Introducing a new home improvement marketplace

A new product marketplace will offer customers a wider selection of products from trusted third-party sellers all in one place at diy.com

Customers will have more choice with:

An additional 100,000 products, available within 6 months

In-store returns for many marketplace products

Trusted third-party sellers

Why is it being launched?

82%

82% of our customers’ journeys start online, so the marketplace multi-channel model will make shopping with us even more convenient

The marketplace will both expand existing ranges and add new categories, such as:

48%

Small domestic appliances nearly half (48%) of online product searches in the US, UK & Germany started on marketplaces

There are many reasons for third-party sellers to join the B&Q home improvement marketplace

Access a popular and trusted retail site with significant traffic that is synonymous with quality

Reach a significant demographic of UK consumers

Work with one of the UK’s most recognisable home improvement retail brands

How does it work? 1 2 3 4 5 6

Third-party sellers go through a verification process

Products listed on diy.com as ‘sold and shipped by [seller name]’

Customer adds to basket and checks out as usual

Customer adds to basket and pays as usual

Third-party seller delivers to customer

To find out more visit diy.com, or the B&Q app

Customers can return their orders via home collection or to any one of our UK stores

JJ VAN OOSTEN FORMER CHIEF DIGITAL AND TECHNOLOGY OFFICER, KINGFISHER PLC

“I'm not interested in companies that are not born out of the internet,” Van Oosten says. “A lot of the time they rebadge themselves as a cloud-based solution or SaaS, but actually they're not. It's very difficult to change something which is heavy and client-based to truly become a cloud-based company.”

Future digital ambitions

With a number of innovations delivered already, Kingfisher are in no mind to keep standing still.

“The modus operandi we have in our mind, is that we are just at the start,” Van Oosten says. “We’re constantly thinking about day one and that means that there is so much more we can do.

“In the marketplace, for example, we are thinking how can we scale it faster? Which type of functionalities can we have, which type of business model can we use to evolve it even faster in the UK?”

In a uniquely strong position of having such strong brands and local presences, what is clear is that future innovations at Kingfisher will have both the digital and physical worlds at the centre.

“We look at stores as a wonderful asset where customers can go quickly,” he comments. “So, when people say to me, ‘you do click and collect in one hour, but can I do it in one minute?’ I say, that's what we did in Screwfix.

“We look at the whole experience, we digitalise inside the stores as well to assist kitchen designers with 3D tools which are cloud-based. And then using mobile phones, customers can actually go and get a QR code and then see their own design in the store with their own pictures. It helps customers a lot, because it's a complex and emotional purchase in those instances.

“When I look outside the stores, we have relatively large car parks, and very good yards also. Yards for me are not just yards. Of course, we do goods in, but for me, they're also like perfect beehives where we can accept and welcome mopeds, bikes, where we can have vans, where we can have trucks, where we can have trucks with a crane.

“If you look at stores in that way, then suddenly you can see that those assets can actually have another lease of life,” he concludes. “And then, we are a mere custodian for the next generation of those brands.”