4 help us becoming (even) better 16 we present: dt block- busters! 12 private label: going strong 8 hard talk

Your 30 minutes team building guide

no. 9 · spring 2011

in one piece

Getting you home

20

32iPadWin an

Quizyourselfand

24

stickyabout this issue

There’s something very

Working in the

warehouse,

safety shoes

provide

important

protection

Truck drivers wear safety helmet to avoid serious injuries

When visiting the warehouse,

a safety vest im-proves visibility

16Inside

DT Blockbusters are rarely an accident

The numBer of ac-cidents in DT Group is decreasing. For a com-pany like ours, where we focus on health and safety, this is good news. It simply means that the overall aware-ness of safety issues is growing and that we’re getting better at watching out for one another. At the same time, we have to real-ize that these num-bers are a part of cold and cynical statistics. Behind each accident

that is accounted for in these statistics, there’s potentially a personal tragedy hiding. Every accident can have dis-astrous consequenc-es. Therefore, it is im-portant that health and safety stays on top of our mind. It is important that we do not mess with safety instructions because they help us prevent accidents. We all share the respon-sibility to get home in one piece. Physically as well as mentally.

Getting you home in one piece

Dear customer, help us do even betterThe surveys we conduct are important to get an insight in what our customers want

hardTalk

This is what customers want

Private Label

Glue – The sticky factsConstruction is sometimes all about ‘get-ting things to stick together’

Knee padsgood for knees, good for business

4

8101224

26

The golden rule in the retail industry is the right product in the right place for the right price

Don’t gamble with your health

Charlotte Gullach BüttrichEditoreditor@dtmagazine.dk

DT group +45 39559700Wolseley +44 118 929 8700starkki +358 3 850 900sTArK +45 89343434

editor-in-chief: Charlotte gullach Büttrich (DT group) concept and articles: radical Communications/patrick May graphic design: Appetizer.dk/simon Johnsen photos: Flemming schiller · Das Buro/Emil Lyders translation: Languagewire print: Trykcentret

Beijer +46 752411000 neumann +47 55549800silvan +45 87308730Cheapy +46 431443540

credits

20 Medical injury frequency rate per 100 employees (off-site medical treatment):

medical injury

Lost workday

Fleetcollision

Lost workday rate per 100 employees:

Fleet collision rate – number of third-party vehicle collisions per 100 vehicles:

Wolseleyaverage

Wolseleyaverage

Wolseleyaverage

DT Groupaverage

DT Groupaverage

DT Groupaverage

3.5 62.

8

17.3

1.23

14.6

7

11.9

useFul numbers

DT MAGAZINE2

E-Commerce is not replacing the sales in the shop

DT MAGAZINE 3

DT Magazine // Ideas@work

Teach customers to shop onlineTo grow this figure, Stephan Stöckli, re-gional manager in Oberentfelden, has had great success with getting cus-tomers up and run-ning with using the online shop. “As a

part of our E-shop, we have a program that allows our cus-tomers to simply scan the barcodes on the products they want to order. We help them with setting up the solu-tion. Not because it is complicated, but because our cus-

Tobler haustechnik, the Swiss based division and part of CEE, has a successful e-commerce setup. The heat and plumbing company started putting their inventory on the digital highway in 2001. Customers increasingly visit the online shop and they are getting used to swiping their credit cards. E-commerce today contributes with 22% in the total sales of Tobler Haustechnik.

tomers appreciate it a lot. For us it is worth the invest-ment in time, as this is an important brick in getting a loy-al customer. Once he’s up and running in our E-shop, he doesn’t want to or-der from competi-tors any more.” An-other initiative that helped grow traf-fic in the shop is to link the sales staff’s bonus to the online success.

The results? A stunning 32% of the entire sales in this region is com-ing from online pur-chases. “It doesn’t mean that custom-

ers no longer come to our marchés (as the stores in Swit-zerland are called). In fact, we have a great two hour de-livery service for customers who or-der online but want to pick up the goods in our marché. Be-sides, the marché is where they get pro-fessional advice and a personal service,” says Stephan. “It re-places phone calls from customers who call in their orders.” The phone can now be used in alterna-tive ways: an appli-cation that allows 24/7 mobile ordering is on its way.

DT Magazine // Customer surveys

Dear customer, help us do

evenbEttErDT MAGAZINE4

You can always improve. As much as that is true, it kind of helps if someone tells you what you should improve.

especially if this is the person for whom you are doing all this hard work: the customer. hence we put an effort in

finding out how our customers perceive us.

The surveys we conduct are important to get an insight in what our customers want us to do better. What’s more, we are

getting better at linking the results of these surveys to ac-tions that make a difference in our branches, where we meet

our customers every day.

Silvan Facts

InvenTorY Is KeY

Silvan has a long history (12 years) of measuring customer satisfaction.

Customers perceive Silvan to be more expensive than the DIY chain in reality is. Silvan monitors prices sharply to make sure prices at all times are competitive. On campaign products, Silvan guaran-tees customers to be cheapest (find the product cheaper elsewhere, claim the difference). Silvan is going to make an extra effort to change the price/value perception of customers. Approximately 11,000 customers participated.

The latest survey from autumn 2010 shows that customers perceive staff to be more engaged, competent, motivated and present. The investment in educa-tion, sales coaching and last but not least the attention to Silvan values are paying off and driving development into the right direction.

“our CusTomers rated us 70 on loy-alty and 72 on satis-faction,” says Michael Thomsen, the branch manager. “A solid im-provement compared to previous surveys.”

