The Bricomania program began its broadcasts on television in 1994, and ended in 2020. Now he lives on a YouTube channel, where he continues to show his peculiar tricks for homemade DIY. It was undoubtedly a pioneer space of a practice that goes further … of leisure and is triumphing in Spain, as evidenced by figures and presence in social networks. More than 30 million people in Spain buy through the Internet, according to the National Observatory of Technology and Society (ONTSI). The online channel has become an outstanding showcase of the great hardware and DIY shows, although the growing digitalization of the sector is not diminishing the development of traditional sale. The lifelong neighborhood stores strive to compete with Gallardía.
Mathias Lahon, responsible for the hardware and DIY sector of the Association of AECOC manufacturers and distributors, advances the data of the last sector barometer, which includes the figures of the fourth quarter of 2024 and the totals of the year.
«Growth in sales in the fourth quarter – he explains – has been 6.4% compared to the same period of 2023. The total of the year is an increase of 4.3% the modern, specialized channel, has experienced a rise quarterly of 6.5%. and of 4.3% per year. As for the traditional store (independent hardware stores, groups, cooperative centrals) the rise of the last three months of 2024 has been 5.2% and 5.1% per year ». The linear of the large stores of the large surfaces is out of the study.
The strength of the sector runs partner to the development of digitalization, considers Lahon, “driven by the boom of e-commerce, artificial intelligence (AI) and the need to improve operational efficiency and customer experience.” «Thanks to AI, we have the possibility of customizing customer offers through virtual assistants or chatbots. It even serves for the predictive stock management, especially critic for DIY and hardware store, ”he says.
Apart from the digitalization of the point of sale, through electronic labels, other vectors of the technological revolution are the ‘Self Checkout’, says Lahon. «In the ‘e-commerce’, the bet goes through the omnichannel of the business. The strategy can also include ‘marketplaces’, which even allow third parties to sell within their own platform, ”he adds.
Life stores have to compete with large companies, and for this some have decided to offer products through their own websites. “It is a good tendency to be present in the digital world, not only for sale, also for the reliability and seriousness that they transmit,” according to Lahon, for whom the survival key of these small stores “is differentiation.” Sergio Vicente, brand and communication director of Leroy Merlin, estimates that “the prescription granted by direct treatment with the client, the closeness, the capillarity … grant a plus of excellence.”
The Leroy Merlin chain achieved a turnover of 3,440 million euros in 2023. This company relies for its growth in artificial intelligence and other technologies, as Sergio Vicente details: «The AI is increasingly implemented at the organizational level to dress areas in the store, but also to inspire spaces or for chatbots in customer service ».
Concentration
The sector lives in recent years the integration of operators in larger groups and also restructuring processes of some points of sale. The high business concentration It may be due, says Vicente, to a defense method “before the great giants who were arriving, as Amazon.”
The growth of the sale online is being progressive, says the brand and communication director: «It has not been a massive step of the ‘offline’ customer to online. We grow in both areas year after year, but the highest comes from the online. It should also be noted that we have implemented the ‘marketplace’ two years ago, which allows us to increase the range available to our customers and to make a larger offer than we have with the stocks that are in store. It helps you complement the online and to increase the product porpholio in a stable way ».
New habits
Leroy Merlin is clearly bet on the possibilities of online trade, but does not neglect, much less, the traditional sale: «We take care of it a lot, for the value given by the prescription of the product obtained by the customer when dealing with our employees. There are also a large part of the commercialization that needs help or advice. That is another of our strengths, the know-how that employees contribute in stores ».
The changes in habits that have caused the increase in the hobby of DIY have their origin, in part, in the confinement of 2020, says Vicente: «Pandemia marks the disruption, because everyone began to look more at their own home and Take care of personal spaces. That generated a homemade DIY boom, because certain areas were going to be used much more intensely. The fear of the principle of the sector brands gave way to a very prominent evolutionary process ».
A new way of doing marketing has led Leroy Merlin to have influencers in the dissemination of her messages on social networks. “We work,” he says, “with many influencers, especially microinfluencers, because it fits more with our philosophy someone who really contributes value, who knows what he is doing. We prefer to ally with a celebrity with notoriety, but that your link with the product is not so clear.
The world of hardware store and DIY enjoys flattering perspectives, says the head of AECOC, Mathias Lahon: «In the short and medium term it will be a time of great challenges and opportunities. The only cloud is the uncertainty of the possible movements of the United States that can influence international trade. At the sector level, it will be key to strengthen collaboration between manufacturers and distributors, adapt to new regulations (such as labeling) and promote sustainability ».
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