B&Q and Screwfix owner Kingfisher is continuing to build from the Covid-inspired DIY boom and its ecommerce strategy with pre-tax profits hitting £1bn for the first time, in what one expert claims is testament to top customer experience married to cutting-edge technology.
The company’s latest results, for the year to January 31 2022, reveal that sales rose almost 7% to £13.2bn, fuelled by a burst of home improvement during pandemic lockdowns.
Kingfisher CEO Thierry Garnier said he expected the DIY boom to roll on amid “strong supportive trends” including more working from home, a relatively strong housing market and “a lot of demand for energy saving” because of higher gas and fuel prices.
“Home improvement is not a bad place to be in a crisis,” he said, adding that trading since the year end had been resilient with sales up 16% on pre-pandemic levels with strong orders for kitchen makeovers.
He said he hoped the Government would put forward new plans to help support families to install more energy efficiency measures to offset higher gas and electricity bills caused by a global surge in energy prices.
B&Q is to test a service that will “diagnose and fit energy efficiency solutions”, such as insulation and heating management tools, to cater to demand, while Screwfix is selling solar panels and heat pumps.
The group has also announced it plans to open 80 more Screwfix outlets over the coming year, with the aim of reaching 1,000, up from about 790 at present. It is also expanding an online DIY marketplace, which will enable brands to sell direct to B&Q customers.
Garnier warned that inflation would continue to dog the market throughout 2022 with a constant challenge from the cost and availability of shipping containers, while suppliers were struggling to keep pace with demand for garden products and building materials.
In response to the results, Elle Nadal, director of marketing EMEA at Iterable, said: “Kingfisher’s results are a success story of a customer experience married to cutting-edge technology. Since the pandemic, shoppers have flocked to Kingfisher, with home improvement growing in popularity as people looked to turn their home into a warm and comfortable refuge during lockdown.
“By building a mobile-first and service-oriented customer experience, Kingfisher has kept up with customer demand, in part, through systems that ensure a great user experience. Digital hubs have allowed the company to capitalise on the DIY boom, providing an immersive, bespoke browsing experience to suit consumer needs with every visit.
“The mobile-first experience will be critical for UK retail in 2021: our research found 56% of UK consumers spend more than four hours hours on their mobile device every day. Like Kingfisher, brands should be tapping into this mobile-first shift, making the most of innovation in data and artificial intelligence to ensure a personalised and authentic experience for customers that delights at every turn.”
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