Is DIY a dead duck?

Twenty-five years ago the sheds won the battle for DIY, and a fast growing market carried them to great heights. Now the sheds are after the trade too. Are builders' merchants' days numbered? Or will the sheds take one step too far and get their comeuppance?

Twenty-five years ago Builders' merchants were in a great position to exploit this exciting new market. With hindsight it could have gone either way. The sheds did not have the benefits of scale that the national merchants enjoyed, but they were hungry, determined and ambitious. They fine-tuned their format, presentation and range until they got the formula right. They exploited the gaps in builders' merchants' service and they attracted tradesmen, small builders and moonlighters too. They never looked back.

Many merchants tried to win a significant share of the DIY market. They experimented with self-service layout, special DIY product ranges, and even advertised on TV, but they baulked at making big changes to their format for fear of losing the trade. They saw the risk but not the reward. They saw the apparent conflicts in serving both markets but underestimated the potential of DIY. They failed to research what the trade really wanted, relying on assumptions instead. Their heart wasn't in it and they gave up too easily. Builders' merchants settled for the trade and any retail business that walked in the door.

Like most companies, merchants want to adapt the market to their way of doing business rather than the other way round. Because most trade customers appeared to accommodate themselves to the way builders' merchants did business, merchants interpreted tolerance and acceptance as enthusiasm and endorsement. But loyalty is not based on the absence of choice. In comparison the sheds took nothing for granted. They researched their customers to find out what they wanted then they gave it to them. First they got to understand DIY. Now they are getting to know the trade.

Is it too late to fight back? Merchants have many advantages up their sleeve if they look. But they will have to challenge their assumptions about what the trade and consumers want and research what they have to do to win. There are common threads, but no magic bullet. Each market is different. What works in hard landscaping or self-build is different from conservatories or roofline. Turning the tables is no easy number, but battles are won locally not globally, one town at a time. If the sheds can start to steal the trade from merchants, why can't builders' merchants reclaim their lost heritage and win a significant share of the DIY market?

Agree? Disagree? Want more information Email Mike Rigby at mike@521621.com