“We discussed in-ternally what we did well, what we can im-prove and how,” says Birkerød’s branch manager, responsible for a team of 50 peo-ple. They can choose from five areas (as shown on the penta-gon) they want to de-velop, one of which is

products. “A customer shop-

ping for wallpaper, needs glue, tape and more. Being able to provide everything she needs to succeed with her project has a strong effect on the customer’s positive at-titude.” Michael contin-ues: “We hired a shop assistant who (among others) will system-atically - inch by inch - check all the shelves in the store. She will make sure that no es-sential items are lack-ing and that our inven-tory is optimized.”

380 customers from the silvan branch in birkerød participated in the autumn survey. the results, 35 pages of customer feedback, arrived in november last year.

sILvAn sCorInG The questions customers answer are grouped around five business areas (see pentagon), influencing the score on the two main parameters: customer satisfaction and loyalty. The highest score you can get is 100.

marketing Image

PersonnelIn-store

navigation

value/Price Products

Customer loyalty

Customer satisfaction

DT MAGAZINE 5

DT Magazine // Customer surveys

CheAPY is the smallest division and unlike the other divisions, has lim-ited resources to con-duct large customer sur-veys. Instead, they do so-called focus groups. Two groups of twelve customers each were

invited to participate in the focus group survey last year. The survey was internet based and al-lowed for Cheapy to, on top of the script used for the survey, ask addition-al and elaborative ques-tions.

The survey provid-

ed good insights and Cheapy currently is work-ing on improvements. The Swedish discount chain has, for example, reorganized the staff re-source planning. They implemented software to balance staff accord-ing to peak periods in the

stores. Another improve-ment Cheapy is initiat-ing is a clearer display of available products in the store as well as expand-ing the product informa-tion on Cheapy’s web-site. Cheapy also decided to expand its timber as-sortment.

Cheapy Facts

Starkki Facts Two Surveys were conducted in 2010, the latest one in autumn. 400 professional customers (Phone interviews) and 450 DIY customers (online) participated.

Improvement areas mentioned by both segments:

1 Customer loyalty program – customers would like more visible benefits.

2 Product range – private customers want a wider range of interior products. Professional custom-ers want a wider range of professional tools.

3 Display areas both in the store and in the yard.

4 The pick up service – there were complaints about delays and incomplete orders from custom-ers picking up their orders.

Customers, both profes-sionals and DIY’ers, con-sider Starkki’s staff to be the greatest asset: both competencies and know how generated high ratings.

To improve the identified areas, Starkki has planned actions for each area.

starkki managers are brainstorming on practical actions that can improve the customer experi-ence.

DT MAGAZINE6

The last survey was conducted in November last year. All in all, 30 professional and 30 DIY customers from each of the 63 branches participated, adding up to 3780 participants. All interviews were conducted by phone, 15 questions were asked and a typical interview lasted 5 to 10 minutes. Beijer will repeat the survey twice a year.

BeIjer relates results from the survey to the stores, making them responsible for improvement actions. Just as we see in other di-visions. The Swed-ish market leader has decided to in-tegrate the results from the survey, with the staff sat-isfaction survey and the business

performance in re-lation to P20 and P45, leading to de-velopment plans for the individual stores.

“There is a con-nection between how we are per-ceived by cus-tomers, staff and our business per-formance,” says Bengt Idinge, Re-gion Manager. “We introduce a business bal-

anced score card* that will give us an overview of all performance in-dicators, which branch managers can use to plan necessary im-provements.”

The results of the survey pre-sented a surprise for the sales direc-tor. “DIY custom-ers rated us better than our profes-sional custom-

Profes-sional custom-ers are re-sponsible for 70% of the entire revenue

ers. We thought we were better at serving profes-sional custom-ers.” The regional managers are vis-iting all branch-es to discuss on an individual level what they can do to improve. “This will lead to action plans and we will use the business balance score card to follow up,” says Bengt.

When The results were presented to staff, the first reac-tion was disbelief. “Despite the excel-lent result, our cus-tomers had a long list of things we could improve,” says the store manager in Tromsø, Odd Harald Eriksen.

“After having dis-cussed the results, staff working in stock decided to re-arrange processes

and tasks to serve customers more ef-fectively. We have a colleague dedicat-ed to taking care of customers entering the stock. In addition to this, we arranged that, when the order comes to the stock, the same person picks all the goods from the order. Cus-tomers appreciate it and it improves mo-tivation among staff: you are responsible for the entire cus-

tomer experience,” says Odd Harald.

“We also changed our telephone sys-tem,” Odd Harald says. “Customers complained that it was hard to get in touch with us. That hopefully is solved now.” The team in Tromsø feels as-sured that their ac-tions will not go unnoticed by cus-tomers and that they will score even better in the next survey.

Neumann FactsNeumann Bygg conducted two surveys last year: in January and in October. The Norwe-gian retailer has around 2/3 professional customers and 1/3 DIY customers. The sur-vey conducted in January was outsourced to an agency, interviewing professional cus-tomers. For the October survey, Neumann changed methodol-ogy: both professional and DIY customers got an email with a link to the survey on the web, just like in Stark.

beijer Facts

shAKInG uP rouTInes450 customers, both diY’ers and professional constructors, rated neumann bygg in tromsø. with a positive outcome: a solid five (out of seven).

DT MAGAZINE 7

In an enterprise with more than 9000

employees and 485 branches, the distance to the top management may

seem long. With HardTalk, it becomes

shorter, because here we put you

in contact with DT Group’s most senior

manager. Steen Weirsøe answers you

and your colleagues questions, however searching they are.

Why do we in-vest resourc-es in customer surveys?

We want to retain our existing custom-ers. Therefore it is important that we know how they per-ceive us. They value us for our ability to support them in their business. Asking them what they think we do well and what we can do better helps us to prioritize. For the surveys to have an impact, the results have to be applicable on branch level. We need to im-prove where our cus-tomers meet us. Our investment in these surveys helps us de-velop our business to the needs of our customers.

