Influence of the EU on Austria’s DIY market

The German DIY retail groups Hagebau, Hornbach, Obi and Praktiker entered the Austrian market in 1995; Baywa came later, and both NBB/Bauspezi and EMV-Profi were added only recently. A number of familiar names have disappeared from the DIY scene: the members of Bautreff became franchise partners of Hagebau, and the majority of the members of Bauwelt changed over to Obi. The German multiples Hornbach and Praktiker have opened completely new outlets in Austria. Baywa took over the building materials and DIY division of Raiffeisen and founded the AFS Austrian Franchise System GmbH in Vienna to service the DIY stores and DIY departments of the Lagerhaus organisation. The Austrian Bauprofi Group consisting of several big companies (Quester, Würth-Hochenburger and Stadlbauer, along with the Bauprofi-Beteiligungsgesellschaft zur Errichtung gemeinschaftlicher Baumärkte – a Bauprofi holding company for the erection of joint DIY stores) and the Bauprofi-Leistungsgesellschaft (a relatively large number of companies that were serviced by Stadlbauer under the Bauprofi umbrella brand) had broken up completely by the end of 2000. Würth-Hochenburger became a member of Hagebau for several years, as did Quester as well. Quester is currently an individual enterprise again, having taken over the Stadlbauer company with the Bauprofi brand name and the remaining members of the Bauprofi-Leistungsgemeinschaft. In May 2004 Quester entered into a joint venture with NBB/Bauspezi and founded the DHF (Dienstleistungs- und Vertriebssysteme für den Handel GmbH – a service and distribution organisation) with its German partner for servicing the DFH-Bauprofi franchise partners. Hagebau gained eleven new partner firms all at once at the end of 2003 through a cooperative agreement with the Austrian Öbau company. Previous to this, individual Öbau members had changed over to Obi. An Öbau member from Tyrol became the first partner of EMV-Profi in Austria (late 2004). Baumax, the Austrian market leader, has achieved expansion of floorspace in Austria during the last ten years mainly through the extension of existing locations; this is true of Bauhaus as well. Baumax also took over the DIY group Büttinghaus/Baumgartner, which resulted in the disappearance of this well-known name from the DIY retail scene.
East-west divide in large-format DIY stores - Proportion of retail area 30 Sept 2004(download .pdf-file)
Comparison of DIY retail areas 1993 and 2004(download .pdf-file)
Retail area: the big…