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The competitive pressure within the European DIY retail sector is becoming increasingly fierce. One way of countering the process of global concentration is to set up international cooperative organisations, since strategic alliances ensure survival in a market that demands quantity.
Such alliances regard themselves not just as straight buying cooperatives designed to guarantee cheap purchasing prices all over the world: they are also developing joint brand and marketing strategies in order to increase the group’s efficiency.
It can be seen from the examples of Arena, Toomaxx and Euro-Mat just what sort of dimensions are involved in this combined market muscle. The members of Arena represent a sales volume of more than 8 bn euro, Euro-Mat’s DIY sector stands for approx. 4.5 bn euro and Toomaxx for 3.3 bn euro.
Arena: active on four continents
Arena (Access to Retailers in Europe and North America), the cooperative venture set up at the beginning of 2001 by Hagebau of Soltau, Germany, and the trading group ITM Enterprise (Bricomarché) of Paris, France, is active on four continents.
It is expected to see a doubling of the purchasing volume this year to a minimum of 100 mio euro from the 2002 total of 54 mio euro. According to information supplied by headquarters in Soltau, in Europe the buying venture is second only to Kingfisher in terms of purchases in the traditional DIY area.
Since 2001 the Danish cooperative Ditas has represented Arena in Scandinavia. The beginning of 2003 saw the inclusion of Rona BMI as a minority shareholder, a company that in April took over the Réno-Dépôt DIY chain from Kingfisher (20 outlets).
The smallest member of Arena is Mica, the South African cooperative. Through this membership it acts not only as a bridge to suppliers in South Africa but also as a foothold for Arena in the United Kingdom, where the Mica group operates 132 stores with sales of 125 mio euro.
Although Arena does act as chief negotiator with regard to suppliers, this does not replace the national buying departments: the objective is not to have a pan-european range but to retain and optimise the respective national ranges. “International procurement has made it possible to realise savings in the six-figure bracket for many DIY product ranges,” says Marc Rappenhöner, emphasising the benefits of the international association. It should also mean good business for industry since, as he continues, “Arena does not only ensure that market shares are maintained and…
Such alliances regard themselves not just as straight buying cooperatives designed to guarantee cheap purchasing prices all over the world: they are also developing joint brand and marketing strategies in order to increase the group’s efficiency.
It can be seen from the examples of Arena, Toomaxx and Euro-Mat just what sort of dimensions are involved in this combined market muscle. The members of Arena represent a sales volume of more than 8 bn euro, Euro-Mat’s DIY sector stands for approx. 4.5 bn euro and Toomaxx for 3.3 bn euro.
Arena: active on four continents
Arena (Access to Retailers in Europe and North America), the cooperative venture set up at the beginning of 2001 by Hagebau of Soltau, Germany, and the trading group ITM Enterprise (Bricomarché) of Paris, France, is active on four continents.
It is expected to see a doubling of the purchasing volume this year to a minimum of 100 mio euro from the 2002 total of 54 mio euro. According to information supplied by headquarters in Soltau, in Europe the buying venture is second only to Kingfisher in terms of purchases in the traditional DIY area.
Since 2001 the Danish cooperative Ditas has represented Arena in Scandinavia. The beginning of 2003 saw the inclusion of Rona BMI as a minority shareholder, a company that in April took over the Réno-Dépôt DIY chain from Kingfisher (20 outlets).
The smallest member of Arena is Mica, the South African cooperative. Through this membership it acts not only as a bridge to suppliers in South Africa but also as a foothold for Arena in the United Kingdom, where the Mica group operates 132 stores with sales of 125 mio euro.
Although Arena does act as chief negotiator with regard to suppliers, this does not replace the national buying departments: the objective is not to have a pan-european range but to retain and optimise the respective national ranges. “International procurement has made it possible to realise savings in the six-figure bracket for many DIY product ranges,” says Marc Rappenhöner, emphasising the benefits of the international association. It should also mean good business for industry since, as he continues, “Arena does not only ensure that market shares are maintained and…
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