What is your opinion on Wolseley’s per-formance of 2010?

Wolseley did well last year. Costs are un-

der control and prof-its are up. The Nordic divisions might not be responsible for the largest growth in 2010 but overall we produced a solid result. Wolseley us-es three classifica-tions when allocat-ing resources. The highest ranking is ‘growth engine’, giv-en to units that are considered a good investment. Then there are the syner-gy drivers and per-formance builders. Fortunately, we are in the top of Wolse-ley’s classification. This means that we can use resources to develop the busi-ness in the Nordics.

What are your expectations for this year?

We might experience a small improvement in the Nordic market but I do not expect any dramatic chang-es. The competition is fierce. We have done all the right

things during the cri-sis. We cut down on costs while maximiz-ing profit. It’s been a hard time. We had to let people go. Not exactly a dream sce-nario for any CEO. At the same time, I feel that the team that we have now is a strong, competent and motivated team. I feel we are well po-sitioned to increase our market share in the years ahead of us, both in the pro-fessional and the DIY segment.

how is Cee de-veloping?

The individual divi-sions in CEE* are on different levels. That makes it hard to say anything in general about the divisions in CEE (Central and Eastern Europe) as a group. We are ap-plying simple strate-gies but the focus is on maximizing prof-it. The initial results are promising. It’s exciting to witness

DT Magazine // hardTalk

hardTalkwith steen Weirsøe

DT MAGAZINE8

their development. Their business mod-el is different from ours. At DT Group, the main focus is sales. The divisions in CEE focus on dis-tribution. They oper-ate with large cen-tral warehouses and a 24-hour delivery promise to their cus-tomers. The optimal structure we will end up with varies by di-vision. The challenge is to find a balance and optimize costs and sales.

With only few women repre-sented in top functions in DT Group, we risk sending a sig-nal of being a male dominant culture with no focus on ‘soft’ values. Is this what we want?

Two out of five members of our board are women and on group lev-el a lot of positions are held by women. But when you look at the branches and stores, the leaders are mostly male. This is not something we actively promote.

We do not select on gender, religion or nationality. Competi-tion in this industry is fierce and we fo-cus to get the best qualified person for any position. Equal-ly, we can not afford to favor gender, re-ligion or nationality. I don’t think that fo-cus on soft or hard values is necessar-ily gender-related. It’s more a ques-tion of what profile a certain leader has. Personally, I believe we increasingly get better at balancing hard and soft values. There are a lot of initiatives on divi-

sional levels that are not solely measured on short term mon-etary output, if that is what is meant by hard values.

*CEE divisions include Tobler (Switzerland), ÖAG (Austria), Was-co (The Netherlands), and CFM (Luxemburg). In 2010, DT group took over the strategic re-sponsibility for CEE.

What would you like to ask Steen? Send your question to steen@dtmagazine.dk – Don’t mince your words as you may remain totally anonymous.

DT MAGAZINE 9

DT Magazine // Customer service

Delivery service and know-how versus price and online orderingBohLIns Bmm is a medium-sized, family-owned con-struction business that delivers turn key family hous-es all over Sweden. Per Bohlin runs the company together with his brother and they’ve been loyal Beijer customers for the past five years now.

“But it wasn’t al-

ways like that,” Per explains. “When we just started the company in 2003, we shopped around to get the best prices. Today we’re fifteen people and we work with a range of un-der contractors tak-ing care of electricity, plumbing, installation and so on. Now de-livery has become a more important busi-ness parameter to

us than price.” “We build houses all over Sweden,” Per says. “When we need supplies, we call Bei-jer and the next day we have the needed material. Sure, we can get sup-plies cheap-er other places but competi-tors can-not match the deliv-ery ser-vice Bei-jer offers. Another thing that

makes Beijer our preferred supplier is competent staff. People working at Beijer have been in construction them-selves. They know what they are talking

When we need supplies, we call Beijer

this is whatcustomerswant

DT MAGAZINE10

about. That experi-ence is supplied with a broad knowledge of materials, which makes them excel-lent partners when discussing construc-tion solutions.”

Beijer might be Bohlins BMM’s pre-ferred supplier for construction mate-rial, but the family business also shops with competitors. “For electricity and a few other product categories we don’t use Beijer. They don’t have the same expertise here and then they become too expensive. If Bei-jer would improve, we’d use Beijer here as well. That would save us a lot of time. Then there is the is-sue of online order-ing. Here Beijer can improve a lot as their online system is not user friendly and lacks functions.”

“Even though price is not the most important param-eter, it is an issue. Beijer is expensive. A lot of my colleagues are not dealing with Beijer because of it. Especially the small-er companies. Price is an issue when we are bidding on a job. If competition can bid cheaper because they get the materi-als cheaper, we don’t get the job. Neither does Beijer! No-body makes money. Change the prices, and I rate Beijer a five out of five.”

A good atmosphere is a winning conceptnICKLAs KAmP started his own busi-ness a year ago, work-ing as an independent carpenter. He used to work for Silvan, and knows the company well. Now he’s a loyal and dedicated cus-tomer. “There isn’t a week passing by with-out at least one vis-it to my Silvan store in Birkerød,” Nick-las says. “But I also buy material from the

competitor, Johannes Fog, in Lyngby, where I live. I prefer Silvan though, because they are cheaper – some-thing I as a newly started independent carpenter can appre-ciate. A lot of assign-ments get won by the lowest bid and having access to cheap pric-es helps.”

