by Frank Zscheile I 7 minute read
Europe’s major DIY store chains are investing hugely to expand their online presence. This makes sense since, compared to other retail sectors such as consumer electronics and fashion, the share of online sales in the home and garden improvement sector is still relatively low. Customers continue to enjoy shopping in-store—especially when it comes to products that are tactile or require a lot of advice. Nevertheless, there’s room for DIY retailers to grow online, especially if they get their online and bricks-and-mortar stores to play a clever double act. The key to success in online retail, whether in a retailer’s own webstore or via online marketplaces, is to have resilient and first-class logistics operating in the background.
In the home and garden improvement sector, omnichannel networking is becoming more important than ever, with e-commerce providers and a range of sales channels making the battle for customers increasingly complex.
The share of online sales in the home and garden improvement sector can still grow, provided retailers invest in digital processes and use the right logistics.
Reliable logistics with Europe-wide connections are crucial for success in e-commerce, since models such as cross-border shipping, dropshipping, and delivery scheduling require a high degree of coordination and standardization.
For people considering home improvements, the only way to feel the weight of a power drill in their hands or try out a reclining chair is by visiting their local DIY store. That’s why those stores are always busy on Saturdays—and why DIY enthusiasts don’t all just order what they need online. Even so, pure online players such as Amazon have in recent years been recording sustained growth in the relevant segments. And therein lies the challenge for the DIY sector: it must ensure that its specialist retailers don’t end up serving just as showrooms. Ideally, customers will also buy from them, whether in-store or online. To achieve this, retailers must deliver a shopping experience that pure e-commerce competitors simply can’t offer.
The key concept here is omnichannel networking. This refers to services such as “Buy the product online, exchange it in-store” or “Buy it in-store, have it delivered to your home,” which are becoming even more important now that e-commerce giant Amazon isn’t the only competitor in town. After all, there’s nothing stopping online stores in a neighboring country from offering better prices and conditions; thanks to open European borders, those businesses can get their goods directly to the customer’s home in no time—provided they have the right logistics in place. Another source of competition is online marketplaces, which give manufacturers and intermediaries another showcase for their goods in addition to their own websites. And still the list of online options isn’t exhausted: there are countless individual manufacturers, some of them very small, who can also vie for customers by setting up their own online shop with just a few clicks. Finally, there’s the likes of TEMU, which is eyeing the DIY market, too, and flooding it with cheap products straight from Asia.
“The multiplicity of sales channels shows how diverse online business has become in the B2C sector,” says Patrick Schwab, Department Head DACHSER DIY Logistics. “But in this shark tank, anyone who doesn’t offer reliable logistics with defined quality standards can quickly go under.” Because goods arriving damaged, too late, or not at all will immediately earn the seller a paltry one-star rating online. Customers don’t differentiate between a product and its delivery—what counts for them is the entire customer journey.
The multiplicity of sales channels shows how diverse online business has become in the B2C sector. But in this shark tank, anyone who doesn’t offer reliable logistics with defined quality standards can quickly go under.
Marketplace Universe is a market research institute that specializes in examining e-commerce marketplaces. In a recent survey, it cites figures from the Online Monitor 2024 published by the Institute for Retail Research (IFH) in Cologne. According to this, online retail accounted for just 6.9 percent of total retail sales in the home improvement sector in Germany in 2023. However, the industry is currently stepping up its efforts to increase its presence on the major marketplaces, improve its own online presence, and link up even more closely with brick-and-mortar retail businesses. The current online share therefore has potential for growth.
But the only way DIY retailers can tap this reservoir is by having logistics providers specialized in the sector working in the background. To meet today’s requirements, these providers must recognize, adopt, and implement delivery models such as cross-border shipping and dropshipping.
The term “cross-border shipping” says it all: today’s logistics providers must be able to distribute B2C shipments throughout Europe. For example, when a customer in Germany orders a grill online from a French DIY store. Or the German grill manufacturer has its European warehouse in Belgium. This always calls for a European logistics network that can deliver shipments quickly and punctually.
Dropshipping is a model that lets a retailer offer products in its webstore without operating its own warehouse. Under this model, customers order a grill from the DIY store’s online shop, which the logistics provider then collects directly from the supplier and delivers as a B2C shipment. While the DIY store is the customer’s authorized dealer, all it does is issue the delivery note and the invoice. It plays no part in inbound goods, outbound goods, or warehousing. That means dropshipping simply isn’t possible without a reliable logistics provider operating in the background.
Dachser’s portfolio includes a specific offering for B2C deliveries: “targo on-site fix.” This product addresses the problem that customers often aren’t home, making second or even third attempts at delivery necessary. Why not simply give them a way to arrange a fixed delivery time with the seller when they place their order? The logistics provider can then set the delivery run accordingly and deliver right on schedule. This idea sounds simple, but it calls for exquisite orchestration of the movement of goods across all sales channels—from bricks-and-mortar retail to online and mobile commerce.
All these sophisticated omnichannel sales concepts require highly effective and flexibly adaptable supply chains as well as end-to-end digitalization of the individual process steps. Schwab says: “Dachser is able to handle cross-border shipping, dropshipping, and delivery scheduling with great efficiency. This is a basic requirement if we want to give the home and garden improvement sector the support it needs on its current development path. What’s important here is to have uniform quality standards and processes as well as a Europe-wide network. That’s the only way to meet customer expectations for a positive shopping experience.”
DACHSER DIY Logistics offers a comprehensive, industry-specific solution for logistics in the home improvement, construction, and gardening sector. DACHSER delivers to around 18,000 DIY stores, garden centers, and specialist stores throughout Europe every day. The DIY Logistics Pipeline covers all logistics services from procurement to the point of sale and to the end customer.
However, delivery to the customer is only one aspect of retail logistics in this market segment; the B2B procurement side also needs to be covered. This refers to the logistics provider transporting pallets from a DIY retailer’s suppliers to its bricks-and-mortar stores or to its logistics centers. Looking beyond Europe, the provider is in a position to organize sea freight in the manufacturing countries (which, in the case of home and garden improvement, primarily means Asia). On the procurement side, it also has warehouses that it can use to balance out seasonal fluctuations and, depending on the weather, deliver goods at very short notice. And it enables close delivery tracking for all parties involved.
“It’s these kinds of one-stop-shop concepts that the likes of DIY stores simply can’t do without if they want to successfully expand their online retail business in a difficult market environment,” Schwab says. “Once all these cogs are meshed together, then a Saturday browse at the DIY store to try things out will ideally be followed by a spontaneous order for a new branded grill as soon as the temperature starts to rise.”
Frank Zscheile
Editorial team DACHSER magazin
Frank Zscheile
Editorial team DACHSER magazin
