Second day of the Global DIY Summit focuses on responsibility

Edra/Ghin general secretary John Herbert dedicated the opening speech at the start of the second day of the Global DIY Summit 2022 in Copenhagen to Ukraine. He brought a refugee on stage who had previously worked for the Ukrainian DIY market leader Epicentr in Kyiv and who had been forced by the war to leave his home country with his family. "In every country we have been to since then, we have received support," he emphasised. He also received a lot of help from the Edra/Ghin association, of which his employer is a member, and expressed his gratitude to the industry. More than 70,000 euros had been collected in an appeal for donations by the international industry association, Herbert reported, and they had also been able to organise accommodation for a large number of people.

In addition to the social responsibility that people assume with regard to Ukraine, the following presentations focused on responsibility towards nature, towards future generations, towards one's own employees and also towards society in general. While Mark Haviland, founder of Shift 17, explained steps that are necessary on the way to accepting responsibility, Dilys Maltby dealt with the question of how purpose can be implemented in all business processes. Finally, Wayne Visser explained the importance of being ambitious and how a "thriving culture" can be implemented in organisations.

The rest of the second day of the conference focused on trends in DIY retailing, with presentations from the industry and retail side as well as from a marketing perspective. Paul Martin from KPMG emphasised that we would absolutely need physical stores in the future; but he also said: "The channel will be increasingly less important." Massmart CEO Llewellyn Walters presented the concept of the South African chain Builders. In his presentation of the Power for All Alliance, Benjamin Brechter of Bosch Power Tools announced that Husqvarna in gardening along with Kübler Workwear and Perfect Pro from consumer electronics are joining the cross-brand battery system. Reinier Zuydgeest from USP Marketing Consultancy summarised the trends in the European DIY market and emphasised, among other things, the greater uncertainty, but also the aspect of the enjoyment of DIY from the customer's point of view.

The farewell speech was given by hairdresser Joshua Coombes, who cuts the hair of homeless people for free and created the #DoSomethingForNothing movement from this experience.

The next Global DIY Summit will take place in Berlin from 14 to 16 June 2023.