The message from western Siberia

After the turning-point of the financial crisis, which commenced in 2008 and left its mark on the whole of 2009, came the hint of something like a new beginning in the countries of eastern Europe in 2010. The economic data looked brighter, indicating GDP growth of just under four per cent in Russia and Poland, for example, and just over four per cent in Ukraine. DIY retailing is just one sector where growth of a different quality is in the air. In fact, it almost seems as though these economies are being discovered for a second time. The difference to the first phase after the upheaval of 1989 and the economic liberalisation of the nineties is that this time it will not simply be a case of exporting retail concepts from the West to supposedly immature markets. One thing is clear, though: pricing will remain one of the dominant themes in the medium term. But it is noticeable that efforts are also being made to set new standards, to do justice to the local conditions in the different countries through the retail formats being developed there. For instance Metrika, a Russian chain, is now concentrating on smaller stores of around 2 000 m², having originally gone for much larger formats. Companies are all in all announcing relatively big waves of store openings once again. The Finnish Rautakesko Group, for example, has just revealed that it intends to add 15 new outlets to its Russian network within the next four years. By contrast, Poland is one country that has long since achieved the status of a stable market. After all, it was the only EU member state to achieve positive growth in 2009 (of 1.7 per cent, to be precise). Not for nothing does Poland top the list for the international expansion planned by Praktiker. However, there are certain indications that the players on the DIY scene are also allocating other countries of eastern Europe a role that amounts to the status of largely developed markets. One such indication is that new formats are being experimented with here. For instance Kingfisher is fitting out one of its Castorama stores, which features on this year’s list of projects, with the environmental technology that the group has so far only tested in a UK pilot store. Moreover, something of a stir has been caused by the announcement that the Jusnui Group has opened the first DIY centre fully dedicated to women in the city of Tyumen. On this evidence, western Siberia seems to be further advanced than western Europe, at least when it comes to target…