Ambitious goal

It is several years since the “Le Club” cooperative launched “Les Briconautes”, their DIY sales channel. Meanwhile the organisation, which is headed by Philippe Obry, has turned its attention to the garden segment as well.
Last year saw the launch of the “Les Jardinautes” retail format, which specialises in garden products, plants and pet supplies. There are forty outlets of this type already. They have a retail area of around 2 000 m² and are either attached to a DIY store or operate as separate garden centres.
Pierre Manhès is responsible for Les Jardinautes.
“In rural areas it is better to expand the garden segment than to concentrate on building materials. And it also allows us to cater to women as a target group,” explains Philippe Obry. By creating this new format, Le Club also wanted to react to the requirements of their members, especially the independent garden centres and the self-service agricultural stores, which are keen to develop a stronger profile in the gardening and pet categories. If this retail format functions in the same way as its big sister, Les Briconautes, particularly where the free choice of name is concerned – allowing members to use either their own name or the format’s – Les Jardinautes will in future constitute a multi-facetted entity.
The Le Club cooperative has created a special division, headed by Pierre Manhès, which acts as a central purchasing unit for the channel. It currently lists approximately 150 suppliers from all the garden and pet categories (live plants, tools, irrigation, seeds, decoration, etc.). The division is also working on and implementing a specific communications concept: the plan includes eight advertising campaigns per year in addition to a catalogue, the size of which is determined by the size of the garden centre concerned. Certain product lines will also be available under the Les Jardinautes private label.
The new sales format is not lacking in ambition: it intends to number among the five biggest names in plant retailing in France within the space of ten years.
The Le Club cooperative, based at Brive La Gaillarde, achieved sales of € 610 mio with 317 stores in the year 2003. By the end of the year there were 130 outlets operating under the Les Briconautes banner and generating sales of € 258 mio.