Another big plus is the fact that Silvan is open on Sundays. And the fact that staff

working in Silvan al-ways have time, are quick to react and are helpful. “They help me load the heavy stuff in my trailer and there’s an extremely friendly and good atmosphere in the store. That means a lot,” Nicklas says.

Even though Sil-van has a lot of things going for them, Nick-las rates the store in Birkerød a four out of five. “If they want to earn the last point too, there’s two things they should improve. For starters, I miss a drive-in where you can load the stuff in-to your car, pay and hit the road again. The other issue is the quality of certain products and mate-rial. The timber for ex-ample, is not always top. The same goes for the screws. In fact, if Silvan could expand their inventory on this front, I would proba-bly drop shopping with the competitor alto-gether.”

DT MAGAZINE 11

Private Label is an important brick in our strategy and these pages will give you an insight of new products added and give you inspiration and hard core knowledge about Private Label products we sell through our stores. The continuing development of these products and brands helps ensure a healthy economy in the group. Product ranges and brands may vary from division to division.

Branded suppliersA lot of branded sup-pliers also produce Private Label prod-ucts. They have tak-en a pragmatic view and would rather de-liver PL at a slight-ly lower price than see the volume go to another supplier. The branded suppli-er saves on market-ing expenses as we typically market our own brands and this is one reason why they can compete in price.

Pure Private Label suppliersSome suppliers have

completely shift-ed their production to the Private Label market and do not have a brand them-selves. An example of this is J. W. Osten-dorf in Germany, who supplies our Domes-tic brand paint and wood protection. They are the ninth largest paint produc-er in the world but only produce Private Label paint.

Direct sourcing By direct sourcing, we mean going di-rectly to the fac-tory, be it in East-ern Europe where we purchase wood products like fenc-

DT Magazine // Private Label

They are the ninth largest paint producers in the world but only produce Private Label paint.

stuart KilpatrickBrand Manager, DT Group

About Private Label

Private Label is basically a retail company putting its own brand on a product as

opposed to a well-known branded supplier.

There are different possi-bilities when looking for

Private Label products and we use all of them, trying to optimize price, reliable de-liveries, after-sales service and other issues to find the

best possible solution for each product group.

Where do we find our

Private Label products?

DT MAGAZINE12

in our builder’s mer-chant stores this spring.

T-tapBeijerbygg in Sweden and Starkki in Fin-land have already introduced T-tap screws in the Rap-tor brand. T-tap is a patented evolution of the popular Torx type of screw which has been improved by adding a small tap on the end of the screw-bit that fits in a corresponding hole in the screw. These screws will also in future be sourced di-rectly from factories in Taiwan and other parts of Asia.

About Private Labeling, doors, windows, flooring, etc. or in Asia, where we pur-chase hand tools, power tools, screws, fasteners, flooring, etc.

Which is best?Well, that depends entirely on the prod-uct.

Direct Sourcing often gives us the best margin but, on the negative side, there is a long lead-time from ordering

to delivery, which means we have to have quite a lot of products in stock. We also often have to take care of after-sales service our-selves, so it is usual-ly low-risk products that are sourced di-rectly unless the margin is sufficient to cover these extra costs.

Sourcing from branded suppli-ers has the advan-tage that the sup-

plier will often stock the products, saving us the expense and trouble. They usu-ally also take care of claims and af-ter-sales service for us. We pay for this through a generally lower margin gain. Typically, complex products or products with a good deal of after-sales service are sourced this way.

Our sourcing of-fices and product managers are con-

stantly working on sourcing our Pri-vate Label products from the best pos-sible source, tak-ing in to account all the parameters de-scribed above. You can help in this work by promoting our Pri-vate Label products whenever possible and by reporting any issues to you local product manager so we can fine-tune our product range.

You can help in this work by promoting our Private Label products whenever possible

new Desá shower cabinet range

neW In Silvan is a

complete range of

shower cabinets un-

der the Desá Design

Sanitaire brand. The

great thing about

this range is that the

customers can build

just about any so-

lution from the dif-

ferent parts and fit

them to their specific

measurements.

A number of pos-

sible solutions, along

with prices, are visu-

alized on a sign that

hangs beside the in-

store display. This

is also a big help for

staff, who can quick-

ly help the custom-

ers find the correct

solution for their

bathrooms.The glass is 6 mm

hardened and solu-

tions include round-

ed or square ele-

ments.

new raptor screw ranges

We hAve found suppliers of screws in Asia, mostly in Tai-wan, who can supply high quality screws at competitive pric-es. These suppli-ers already produce screws for some of the well known Eu-ropean brands such as Fischer, NKT and Essve.

We have visited the factories and their quality control is excellent. A lot of them also have re-search and develop-ment departments that constantly im-prove the products and production.

The new Rap-tor brand screws will start appearing

DT MAGAZINE 13

range, target customers and quality

Toolmate is our Pri-vate Label for power and hand tools, aimed at DIY customers. The brand is sold in our DIY stores like Silvan and Cheapy and will usually not be found in our builder’s mer-chant stores. Builder’s merchants who also sell to DIY customers can also stock Tool-mate, as can be seen in Starkki in Finland, among others.

Toolmate products are very good qual-ity at a competitive price and we are con-stantly developing our products in order to heighten the quality.

Product range

The Toolmate brand is used for Power tools and accessories, hand tools and other prod-ucts that fall in to this category. This in-cludes diverse prod-uct groups like rope and string, personal protection and fas-teners.

Benchmark and testing

Toolmate power tools are tested by inde-pendent testing firms like TÛV Reinland to ensure a high qual-ity. In this process, the power tools are benchmarked against the green series from Bosch.

sales opportunities

Toolmate power and hand tools are a very good and economic solution for the cas-ual DIY customer. Re-member to emphasize the 5-year guarantee that we have on most products. Selling a power tool is also your chance for extra sales, as you ensure that the customer has all nec-essary accessories for the tool.

