanian Praktiker stores were sold the following year by the insolvency administrator to the Turkish businessman Omer Susli, the owner of Search Chemicals. An extensive modernisation of the stores started as soon as 2016. Annual sales amounted to EUR 140 mio in this year.
The integration of the Praktiker stores into the structure of Kingfisher's sales channels must also be seen in the context of the fact that the British group has been creating a tighter internal structure for some time now. "One Kingfisher" is the name of the plan, and it includes, for instance, a strong convergence of the product range in all assortment areas, in particular in own brands and also procurement structures, and that across all the different sales channels which Kingfisher…