“Join this initiative!”

What started out of necessity during the pandemic has become a tradition: for the fourth time, the organisers of the Global DIY-Summit, the international retail and manufacturer associations Edra/Ghin and Hima, organised a virtual mini-edition of the congress in the autumn.

The 4th Virtual DIY-Summit was dominated by two topics: online marketplaces and Scope 3. The approximately 1,000 live viewers were able to see on several occasions how important the latter topic is to Edra managing director John Herbert. “Join this initiative”, he appealed to retailers and manufacturers.

“We cannot emphasise enough the importance to take action”, said Jamie Pitcairn before he ended his talk. As technicaldDirector of the engineering consultancy Ricardo, he is advising Edra/Ghin and Hima on the globally unique project of reducing Scope 3 emissions worldwide as an entire industry. A central point is the collection of data from manufacturers via a common platform. Hima CEO Reinhard Wolff pointed out that the focus should also be on small and medium-sized manufacturers.

Prof. Katarzyna Kapustka, who advises the two Scope 3 task forces of the DIY industry, had previously explained the important role that Scope 3 emissions play in the DIY industry. Her example: a simple DIY project such as building a wooden bookshelf at home can easily result in CO₂ emissions equivalent to a 200 km car journey.

The organisers invited experts Valerie Dichtl and Ingrid Lommer to talk about marketplaces. In contrast to the fashion industry, for example, the party has only just begun in the DIY sector, they said – “but the DIY industry is catching up”.

Why are DIY stores opening their own marketplaces at all? Because otherwise they won't be able to meet consumer expectations, said Hakan Aydemir of Plentysystems in the panel discussion on the topic. Michael Maihaus of Obi confirmed that this is actually expanding the range without cannibalising their own business. However, Ralph Hübner of D2C Advisors reported that a large proportion of suppliers still don't know how this business works.

The summit kicked off with a review of the developments of the past year. John Herbert presented some key findings from the Home Improvement Report Retail Worldwide.

Thierry Garnier, CEO of Kingfisher and President of Edra/Ghin, gave a cautiously optimistic outlook. Consumer sentiment is slowly improving. In addition, the number of housing transactions is increasing – which will also have an impact on sales in connection…