DT Magazine // Private Labelin the following issues of dt news, we will be looking at some of our private label brands, which products they are used for, and what kind of quality to expect. There will also be some sales arguments you can use when talking to our customers. In this issue we are look-ing at power and hand tools.

sales arguments

Lower prices than comparable products

5-year guarantee (ex-cept on consumables)

Good price-quality ratio

DT MAGAZINE14

Benchmark and testing

Direct sourced Rap-tor products are test-ed by independent testing firms like TÛV Reinland to ensure a very high quality, benchmarking them against some of the best products on the market.Other products that are sourced from branded suppliers, but with the Raptor brand on them, are compa-rable in quality to the supplier’s own prod-ucts.

range and target customers

The Raptor brand is for “store products,” i.e. products that are stocked in our shops (as compared to prod-ucts that are stocked outdoors or in a cold warehouse). The brand is aimed at pro-fessional users, i.e. the building trade and semi-professional DIY customers and will on-ly be sold through our builder’s merchants stores.

Quality

The Raptor brand is only used on products of very high quality. All products have been tested to ensure that they are suited to the Scandinavian environ-ment and can meet the high standards set by carpenters, build-ers and other trades-men.

Product range

In the Raptor range, we have store prod-ucts like hand tools, paint, work lights, screws and fasteners. We have been look-ing for a power tool range for Raptor but until now, we have not found products that are of good enough quality.

sales argumentsProducts are of the high-est quality, so don’t hes-itate to recommend Raptor products as an alternative to known brands!

10-20% lower pric-es than comparable products

Comparable in quality to branded products, but at a lower price

DT MAGAZINE 15

DT Magazine // Product fitness

DtbloCkbuStErSare rarely an accident

1 If you can’t sell it, don’t

store it To start with of course, you have customers and their demands. A sim-ple rule of thumb: don’t store what you can’t sell. “Imagine we’d store all avail-able brands with-in shoes,” Kai Ove Hoffman, product category manag-er from STARK, ex-plains. “We would need to cover all sizes and prefer-

ably additional sets of each. We’d have a fortune tied up in our warehouses and we could never get rid of most of it.”

2 You get the customers

you want “Of course we need a certain amount of overlap so the cus-tomer can make a qualified choice,” Kai Ove says. “But too much overlap, can be confusing. We will risk that the cus-tomer no longer un-

derstands what we stand for.” This is something to keep in mind, also when choosing certain brands, as they in turn will attract cer-tain groups of cus-tomers.

3 never run out on

blockbusters What products will sell best differs from division to division, from store to store. Therefore, the op-timal inventory for Neumann Bygg in

managing inventory requires dealing with multiple parameters at the same time

Norway is different from ... let’s say Sil-van in Denmark, or Starkki in Finland. “We have a range of products we call the A-category, which is the same in each branch,” Kai Ove ex-plains. “Then there’s the B-category, which are the local products, The B-cat-egory should never grow to the extent that it takes away the attention of the A-category. Most important of all, you should never run out of the best selling product.”

Most important of all, you should never run out of the best selling product

You DeCIDe

WhAT Your CusTomers

WAnT

A good salesman understands that our customers rely on com-petent advice rather than on a broad inventory. It is not necessary to have ten different brands of a certain item to choose from. What is more im-portant is that the brands we do display are of good quality and carry a fair price tag. Customers gladly buy an alternative brand as long as they feel it serves the purpose. If you help your customer pur-chase the items that help him get the job done – which are not necessarily the items on his shopping list – he will

perceive an excellent service.

DT MAGAZINE16

The golden rule in the retail in-dustry is the right product in the right place for the right price. With so many customers all wanting different things, it is impossible to keep an inventory that will satisfy everyone. Therefore making choices is in-evitable – both when it comes to what products we keep in store, and certainly also what products our customers leave the store with.

sTArK’s* BLoCK-BusTers

Yellow wedges 900,000 sold

Angle bracket 700,000 sold

Knit-ted gloves 500,000 sold

1

2

3

Best sellers selected from product categories 2 and 7, based on units sold

ProDuCT FITnessrEAl buSINESSIs

4 Product fit-ness = real

business Immensely important of course is the right price, or rather, the right margin. “The margin on a product decides how much money we earn on a certain product,” says Kai Ove. “The more we can sell, the more we earn. The perfect combina-tion is a product with a high margin that we can sell a lot of. That is what we in STARK call product

fitness. We have set up fitness indexes for products, which helps us to identi-fy in an early stage whether the popu-larity of a certain product is fading or catching up. This enables us to optimize both the deals we make with sup-pliers as well as the value of our inventory. When products score be-low a certain index, we order less or re-place them with a more popular prod-uct.”

Kai ove hoffmanproduct category manager, stark

DT MAGAZINE 17

DT Magazine // Product fitness

The ProDuCTs mentioned above might just as well be a part of the in-ventory of a well equipped super-

market, like Bilka in Denmark. It kind of leaves you wonder-ing in what industry Silvan actually oper-ates. The explana-tion is simple. The

average DIY custom-er visits Silvan 10 to 12 times a year. However, they visit a supermarket howev-er two or sometimes up to three times a day. Silvan chose these blockbust-ers cunningly, both to increase traffic to the branches and because they are a natural entrance to cross- and up-sales.

