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After the “revolution” of 2023 with the decrease of the GDS network dedicated to Home Improvement, with a decrease of as many as 31 stores, this first half of 2024 again registers a positive sign.
From January to the end of June there were 12 openings/affiliations and 7 exits/closures, with a final positive balance of 5 stores. On closer inspection, even in the last six months of 2023, the openings had been about the same (11) but the number of closures far greater.
Hoping, then, that the period of network settling is over, in this six-month period, albeit with small numbers, the balance of affiliations exceeds that of directs by one unit.
In this regard, there are two pieces of news to report. First, the opening of a new franchisee in Trapani by the Bricocenter sign, which, after the thorough rebuilding of most of its stores now-as also stated at the time by the CEO, Frédéric Capdeville-resumes the development of affiliation, a peculiar feature of the sign since its beginnings.
The second concerns the statements in this regard made by OBI both by the CEO of OBI AG Sebastian Gundel and even more clearly by the president of OBI Italy, Paolo Alemagna, in the recent interview with TEN-diyandgarden . And while for Germany, OBI’s franchising has been an important development lever, so much so that it now accounts for 35 percent of the store network, in Italy, apart from the 4 stores in Trentino Alto Adige, the German brand has so far never pursued a real franchise development policy.
Retail signs
As for the GDS Home Improvement network, which takes into account signs with at least 3 stores, it closes the first half of 2024 with numbers all in the positive. The total from 766 in December 2023 increases to 771, directly operated stores increase by two from 617 to 619, and affiliate stores increase from 149 to 152, accounting for 20 percent of the total network.
There are 9, out of a total of 23, signs opening at least one store. In addition to Bricocenter and Obi that we wrote about above, we add Brico io, Brico Ok and Evoluzione Brico that open 2 respectively, followed by Pronto Hobby, FDT, Cipir Utility respectively with one opening each, while Leroy Merlin opens its fourth showroom and does so in Trapani, Sicily. We add the change of sign of the store in Macerata, Marche, which becomes Bricofer from Self.
In terms of closures, we report Brico io closed the La Quattro franchisee store in Arona, which became home to the 20 Cipir Utility store, which opened last May. Speaking of Utility, we report that the company has joined the “Utility” logo with that of “Cipir,” once used exclusively for paint products. As everything has recently been unified into a single company name “Cipir 1930,” the sign has also been changed and, in the future; Cipir will become increasingly relevant.
Bricofer closes its Carbonia store but remains on a level playing field because it benefits from the former Self in the Marche region, while Evoluzione Brico has stores in Ionadi (VV), Pace del Mela (ME) and, temporarily, the one in Suno, in the province of Novara, leave/close.
Finally, we report the closure of OBI in Turin, which follows the December 2023 closure of Rome and, in the total count, is offset by the opening of La Spezia.
Also with regard to Evoluzione Brico we point out the rebuilding of the Bovalino store, the interesting expansion of Bricolarge in Grosseto with the opening of the showroom dedicated to flooring, wall tiles and bathroom. Of course, there is no shortage of Bricocenter with 4 rebuilds, respectively in Muggia (Ts), Cinisello Balsamo (Mi), Terni and Lecce Surbo, numbers that bring to 22 the total number of stores renovated according to the new formula.
Not of openness but of collaboration is the news in March 2024 with the birth of FOCUS, an aggregation featuring Cangianiello’s Bricoware, EvoluzioneBrico and the Ferca Consortium , which has nearly 50 stores in the hardware and tools sector under its namesake brand, in addition to two other aggregations such as Gruppo UNO with 26 stores and 7 construction stores in the Edilya Group.
The slump in total square footage is also halted, and after last year’s drop of more than 60,000 sq. m., the first half of the year closes with growth of more than 2,000 sq. m. Definitely little to make up a gap that needs at least a few new big boxes in the short term.
Planned, upcoming and assumed openings
Large areas that, moreover, should be coming considering the projects in place. First and foremost is the Tecnomat store in Olbia, which amidst a thousand vicissitudes now seems to be on the home stretch, given the opening for staff selection. Also for Tecnomat is from this semester the news of a possible opening in Bari. Interest on the part of the sign has been declared but on the timing, as often in Italy, everything becomes “nebulous”
More numerous and dynamic news related to Leroy Merlin, which, in the meantime, inaugurated this July the first Building Center to complete the Corsico (MI) area that already counted a classic plate, a showroom and a warehouse. The experiment is interesting because it opens up new business possibilities for the sign and a further expansion of the customer base toward the PRO user. Having said that, we know that in anticipation there is the store in Padua (perhaps in 2025), a new showroom in the Como area, while less certain is the information about a new opening in Elmas in Sardinia; in Benevento (Mayor Mastella has stated this but the sign has neither confirmed nor denied) and another in Lainate (MI).
In the garden, the network is stable. Independents enter
As for the garden center network, as is often the case in our surveys, we do not notice large deviations from one survey to the next. However,we detected some extra dynamism this time.
Compared to June 2023, Agristore drops from 39 to 34 stores, while Tuttogiardino from 99 reported stores now drops to 88. However, with respect to the breakdown between direct and affiliates, there are substantial changes from the last table made.
Meanwhile, the definition of consortium members, previously the preserve of Garden Teams only, disappears; they are merged under Affiliates, while TuttoGiardino moves its outlets sharply into the “Direct” column.
In any case, compared to a year ago, the total number of outlets of the surveyed insignias has increased from 194 to 178, and of these almost 67 percent to in direct formula.
We report the renovated headquarters of TuttoGiardino in Treviso and, in the making, the green light for work on the new Viridea in Carate Brianza (MI).
New in this survey is the entry of the “Independent” category. Why integrate them into the analysis? Basically for two reasons. Because they represent the majority and because the number allows it.
It is certainly not easy to find the information but it is a start, a work in progress that we will try to expand with each monitoring. At the moment we have surveyed 35 of them and the interesting fact is that, in terms of area, they represent more than 30 percent of the total sales area of the Garden network.
GDS Budgets 2023,. An average year
Over the past 9 years, GDS turnover in the brico and do-it-yourself sector has grown by an average of 4 percent per year, and 2023 shows a perfectly average increase net of the dynamics of Bricoman Italia (Tecnomat), which continues its steady and continuous growth policy.
Overall, 2023 was the year of the return to normalcy, of the return of market growth to the average values of the last decade, after the surges of the post-lockdown biennium.
What is important to point out is that the top 5 insignia analyzed account for more than 70% of the internal 2023 turnover of GDS Home improvement, and only the ADEO group insignia weigh 59.4% of the total turnover.
The depth and analysis of the budgets as well as all the charts can be found within the Monitor, which you can read and download in PDF format.
Happy reading!
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