Growth from abroad

The German DIY store operators get their growth from abroad. That's how it's been for a long time, and was proven true again in 2018, as an analysis of the German top 10 shows. The German publishing house Dähne Verlag has presented initial figures before the publication of its extensive statistics for the German and international market - "Statistik Baumarkt + Garten 2019" as well as "Statistics Home Improvement Retail Europe 2019". One thing is clear: growth abroad is significantly stronger than that on the home market of Germany.
Gross sales of the ten largest German DIY store operators increased by around 2.9 per cent in the past year, according to still provisional calculations. With a volume of EUR 30.082 bn, the German top 10 have exceeded the 30-billion-euro mark for the first time.
The comparison to the previous year and the domestic business is interesting: in 2017 the growth rate still amounted to 2.1 per cent. The cumulative increase which the ten largest DIY store operators achieved with their locations in Germany lay at only 1.6 per cent in 2018.
The sales ranking of the German DIY retailers with their activities at home and abroad remains unchanged, especially as market leader Obi continues to strengthen its significant lead with a disproportionate growth of 4.1 per cent. Industry second, Bauhaus, achieved only an increase of 2.5 per cent.The clear winner in terms of growth rates however is Hornbach. The company increased its overall sales in the past year by 5.1 per cent.

If one considers only the German market, the ranking looks a little different. But above all, growth is much less. The top 10 in the DIY trade in Germany increased their totalled gross sales last year by around 1.6 per cent to a volume of EUR 20.657 bn. In 2017 the rate of increase still amounted to 1.7 per cent. However in the current statistics, there are still some provisional figures as well as calculations on the basis of estimations.
The strongest increases have been by the German Hellweg stores. Their sales have grown by 3.1 per cent. Also significantly above the average is the Eurobaustoff cooperative; their partners achieved an increase in sales of 2.5 per cent with their retail locations. The third company with disproportionately high growth is…