Customers shop-ping for moving boxes will sooner or later need paint, wallpaper, sandpa-per, tape, pencils –

supplies to freshen up their old and/or their new place. Due to new waste dis-posal rules, trans-parent bags are a standard item for garden waste, thus attracting customers with gardens and in need of other garden supplies. It fits into Silvan’s strategy to sell project solutions rather than singu-lar building supplies. Silvan’s staff is well prepared to provide guidance so custom-ers buy all the sup-plies they need to get the project done, whether this is mov-ing, tidying up the garden or replacing the old kitchen with a brand new one.

noT Your AverAGe suPPLIesSilvan’s number one blockbuster is: the MOVING BOX. Last year, the Danish DIY giant sold close to a MILLION senior type moving boxes, the most popular in its category. With a 30% profit, this is good busi-ness. Number 2 on the list is firewood, number 3 is gas-refills (Silvan is actually the market leader for this product), number 4 is ... transpar-ent garbage bags. No paint nor tools – not even screws or nails, as you might expect from a construction retailer.

Customers shopping for moving boxes will sooner or later need paint, wallpaper, sandpaper, tape, pencils...

DT MAGAZINE18

CheAPY’s BLoCKBusTers

osB panel, wood based

Park plant soil

Fix universal (mortar)

egger laminated floor

Ifö toilets

12345

Based upon revenue

BeIjer BYGGBLoCKBusTers

Plasterboard 13x900 we have sold ap-prox 1,000,000 boards

roofing underlay 130,000 rolls sold, of which 60,000 private label

Decking 28x120 mm 2,500,000 meters sold

one specific sKu Plywood 100,000 boards

Chipboard for flooring 300,000 boards

Concrete in 25 kg bags 9,250 tons, or 370,000 bags

1

2

3

4

5

6

Picked from five different product categories/units sold

CheAPY has 20 stores with a com-mon factor that makes managing in-ventory a fantastic challenge: they are relatively small. As a result, new products are tested and dis-cussed thoroughly before they make the shelves.

“We apply two main parameters,” says Pär Rampe, re-sponsible for sourc-ing in Cheapy: “our profile and... hardcore data. It is important

that the products in our store match what we want to repre-sent. That these are the products that our customers actually want. Cheapy’s pro-file has evolved from a more general DIY store to an increased focus on building ma-terials. This resulted in fewer campaign ar-eas and more heavy side building materi-als in our stores. The second parameter is earnings. Since we have limited space, every inch counts: we

have to display those products that sell best and have the high-est margins. As a rule of thumb, a product shelf in Cheapy should generate one million Swedish kroner per year.”

For new products to make it into the Cheapy stores, sup-pliers have to provide good arguments and preferably data on performance in simi-lar environments. “We also learn from how the product is doing at Silvan and/or our competitors. Taking a new product in stock means we have to get rid of an existing prod-uct. So we want to be absolutely sure that it is the right choice. We rely on data when making decisions.”

When every inch counts

sTArKKI’s BLoCKBusTers Starkki’s 22 stores sold 6.5 million meters of a 22 x 100 sawn timber spruce, turning it into its bestseller in 2010! At a good second place is its big brother, the 47 x 100 sawn timber spruce (sold 2.77 million meters). At a solid third place, we find a reinforcing bar, fourth is the EPS-insulation board and at fifth place we find film faced plywood.

DT MAGAZINE 19

DT Magazine // nine to five

HealthDon’t gamble

with your

LArs AxeLsson

is 53. A very care-

ful employee. He has

been working for

Beijer Byggmaterial

since 1989 and has

a remarkable record:

he has not missed

a single day of work

in 21 years working

for Beijer. That re-

cord unfortunately,

got messed up by

a machine saw last

year in February. “I

was going on with

my work as usual,

sawing some timber

for a customer using

the sawing machine,”

Lars tells us. “I wore

gloves to protect

my hands and I was

paying attention.

You must know that

I have deep respect

for machines. At

some point, a cus-

tomer entered the

room where I was

sawing and he start-

ed talking to me. For

a split second I lost

focus but that sec-

ond was enough.”

The machine cut

of the skin off the

top of Lars’ little fin-

ger and cut into his

ring finger. The ring

finger was remedied

with two stitches.

The little finger had

to grow back skin all

by itself, a process

that takes fourteen

days. During these

fourteen days, Lars

could not work, as

his hands were not

to be used. “In a way,

I was lucky that it

was the back of the

machine that caught

my fingers. If it would

have been the front, I

would have lost both

my fingers. I use this

machine every day,

several times a day.

But of course, I can’t

blame the machine.

It is my own fault. All

it took was one split

second where I did

not pay attention.

Now, a year after the

accident, my fingers

healed fine. If you

don’t know where to

look, you can hard-

ly see the evidence

of the accident any

longer. And for your

information, I am the

best of friends again

with the sawing ma-

chine.”

Lars Axelsson (53)InjurY FILe 02/2010

Place:

Injury:

When:how:Consequence:

Beijer Byggmaterial, Ängelholm

Two fingers

February 2010

SawHospital visit, 14 days absence

DT MAGAZINE20

We’re scoring well on health and safety management. At least, that is the conclusion when look-ing at the statistics for 2010. The average DT Group medical injury rate is 1.23 per 100 employees, which compares positively to Wolseleys’ average of 3.5 injuries per 100 employees.

BuT WhILe the numbers tell us that we are devel-oping in the right direction, they also hide personal stories of discomfort, hurt, frustration and worse. We talked to a few unfortunate colleagues responsible for the statistics, who remind us why it is important to pay attention to safety reg-ulations and use basic com-mon sense. Accidents hap-pen, but not by accident.

