Wanted: Added value for the customer

The regional DIY store chain Knauber is something of a role model in the German DIY market. With its presentation concepts and its compilation of products, it clearly stands out from the competition in certain areas. Although the seven stores, with 875 employees in western Germany’s Köln-Bonn region, offer the typical DIY range, they are also strong in the areas of home design, cooking accessories, household goods and craft articles.
In view of this, the industry wasn’t really surprised when in summer 2014, Knauber announced that, together with industry partners, they would develop an Innovation Store. In the meantime, there are 17 network partners from retail, industry, service and science sectors who are testing an innovative retail concept for the bricks and mortar stores and product innovations on a special area at the branch in Pulheim. This is all carried out while also keeping the digital and cross-channel retailing in mind.
Now, approximately a year after the inauguration of the Innovation Store, the initiators and participating companies have made an interim assessment. Dr. Ines Knauber-Daubenbüchel, executive managing partner at Knauber, called the Innovation Store, “a brilliant platform for discussion between suppliers and retailers”, which helps “both sides to get to know and understand each other better”.
Together with Peter Stechmann, chairman of the managing board at Alpina, who summarized the views of the 15 industry partners, she emphasized how much all the participants have gained from the jointly acquired experience, among other things due to Knauber’s transparency, allowing insight into the essential key figures, as Stechmann pointed out. “We’ve never experienced anything like it”, was the comment made by Stechmann who was clearly impressed by the frank exchange.

The IFH Köln is coordinating the activities and providing scientific support for these special areas and individual POS concepts in the Knauber store in Pulheim. For the participating partners, it’s all about “finding out, what kind of innovation is needed in the digital age for bricks and mortar stores to be successful”, as Boris Hedde, managing director of IFH Köln, described the concept. The all-important question for the retail business is: “How do I create real added value…