Doing it yourself as a matter of course

As a family business based in Wuppertal, the Storch-Ciret Group sells its products primarily in European countries. The number one for painting tools in Europe, with more than 30 sales, administration and production companies in Europe and China, concentrates on the manufacture and marketing of the corresponding products. Eastern Europe is an important sales region. This is also because DIY and do-it-yourself has a long tradition here and is particularly widespread.

With the collapse of the Eastern Bloc, new markets opened up at the beginning of the 1990s, including for the Storch-Ciret Group. The company has been active in the Czech Republic since 1993 with its first foreign sales subsidiary. Under the management of Čeněk Gintar - today Managing Director for the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Bulgaria, Romania and the former Yugoslavia - the painting tool specialist has since opened up the Eastern European market.

In Eastern European countries, the world of craftsmanship is characterized by a pronounced do-it-yourself mentality: Over 60 percent of consumers carry out refurbishment and renovation work themselves, often assisted by acquaintances and relatives who help after work or at weekends.

The number of people with semi-professional DIY experience is correspondingly high. While only around 20 percent of consumers in Germany have the confidence to tackle challenging renovation work - such as carpentry, electrical installation, interior work, tiling or smooth walls - around 70 percent of consumers in the Czech Republic do so, according to their own studies.

Another difference is the proportion of home ownership. It is 80 percent in the Czech Republic and even over 90 percent in Slovakia. And there is something else that characterizes the Eastern European painting tool market: in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, wallpapering is rarely used for historical reasons. This is because wallpaper was applied to unplastered surfaces during the socialist era. Wallpapered walls therefore do not have a good image. Instead, plastered smooth walls are painted. All of this means that professional companies that only offer painting work are rare in Eastern Europe.

With the entry of German DIY groups into the Czech and Slovakian markets, the retail landscape in these countries has changed. The product ranges - previously comparatively narrow - are now 80 percent identical to those on the German market. Products and suppliers are determined by group contracts.

The proportion of DIY enthusiasts and semi-professional tradespeople among painting tool customers is extremely high. And consumers base their purchasing decisions primarily on price. The regional paint industry also plays a role in defining the product range: the paints often come from regional manufacturers and the quality of the tools must be matched to the respective paints.

With the Color Expert range and POS concept, the Storch-Ciret Group is meeting the market conditions and customer requirements in Eastern Europe. The color coding system assigns the products to the work areas in defined colors. This guides DIY store customers quickly and reliably to the right painting tool when making their purchase decision.

This is very well received. The concept, which enables semi-professionals in particular to find the right product quickly, has been very popular right from the start. And consumers in Eastern Europe react with curiosity to new, innovative products. DIY enthusiasts and semi-professionals alike always test new products and applications with great interest.

Conversely, experience and consumer habits from Eastern Europe flow into the further development of the entire Storch-Ciret Group. At regular international meetings, the experts exchange information on product range and sales developments, experiences with customer presentations and regional customer requirements. For example, solutions are developed for regional markets or for dealing with critical raw material or sea freight situations.

The cross-border exchange is inspiring and stimulating. Many suggestions from the Czech market have been incorporated into the development of Color Expert's professional range. And this experience can in turn be used for the future corporate development of the Storch-Ciret Group in Eastern Europe.

The influences from Eastern Europe are also noticeable and visible in the market: there is the trend towards plastered and painted walls. More and more people are commissioning mobile generalists rather than painting contractors. There are more and more commercial painters and semi-professionals who buy their supplies from DIY stores. There is a buying behavior that thinks of paint and painting tools together and buys both together. And since the coronavirus at the latest, there are more and more people who are daring to tackle more demanding craftsmanship, who are finding out about it online or elsewhere and carrying out complex projects themselves.

European and global conditions are influencing our economy: EU enlargement to the east, the corona pandemic, the climate crisis and increased social awareness of upcycling, reuse and longevity, for example. These political and social changes are also contributing to the fact that more and more people in Germany are doing their own DIY. And they are opening up market opportunities in new countries.

Conditions are changing, posing new challenges and offering new opportunities. The only thing that remains constant is the task of reacting flexibly and adaptably as a company. This is how Color Expert succeeds time and again in designing and creating modern and attractive ranges of painting tools - ranges that are successful throughout Europe.