“We Were storing boxes,” Henrik Spit-zler recounts. “Ma-terial customers re-turned after they borrowed it. Nothing special. The problem is, when it is boxed, you don’t know how heavy it is until you lift the box. I hap-pened to pick a box that was too heavy. To get a good grip, I forgot all about the ergonomic correct way of lifting stuff and bent forward, putting all the weight on my back. Right there and then, my

back collapsed.” The doctor told

Henrik to consult a chiropractor, to get his back in shape. During the treat-ment, Henrik was not able to lift anything – not even his kids at home. “It was a frus-trating experience. I was in the process of some garden work

at home. That I had to stop. In my spare time, I am a football referee. I couldn’t at-tend practices and matches for a month. Fortunately, I didn’t miss any working days. I am the opera-tional manager and can avoid lifting at

work. In this period it became apparent to me how much we ac-tually lift on a daily basis at Silvan. After six discomforting vis-its to the chiropractor, my back was good again. The accident made me more aware of what and how I lift. What’s more, I have the responsibility over three warehouse em-ployees. I became more aware of what and how they lift as well. That’s what a bad back will do for you.”

henrik spitzler (31)

InjurY FILe 06/2010

Place: Injury:When:how:Consequence:

Silvan, FredericiaBackJune 2010BoxChiropractor visits for four weeks

After six discomforting visits to the chiropractor, my back was good again. The accident made me more aware of what and how I lift.

DT MAGAZINE 21

DT Magazine // nine to five

ACCIDenTs hap-

pen. And sometimes,

there’s nothing you

could have done to

avoid it. You’re just

at the wrong place

at the wrong time.

That at least is what

happened to truck

driver John Rasmus-

sen from Stark. “I

was standing next to

my truck while a col-

league was loading

the last items onto

my truck,” John tells.

“Then, out of the

blue, all of the sud-

den a forklift hit me

from behind while

backing. It hit me in

my back and I fell

on on my shoulder.

I must have passed

out for a few sec-

onds because the

next thing I see is

colleagues bending

over me.” The doctor who

examined John told

him he was lucky.

He could have bro-

ken his back. Fortu-

nately, it was noth-

ing of the like. “I got

away shaken, not

stirred. I went back

to work the next day.

That was a bad deci-

sion. When I climbed

in my truck it was

like someone put a

stick in my back. So I

went home and took

a 14-day rest, as

the doctor advised. I

took painkillers too.

My back indeed was

functioning again af-

ter two weeks. But

even though it has

been nine months

since I had the ac-

cident, I sometimes

still can feel my back.

For example when

I am working in the

garden. But then

again, I have been

doing hard physi-

cal work since I was

fourteen. That of

course also takes a

toll. As to the driv-

er of the forklift, we

are the best of col-

leagues. He got a

shock too though

and he’s not driving

the forklift as fast as

he used to.”

john rasmussen (48)InjurY FILe 05/2010

Place: Injury:When:how:Consequence:

Stark, Horsens

BackMay 2010Forklift14 days of absence and painkillers

The doctor who examined John told him he was lucky. He could have broken his back.

HealthDon’t gamble

with your

DT MAGAZINE22

DT MAGAZINE 23

DT Magazine // news

CusTomers shopping in Silvan in Skejby or City 2 (Taastrup) believe there’s more staff in these branches compared to the other branches. A ground breaking customer survey revealed this. On-ly, this is percep-tion rather than reality, as these branches have neither more nor less staff than any of the other

branches. The ex-planation is to be found in the de-sign of the shops. In average, the shelves are low-er. In fact, low enough so you have a free view wherever you are in the shop. That makes it easier to spot staff, giving visitors the feel-ing that there’s actually more staff around to help then there is in reality.

sCAnnInG items customers pur-chase is nor-mal procedure. At least, inside in the store. Out-side, in the ware-house, it’s a dif-ferent story. The often heavy items are registered manually on a pa-per list that after-wards has to be processed by a colleague inside, where the cus-tomer also pays for the purchased goods. This pro-cess is somewhat old-fashioned

and prone to mis-takes. Therefore, Neumann Bygg tested handheld scanners. Staff equipped with the device scan the unique barcode of the purchased items, sending the information wirelessly to the cash register in-side. Staff test-ing at first had to get used to the handheld termi-nals. But after a while the advan-tages became ap-parent: it saves time and what’s more: fewer mis-

takes are made, meaning that the customer gets an invoice with the correct price. Si-multaneously, the branch’s inven-tory is updated in real time. The ter-minals have been tested for six weeks in Haug-esund and Ber-gen. According to planning, Tromsø will start work-ing with the scan-ner in April. Other branches will fol-low but a plan has not been made yet.

Customers are seeing double

Flawless order lists

sTArK is expand-ing its business in Rudkøbing (see map) in Lange-land (Denmark). The profession-al construction chain acquired Al-fred Nielsen A/S Trælasthandel, formerly a part of competitor XL-Byg. The branch fits seamlessly

into Stark’s network of branches and will reduce distribu-tion costs signifi-cantly in this area. Besides, custom-ers on the island of Langeland will pass two STARK branches before they meet a com-petitor. The idea is to integrate Al-fred Nielsen A/S

Trælasthandel in-to the STARK con-cept as fast as possible to serve the professional and private cus-tomers more ef-fectively. Due to its geographical position, it will be

hard to in-crease the

market share in the area, as

there are no com-petitors in the vicinity to cap-ture market share from. Growth will have to be found in optimizing in-ventory, reduc-ing costs and us-ing our favorable deals with sup-

pliers to increase profit. The branch is being trans-formed e.g. the new signs are placed and soon the branch will have the familiar STARK look and feel. With the new acquisition, STARK now has a total of 94 branches: 89 in Denmark and 5 in Greenland.

number 93langeland

GluEThe sticky facts

1natural Glue: These are based

on natural resin (from vegetables) or from animal skin.

2synthetic Glue: For ex-ample thermo-

setting glues – commonly used in industrial set-tings.

