“Meeting customers halfway”

The FDT Group’s total number of outlets has now gone up to 16. The cooperative operation from Lombardy, with a combined retail area in excess of 31 700 m², recently welcomed a new member with stores in Piedmont. The organisation was established in 1997 on the basis of common needs and demands, i.e. the reinforcement of trading activities and the optimisation of costs and projects. Last year the group’s turnover amounted to more than € 20 mio. The stores range in size between 1 300 and 3 000 m2, with an average retail area of 1 982 m². Membership of the cooperative provides access to common suppliers, who at present account for 90 per cent of all procurement, while the remaining 10 per cent chiefly represents product categories that meet typical local requirements or a particular store's specialisations. The number of articles available in each store ranges from a minimum of 1 500 to a maximum of 40 000, according to the size of the outlet. However, what they all have in common is the consistent image of the FDT brand: employees’ uniforms, internal merchandising, updating of price lists and promotional material.Particular attention is paid to the training and further development courses that all store employees are regularly invited to attend. Traditional flyers are used for the periodic advertising campaigns, which appear at varying intervals according to the subject matter of the promotion. Since early 2003 the cooperative group has also set up its own internal radio system, which broadcasts a mixture of music and commercials, special offers and educational information. Customer cards also represent a real source of information for the FDT Group, as is the case with other retail groups. The procedure is always the same: the customer is awarded one bonus point for each sales receipt worth a minimum of € 5; then he is electronically credited with one point per euro spent above this basic € 5. The bonuses include a great number of travel offers, toiletries, products for the home and garden, along with wooden toys and hi-tech articles.The group currently has eight members, all with experience in the DIY segment, though sometimes with their own specialisations. Despite this, the common denominator is many years of experience in the traditional timber trade: a market which is said to provide good margins, even if it demands greater expense in terms of service and equipment. It is service that the FDT Group’s sales format concentrates on. The real focus here is…