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...