The empires strike back

"They were once the ones that emerged as a new, disruptive retail format, calling traditional retail structures into question. The DIY retailers have established the DIY store as a form of distribution channel, and not only in the western world, in the space of a few decades: an immutable position that cannot be circumvented either by industry or by the hard-pressed speciality retail channels.
Solid? Immutable? Not to be circumvented? In their comfort zone the DIY stores have underestimated the power that once made them so successful: the power of disruption. This is now manifesting itself as online retailing in all its forms. E-commerce in its turn can now no longer be avoided.
After ignoring it initially, DIY retailers eyed it warily for a long time like a rabbit watching a snake. Now, however, they appear to have recovered from their shock-induced paralysis and are mustering plenty of ideas and financial resources so as not to cede the field to the disruptors without a fight. The old empires intend to strike back.
In this quest, Obi, the number 3 in Europe, has conjured up a new business unit, earmarking 20 million euros per year in additional staff costs for "Obi next". Hornbach, the number 5 DIY retailer in Europe, will have pumped 400 million euros into "interconnected retail" between 2016 and 2020.

What is at least as important as the money is the fact that retailers are developing new ideas and at the same time reflecting on their old strengths. The customers - including the digital natives - still enjoy shopping in store and retailers are finally asking what the entities that have mastered this business and are able to offer a shopping experience are like.
Any pleasing examples of these? In this issue of DIY International we report on how Coop Bau + Hobby in Switzerland has worked consciously on the retail area and its link to the online offering, and is now rolling out the concept. The French Groupe Adeo organisation is presenting one model project after another, from the temporary pop-up workshop "Make it" in Paris to the small-format showroom in a Moscow housing development. In France the sector is now looking more closely at small retail formats, according to the FMB trade association, and has set…