3hot Glues: Applied

hot and allowed to harden as they cool. These adhe-

sives have become popular for crafts because of their

ease of use.

4reac-tive Glues:

Glues that react with the surface

they are sticking to. Often used to reduce the loosening of bolts and screws etc.

DT Magazine // The story of ...

There are four main types of glue:

DT MAGAZINE24

Construction is sometimes all about ‘getting things to stick together’. There’s various ways of accomplishing this – one of them is good old gluing.

oLD? For sure. Archeologists exca-vating burial sites from 4000 BC have discovered clay pots repaired with glue made from tree sap. The ancient Greeks were the first ones to use adhesives for construction pur-poses (carpentry). Their glue included ingredients like egg whites, blood, bones, milk, cheese, vegeta-

bles and grains. The Romans fine tuned the ingredients: they used tar and bees-wax. Around 1750, the first glue or ad-hesive patent was issued in Britain. The glue was made from fish. Patents were then rapidly issued for adhesives us-ing natural rubber, animal bones, fish, starch, and milk pro-tein (casein).

historyYou CAn maybe imagine that the claim for the strong-est glue has many fathers. We think a good candidate is a bacteria called Caulobacter cres-centus*. The glue is said to withstand a force equivalent to five tons per square inch, equaling the pressure exerted by three cars balanced

atop a quarter be-fore it is swept from its moorings (don’t try this at home). That’s two to three times more force than the best retail glues can handle. One problem though. Scientists haven’t figured out yet how to produce the stuff. Every time they try, the glue sticks to their machinery and is irremovable.

strongest glue ever

SOu

RCE

: LIV

ESCI

ENCE

, CO

REY

BIN

NS

hoW To Choose Your GLue

which materials they stick to

how well they form a bond between two smooth surfaces

how the glue bond ages, both in terms of dura-bility and color

12

3The sTronGesT glue you can find in a Silvan store is prob-ably Bostik’s Maxi Lim – a mounting glue

that can be used for a multitude of surfaces. Last year Silvan sold 20,000 units. Whether this is the ideal glue for your customer de-

pends on the project. No matter what, re-member to ask the customer about the project before you rec-ommend any glue.

sticky the silvan way

DT MAGAZINE 25

kNEEPADSGood for knees, good for business

DT Magazine // Kneepads

noThInG is glam-orous about knee-pads. We’d rather sell a drilling machine or another, more sexy, device. We like to take time to ex-plain our custom-ers the virtues of the electric devices displayed and take

good time doing so – expensive time in fact, since the mar-gins on drilling ma-chines, for example, are so small that we actually make more selling the drills that go with the device.

Kneepads on the other hand ... as un-attractive as the

item might seem at first glance, has a solid sales potential. Plus, it comes with a sweet profit. The sale is rather easy too: every time a customer buys a pair of work pants, selling a pair of knee pads is the logic cross sale.

DT MAGAZINE26

Kneepads might not be the most exciting product to sell. What is there to tell about kneepads anyways? Two pieces of plastic that you insert in a pair of pants. Not exactly some-thing you dream about when browsing through the product cat-alogue. But make no mistake, as kneepads represent a hidden stash of cash waiting for us to get. As are gloves and duct tape.

The LATesT staff count* in DT Group was more than 9,000 people divided over 485 branches. When you reach this magnitude of size, small ad-justments can have a tremen-dous impact.

Increasing the aver-age basket value has a direct consequence on the bottom line. If you have a good idea about how to do this in smart way, share the idea with your colleagues in the group. Send your idea to editor@dt-magazine.dk.

As KneePADs typi-cally are used by professional build-ers, STARK makes

for a good case. Stark sold 30,000 pairs of work pants in 2010,

the kind that have pock-

ets to

insert kneepads. The number of kneepads sold that same year was 12,400 pairs. The potential though is 30,000 pairs. Here’s a difference of 17,600 pairs or a small € 120,000. Not a bad catch for logi-cal sales.

size matters simple mathematics

on AverAGe, a pair of work pants exceeds the longevity of knee-pads. With a factor two to be exact. So as a rule of thumb, you can safely argue that your custom-ers should purchase two pairs of kneepads. One pair to insert right away, and one pair in reserve for when the first par is worn out. For a division like STARK, the addition-al income generated do-ing so would be a stag-gering € 318,000. Not bad for a seemingly un-sexy item.

2×2Upgrading gloves

In 2010 STARK sold more than 500,000 knitted gloves worth more than € 200,000. In the same year, STARK sold more than 250,000 MAXI Flex Gloves, for a to-tal value of almost € 1.4m. The hidden po-tential here is con-version: get some

of your customers buying the knitted gloves to upgrade their purchase to a MAXI Flex Glove. If STARK could up-grade 100,000 knit-ted gloves (€ 0.42) to MAXI Flex gloves (€ 5.36) the retailer would increase its earnings by almost half a million euros.

*The latest staff count was in 2010

DT MAGAZINE 27

you

Mu

sT p

Ay T

Ax o

n T

hE

priz

E

1 What does the abbreviation Cee stand for?

A Construction Ethics Europe

B Commission for European Entrepreneurs

C Central and Eastern Europe

2 how many stores does starkki have?

A 20 B 21 C 22

3 What is silvan’s best selling product?

A Senior moving box

B Basic paint C Knee pads

4 how many branches are gath-ered under DT Group?

A 468 B 485 C 491

5 What did Lars Axels-son injure?

a His back B His head C His finger

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how well are you informed of what happens in DT Group?

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The winner of the company party from last quiz:

The lucky winner of our last quiz is Isabell Bertilsson from Cheapy.

Congratulations to Isabell and her colleagues.

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