New competition

The first Brico Stock opened on 22 October in the Las Cañas shopping centre at Viana, La Rioja, not far from Logroño, where a Carrefour supermarket also opened for business at the same time. The store has a retail area of 5 700 m² overall, whereby the indoor space accounts for 3 750 m² and the outdoor yard for displaying building materials covers 1 950 m². The product offer consists of 15 000 items, similar to the Brico Dépôt stores in France, and this Spanish version likewise dispenses with any kind of garden products. The concept has been taken over from France lock stock and barrel.The store offers a basic range of products at very low prices. No special regional features were taken into consideration when the assortment was put together. Experienced DIYers and professionals are the groups targeted primarily by the store. Consequently there are none of the services that can normally be expected in DIY stores, such as cutting timber to size. The product offer is divided up into eight departments, again the same as in Brico Dépôt stores.Employed in the DIY store is a core workforce of 40, which is topped up by seasonal staff. The store is open from 7.30 a.m. to 1 p.m. and from 3 p.m. to 8.30 p.m..Kingfisher considers that the main difference from the French DIY market is that the Spanish have less experience in DIY projects than their French neighbours. On the other hand, however, the tradesmen in Spain tend to buy more in order to carry out the jobs they undertake for consumers. A second difference is in the area of pricing. The Spanish DIY market is dominated by Leroy Merlin in the large-format segment, as the result of the group’s acquisition of Aki at the beginning of last year. The consequence of this is higher prices. The Brico Stock concept is aimed at the exact opposite end of the market, the lower pricing segment. Spain´s first Brico Stock is located in Viana.Before next summer Kingfisher intends to open two more Brico Stock stores (Valencia, Toledo).The results of the first test stores will be crucial in deciding just what Kingfisher invests in the future. If sales are up to expectations, the company intends to expand over the next ten years until it reaches the position of market leader.