An outing to the DIY store

For years Kingfisher has been notching up success in the United Kingdom with its DIY subsidiary, B&Q, even against the trend in the industry. Its sales growth is regularly positioned above the national average, on a like-for-like basis as well. For example, the sales of £ 2.665 bn (4.341 bn euro) in the 2000/2001 financial year accounted for an increase of 19.7 per cent in the year 2000 compared with an 8.1 per cent rise industry-wide. The same picture after adjusting: B&Q grew by 7.1 per cent, the industry by 5.4 per cent. Its share of the entire RMI (Repair, Maintenance and Improvement) market came to 12.3 per cent in mid-2001, with 25 per cent in the end-consumer segment, and the company already covers half (50.6 per cent) of the market where DIY superstores and builders' merchants are concerned.
Staff and management have written into the firm's philosophy their determination to "give people the best possible inspiration, confidence and opportunities to create homes of their own that they can be proud of". And they are putting a lot of effort into achieving this: It is planned to turn their DIY stores into a regular destination for outings where the whole family can find everything that they need for improving their home. This is now known as the "destination store" concept.
This is shown above all in the format that is being further developed alongside the Supercenter marketing arm: the B&Q Warehouses. It was 1995 when the company opened its first "genuine" Warehouse in Aberdeen. Meanwhile this has expanded to 80 from the total of 314 B&Q outlets. They have certain typical characteristics in common: the ideal location offers a retail area of 12 000 m² where 40 000 items are available. Parking space for about 600 vehicles must be at customers' disposal for a store that is open seven days a week, Monday to Saturday from eight till eight, and on Sundays from ten till four. Which is how the average store achieves sales of £ 23.5 mio (38.3 mio euro) per year.
The company goes for experience, so that one in 20 of the 240 employees is over 60 years old. Ten per cent are qualified specialists, in order to serve the target group of trade customers in particular.
A genuine example of this kind of outlet covering an area of 13 400 m² was opened by B&Q last year at the Hartcliffe retail park near Bristol . Here it is possible to experience what the British DIY retailers regard as customer proximity in pure, unadulterated form.
Situated right in…