association comment Unify with care


British Home Enhancement Trade Association (BHETA) home improvement director Paul Grinsell gives his view on the Kingfisher Group’s retail approach


Kingfisher Group’s interim results for the half year ended August 1 reported solid early progress on the journey to ‘ONE’ Kingfisher.


This is the B&Q and Screwfix parent’s plan to “leverage the scale of the business by becoming a single unified company where customer needs come first”, alongside a guiding principle to offer the same products across Europe, presented to customers in the same way.


Talking from the perspective of suppliers, there are some BHETA members who stand to lose out and some who stand to gain in terms of turnover as a consequence of Kingfisher’s unification strategy. As a wider issue, I wonder how the implementation of ONE will affect consumers, what opportunities that may create for other kinds of retailer and whether the dynamics of the whole garden and home market will shift as a result.


In many ways, garden and home retail will find it a useful discipline to give some thought to the Kingfisher model. The principles of the unification strategy are based on an acknowledgement that we are all working in a very large market sector, and that no single retail format or channel wins out over every


other. That being the case, ONE sets out to create a product offer that is unique to Kingfisher based on its customer knowledge and an offer which puts the needs of its customer first. By standardising that offer across the group, the aim is to achieve higher sales from having a unique, differentiated offer at good prices.


The strategic planning of product range according to a thorough knowledge of customers cannot be faulted for logic. Kingfisher cites insufficient consistency of SKUs across its operating companies, adding that “driven by the knowledge that customer needs are more similar than different across geographies, ranged products (part of planograms of around 200,000 SKUs) can be more unified in all our markets across Europe.” If ‘cutting the product tail’ in this way is accompanied – as Kingfisher says it will be – by a commitment to NPD that delivers unique, top choice products and a similar commitment to “develop a unique garden business”, then consumers may well find this compelling even while the retailers in question reap the benefits of operational efficiencies.


So the model is worth studying. However, I think that it leaves room for other approaches


to flourish too. One of the attractions of garden retail as a consumer destination is that outlets can be individual and therefore retain the potential to surprise. Anything too corporate or too slavish towards big brands can mean a loss of consumer interest and appeal. Predictability and uniformity are rarely a recipe for delight. On the other hand, product listing cannot be random or the shopping experience will be incoherent and poorly explained, and potentially prohibitively priced. To me, the specialness of garden retail is the listing of apparently individual items which are actually subtly themed and carefully categorised, priced and supported with eye-catching, inspirational POS.


It is all in the presentation. The scientific approach to analysing the customer such that their needs can be met with a rational, unified offer delivered to a plan is irrefutably sound. From a consumer perspective, the ruthlessly rational needs to tempered with some apparent humanity. The ideal is a space that makes the consumer feel at home, while providing the retailer with a well-managed and profitable concept. • For more information, contact BHETA on 0121 237 1130 or visit the website at www.bheta.co.uk


New campaign co-ordinator for Love the Plot You’ve Got


Industry supported campaign gets new co-ordinator, the Horticultural Trades Association (HTA) reveals


The Garden Industry Marketing Board (GIMB) has contracted Holly Garland and the team at garlandpr to co-ordinate the industry wide Love the Plot You’ve Got campaign.


As director and founder of garlandpr, Holly brings with her a successful track record of achieving great results for a wide variety of clients in a range of different sectors from PR to consumer awareness and engagement campaigns. This includes working for central Government in the press offices of the Department of Health and Ministry of Defence, as well as managing the media in 10 Downing Street during the tenure of Gordon Brown and Tony Blair. She has also handled PR and communications for high-profile events such as London 2012 and Glasgow 2014 along with a number of other in-house roles. Chair of the GIMB Keith Nicholson from Westland Horticulture commented: “We are delighted that Holly and her team is working


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with us to help take the campaign forward in 2016 and beyond. They bring with them a lot of experience and enthusiasm from the various clients and roles that they have had. “2015 has seen a successful


programme of Love the Plot roadshows throughout the country enabling us to take the message to a wide audience, supported by additional activity online and in the media. The campaign is supported by retailers, growers and suppliers but there is room for more – as its success is governed by the funds it is able to raise. It is about growing the market as a whole – which is in the interests of all businesses no matter their size.” Holly Garland said: “This is a fantastic campaign with masses of potential. The support that the industry has given to the campaign to date is inspirational and we are really looking forward to working with everyone to take it to the next level.


“Key for us will be taking the campaign forward to achieve even more cut-through in a noisy, competitive consumer market. To that end, we have a variety of exciting activities in mind and look forward to bringing them to fruition with the GIMB


team.”


Love the Plot You’ve Got is designed to help and inspire 30-45 year olds who have access to a garden or outdoor space but don’t currently make great use of it. Industry research has revealed that skills and knowledge once handed from one generation to another are being lost, and that while lots of people want to improve their outdoor spaces and environment, a lack of knowledge and confidence is holding them back. • For more information about the Love Your Plot campaign and how to get involved, contact Holly Garland on 07958 363538 or at holly@garlandpr.co.uk


GCU December 2015


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