Bazaar version of B&Q

The colour of the logo and the way the stores look are more than suggestive of B&Q, and that is no accident: the Turkish DIY chain Koçtas¸ is a joint venture between the British Kingfisher Group and the Koç Group. The European DIY retail trade’s market leader and the Turkish multi-division group have been working together since the year 2000. Koçtas¸, with a portfolio of 37 stores at mid-year, regards itself as the market leader in Turkey. Last year saw the company open six new stores, thereby increasing the total sales area to 191 000 m². The stores are big in size, rang­ing from 3 000 m² to 12 000 m². The majority of them are located in shopping centres. Sales experienced an increase of 17 per cent in 2011. The chain, with a market volume of some € 7.5 bn, claims a market share of six per cent. Included among last year’s new openings was a pilot store for the “Next Generation” retailing concept. The company describes this concept as having been inspired by the Grand Bazaar in Istanbul. It includes shopping streets as well as food vendors and seating areas. Altogether 35 000 articles are offered over the 9 000 m² floor­space of the first such outlet in the Eryaman district of the capital Ankara. One store was opened in the first six months of 2012. Four new stores are to be added altogether in the 2012/2013 financial year, and one is to be modernised. In the long term Koçtas¸ is aiming for a network of some 100 outlets. Management at Koçtas¸ attributes relatively great significance to e-commerce. The chain’s online shop, which was launched in 2007, reported significant growth in 2011, which involved handling around 25 000 sales transactions. From the viewpoint of Kingfisher the Turkish market is seen basically as easier and more profitable to exploit than China, for instance. Admittedly, the economy is growing with similar dynamism in both regions. But in Turkey the DIY retailers are dealing with a type of consumer behaviour that is in the main more like what is found in the core European markets. Download: