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Heidi Biehl, DIY in Europe Austria
Since the German companies Hagebau, Hornbach, OBI and Praktiker entered the Austrian market in 1995, a remarkable evolution has taken place. Admittedly, the figure of 570 DIY stores quoted in the trade press for 2000 and the assertion that Austria thus has the highest DIY store density in Europe call for correction. If international comparisons are being drawn, then the same definitions should be applied to the term “DIY store“. It must be mentioned at this juncture that Regio-Plan Consulting of Vienna referred correctly to 570 “market participants“ in its press release regarding the study “DIY Stores in Austria 2000“ (see contribution page 14).
The trend since 1995 reveals an entirely different phenomenon. Although the number of DIY stores (not including Lagerhaus-Märkte) has only increased marginally from around 260 to 270, the total retail area grew by 69 per cent to 1.1 mio m². Like German DIY store groups, Austrian organisations have in the first instance expanded existing stores considerably; there is a lot of ground to be made up, thanks to fiercer competition. The 40 new, mainly large-format stores are offset by the closure of around 30 smaller stores.
Austria is far from attaining the DIY store density to be found in Germany, but has caught up by leaps and bounds as far as the average store size is concerned. The expansion in retail area and the increasing price pressure have been intensifying competition in the last five years to a considerable degree. The winner is the Austrian DIY store customer, who is faced with a desirably wide choice and a good price/ performance ratio.
Since the German companies Hagebau, Hornbach, OBI and Praktiker entered the Austrian market in 1995, a remarkable evolution has taken place. Admittedly, the figure of 570 DIY stores quoted in the trade press for 2000 and the assertion that Austria thus has the highest DIY store density in Europe call for correction. If international comparisons are being drawn, then the same definitions should be applied to the term “DIY store“. It must be mentioned at this juncture that Regio-Plan Consulting of Vienna referred correctly to 570 “market participants“ in its press release regarding the study “DIY Stores in Austria 2000“ (see contribution page 14).
The trend since 1995 reveals an entirely different phenomenon. Although the number of DIY stores (not including Lagerhaus-Märkte) has only increased marginally from around 260 to 270, the total retail area grew by 69 per cent to 1.1 mio m². Like German DIY store groups, Austrian organisations have in the first instance expanded existing stores considerably; there is a lot of ground to be made up, thanks to fiercer competition. The 40 new, mainly large-format stores are offset by the closure of around 30 smaller stores.
Austria is far from attaining the DIY store density to be found in Germany, but has caught up by leaps and bounds as far as the average store size is concerned. The expansion in retail area and the increasing price pressure have been intensifying competition in the last five years to a considerable degree. The winner is the Austrian DIY store customer, who is faced with a desirably wide choice and a good price/ performance ratio.
