Leroy Merlin Romania, the second player in the romanian DIY market, will start a digitalisation process which includes testing of a new e-commerce service: click and collect. The Leroy Merlin online store, with online order and home delivery services, will be implemented in 2020.
Leroy Merlin confirmed that retailer will open next year a store in Bucharest and finding other 2 new locations, also in Bucharest, stores to be open in the next years. All of this and many other things in an exclusive interview for BricoRetail.ro publication with Frédéric Lamy, CEO of Leroy Merlin Romania.
„We already reached last year the number 2 position on the romanian DIY market in terms of market share, sales and volume and l confirm that we are still number 2 in the market this year. I also confirm that the company is profitable since last year and this year, certainly, we will increase the profit,” said Frédéric Lamy.
Almost 11 millions customers in Romania for Leroy Merlin
„The most important thing for the company is the attractivity of the brand. This year we opened our 17th store in Romania, in Craiova, the second store from this city. We’ll be having this year almost 11 millions customers in our stores.
We have a lot of stores, we are doing better sales per store, we adapted our range of products and we improved the customer satisfaction. Leroy Merlin gained, this year, 3 points in the index of customer satisfaction. Until a certain sales figures, it is al about the way you catch the customer satisfactions in each location,” added Lamy.
The digitalisation of the company
Exclusively for BricoRetail.ro, Lamy said that Leroy Merlin Romania will start to test the click and collect services.
„Most of all, the company is very stable also in terms of employees, taking into account the staff fluctuation in the retail market and we are starting now a new phase in our company: the digitalisation of the company which will run next year, to be more exactly.
First of all, until the end of the year, we’ll finish to publish on the website all our products. More than 30.000 products are currently being published on our website, just for our customers to get informed about products and prices. It’s not yet an online store, but an intermediate stage to prepare the future online store and is a sort of product list available to our customers for informing.
This is the first step to e-commerce. The second step is that next year we’ll start to do some click and collect operations and to test this type of services at some of our stores. So, the customers make the selections of the products, reserve their products at a specific store, Leroy Merlin employees prepare the goods and the customer go to the store and pick up the order,” mentioned Lamy.
This is, actually, the most important step for Leroy Merlin Romania to e-commerce, processes that will be coordinated directly by the new Marketing and E-commerce Director, Andreea Mihai.
„It is a very good time for Andreea to come to our company, and she felt it very good. At this moment we are a big company but in full development to become an even bigger company. She felt this enormous development potential and joined us, which I am very happy about,” said Lamy.
Final step: online order and home delivery
„Next step in e-commerce, after testing the click and collect services, is going to the online store with online orders and home deliveries, services that will be implement in 2020. This is the final destination for us regarding e-commerce. We had to do this because – a very interesting fact – 70% of our customers are informed online before come in our stores, accordind to an internal research,” said Lamy.
New stores
In Craiova, with 2 stores, Leroy Merlin become the lider of the local DIY market.
„It is still room for improvements in terms of number of stores in big cities like Bucharest where we are targeting to open another 2 stores in the next years, beside the store From Theodor Pallady, already announced to be open next year. The construction of new Pallady store is on schedule.
We also have 4 – 5 projects with great potential in Bucharest, meaning we have just as many possibilities from which to choose the best 2 locations for our next 2 new stores,” said Lamy.
3 reasons of growing Leroy Merlin Romania
Frédéric Lamy, CEO of Leroy Merlin Romania
< 1 > The market conditions are great, is positive, the context is very good: the construction market are growing, including house renovation and the consumption is growing
< 2 > Leroy Merlin has adapted to the local DIY market, but, in the same time, is a innovating and different company. „We are very good in pricing, we are very good in the choose of the products and we are very good in the customers relationships. Our stores are very friendly,” said Lamy
< 3 > The attitude, the way of being, including good relations with the suppliers. „In a couple of days, we’ll meet our all suppliers in a annual event where we’ll show them our vision of partnership: construction, no negotiations,” said Lamy.
Perspective of the romanian DIY market
In 2018, the modern DIY retail in Romania will reach 3 billions euro in sales, according to Lamy’s estimate. In 2017, the sales from modern DIY retail was arround 2,6 billions euro.
„In the next 1 – 2 years, the romanian DIY market will continue to grow with minimum 4 – 5% per year, a period of consolidation for each big player and in the next 5 – 10 years, the DIY market can double its size, because of increasing of purchasing powers of romanians, the grow of the economy and the appetit for constructions and house renovations.
The modern DIY retail from Romania has reached a market share of 65% of total DIY trade, versus 35%, percent which is represented by the traditional traders (independent stores or warehouses),” concluded Lamy.
Leroy Merlin
In Romania, there are currently 17 Leroy Merlin stores with over 2,000 employees in Bucharest, Cluj-Napoca, Craiova, Ploiesti, Brasov, Constanta, Sibiu, Suceava, Targu Mures, Bacau, Iasi, Timisoara and Oradea.
This article is part of the CEE DIY retail category from www.bricoretail.ro B2B publication and bring together news, in english, from Central and East Europe markets related with DIY and home improvement retail
You can get for free, directly to your e-mail address, the latest news from romanian DIY market and from Central and East European markets related with DIY and home improvement retail.
Subscribe HERE to our FREE newsletter, in ENGLISH.
