The true innovators

In this issue, the regional report that features regularly in DIY International is actually devoted to the USA, and the motherland of self service and hypermarkets actually provides a topic that is easy to deal with: the world's biggest home improvement retailers are American, and progress has always been at home there.That much is actually true. However, it occurred to me when putting this issue together that it is virtually impossible at the moment to keep up with the flood of reports from ... France. Or more accurately, from northern France and the city of Lille.Lille is the base of Groupe Adeo, Europe's biggest and the world's third biggest home improvement retailer, which is currently in the process of expanding in all dimensions.You can read up on the details in this magazine. The French outfit is exporting the Zôdio format to Brazil and Spain. Groupe Adeo's main distribution channel Leroy Merlin is burning off the competition in Russia with 17 new store openings in 2017 and is also targeting new countries and even continents, with an imminent premiere in South Africa (which has already hosted a pre-premiere with the campus format). In China a small format is being tested under the Leroy Merlin family brand as the Design Company.

All this can be interpreted as the French response to the enormous pressure from the Internet, meaning not only the Amazon juggernaut, but also rapid digitalisation. When it comes to innovation too, one instinctively thinks of America; yet France with companies such as the DIY marketplace ManoMano or the IoT pioneer Netatmo shouldn't be overlooked.One reaction to this pressure can be for a company to step up its own e-commerce operations, as Home Depot in particular is doing very successfully. Another response is to strengthen activities on the high street. This not only means new formats, but also the use of digital technologies, for example, to make bricks-and-mortar retailing more attractive. Lowe's with its Innovation Labs is worth mentioning here.It also means consciously investing in new formats and activities that are only possible offline. Here Adeo is advancing with its TechShop/workshop Leroy Merlin, and likewise with massive innovations in its distribution formats…