Enough to do in 2013

While business people do of course have to think in terms of their accounting year, they also need to look far beyond the horizon of that one year. So the start of a new year is a good time to give some thought to the tasks that lie ahead. The DIY sector’s share of these is quite considerable, and one may well use the word “challenges” instead of “tasks”. Multichannel is one example of a major topic to be dealt with. So far not one of the leading DIY retailers has really got going here. It’s no accident that EDRA and FEDIYMA have taken e-commerce as the key theme of their 2nd Global DIY Summit in Rome. In Germany, Hagebau has made the greatest progress. The retail cooperative is working in a joint venture together with Otto, a mail-order business, to exploit this channel. Sales are grow­ing, but they still fall short of expectations. Obi intends to do some energetic catching up in this area. As market leader in Germany and number three in Europe, the company is already actively involved in online selling, of course. But now CEO Sergio Giroldi has announced an across-the-board online strategy – across the board because the offline business is incorporated into it and because the entire approach is intended to be identical in all countries, up to and including pricing. We can look forward with keen anticipation to hearing what Giroldi has to report on the subject in Rome. The contribution from Ian Cheshire, CEO of Kingfisher, could be interesting as well. After all, Kingfisher has announced its intention of perceptibly increasing online involvement. The problem here, when compared with Obi, is that the group has to deal with several different channels of distribution. Another long-running issue right at the top of the agenda, and one that features as a key topic in this very issue, is achieving a sensible balance be­tween manufacturers’ brands and retailers’ own-label products. It is clear that retailers need their own brands for several reasons. But it is equally clear, and for more than one reason, that they would be well advised to support manufacturers’ brands. Where will innovative products come from otherwise? The list of challenges is still lengthy. How will DIY stores come to terms with the tremen­dous demographic changes that lie ahead, particularly in Europe? Will the problem of excess floorspace in the DIY trade be tackled at long last? And will the sector in Europe succeed in living up to the anticipated new EU laws on the relation­ship between…