Kingfisher’s CEO questions the new retail orthodoxy

Kingfisher, the company behind some of Europe's largest hardware stores, is at a point of flux as it tries to unify its offer, enhance its digital capability, all while finding efficiencies.

Kingfisher owns some of the UK and Europe’s largest home improvement brands such as the customer-facing DIY stores B&Q and Castorama and the more trade-focused ScrewFix. At the World Retail Congress (Madrid, April 2018), CEO Veronique Laury doubted the fast-forming orthodoxies that are beginning to define the sector.

She acknowledged that change must come, not least because “we are an industry of the 19th century. We employ a large number of low-skilled people.” This conception and this model needs to shift, she argued.

Kingfisher has had to weigh drastic changes, and, spearheaded by Laury, is deep into a program of...

Not a subscriber?

Schedule your live demo with our team today

WARC helps you to plan, create and deliver more effective marketing

  • Prove your case and back-up your idea

  • Get expert guidance on strategic challenges

  • Tackle current and emerging marketing themes

We’re long-term subscribers to WARC and it’s a tool we use extensively. We use it to source case studies and best practice for the purposes of internal training, as well as for putting persuasive cases to clients. In compiling a recent case for long-term, sustained investment in brand, we were able to support key marketing principles with numerous case studies sourced from WARC. It helped bring what could have been a relatively dry deck to life with recognisable brand successes from across a broad number of categories. It’s incredibly efficient to have such a wealth of insight in one place.

Insights Team
Bray Leino

You’re in good company

We work with 80% of Forbes' most valuable brands* and 80% of the world's top top-of-the-class agencies.

* Top 10 brands