"We are still a hard discounter"

The Swedish DIY group Byggmax has made a lot of noise recently. The latest big coup was the expansion to Denmark in January 2021, where the company now has a brick-and-mortar presence, but mainly online. As of January 2021, it has taken over the owner-managed company Næstved Lavpristræ A/S, which operates a small DIY discount chain with four locations and made sales of DKK 125 mio (EUR 17 mio) in 2020, around 30 per cent of which comes from e-commerce. Now Byggmax wants to open a Danish online shop under its brand in Denmark and offer more product categories there.
Much attention in the industry was paid to the appearance of Mattias Ankarberg, CEO of the Byggmax group since the end of 2016, on the Global DIY-Network platform when the Edra/Ghin managing director John Herbert asked him in a further "Meet the CEO" interview. Ankarberg once again clearly pointed out the difference to most other DIY concepts: "We are still a hard discounter," he said. At the same time, Ankarberg was able to refer to the high share of online sales of, most recently, around 20 per cent: "We are big on e-commerce". This share, according to his forecast, will increase to a third by 2025.
Yet Byggmax continues to open new locations and is gradually converting the existing branch network to the new store concept 3.0 which follows the idea of the specialist store. One effect of the new opening is also that there are more online orders in these regions. "It's a really nice combo", Ankarberg describes the model.
The Byggmax concept is based on a small assortment, limited range, low price, self-service and low cost - and the promise to the customers. "Everybody has the right to a fantastic home." Around 4 000 SKUs are kept in the stores, around 50 000 are available online.
The company operates with three store formats. In addition to a covered retail space of an average of 2 000 m², every location also has a timber yard with drive-through. The opening hours are from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. as standard.  The smaller locations are only manned by one employee sometimes during the day in off-season periods. Ankarberg makes it clear that the store is "still the core" of the business model. That's why, for example, they are also working on a format to move even closer to the customers' home, he explains. In addition, more product categories are expected to be offered in future and, for example, the garden assortment is to be developed.