“We are the benchmark”

It is the most important national DIY retail brand in Italy, not only in terms of size but also, and above all, because of the materials and innovations it offers. Proof of this innovative capacity comes not least from the creation of a second brand name – Dottorbrico – as a neighbourhood store. In an interview Kristos Basimas, executive director buying and sourcing, and Riccardo Baldi, who is responsible for communication, explain the state of the Italian market and the tasks that the company is coping with in order to face up to the crisis. The Italian market in 2012 and in the first few months of 2013: how did it develop and how is it continuing to develop? If we are talking about 2012, that was the first time the Italian market closed with a deficit. We are talking about minus two per cent. Certainly, when we look at other markets such as the Spanish one, which showed a deficit of nine per cent, ours was only a small decrease. That is the first deficit we have ever recorded and, above all, the new openings are included in the calculation. And Self? We are in the black in terms of performance but not like-for-like; we are in line with the market, which means that we must be careful. Since we have secured our share of the market we have done better than the market overall. That remains our first priority, especially because we are forecasting a negative course of events, for 2013 as well. January was not a good month, but then it has never been good: this time not even the sales functioned particularly well in spite of the attractive prices. It will be an extremely demanding year for Self, but we are optimistic because we want to grow and believe that we can do so. How? For example by reworking the product lines. It is incredible what results we achieve each time we go about giving a department a workover: the impact is immediate and positive. This is going to happen very often at Self in 2013. Our goal is to refresh all the various product categories in a continuous process. Last year, for instance, we concentrated the activity on the technical product categories: tools, electrical, sanitary, where we are observing positive developments, even though the market is weakening in general. What else? Above all else we are investing, and we are continuing to be the benchmark for the entire market that falls into the major category of do-it-yourself. And that despite the fact that we have been strongly driven by the enhanced feminisation of the sales outlets…