On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 14:25:39 +0000, Tim W wrote:
G.Mo
wibbled on Thursday 14 January 2010 13:52

Hey everybody,
I'm working with a big DIY retailer to create a better home
improvement store, kind of like a B&Q of the future. The question is
what's the best/worst thing about DIY stores today?? Expert advice and
guidance seems the first thing for the public DIY-ers but what about
people that work in the industry?

Don't know about advice, but I would like:

Sensible prices[1];

Stock in the right bins and levels maintained;

Double-kiddie shopping trolleys.
Really? I didn't know you could buy kiddies in DIY stores :-)
Seriously, I don't think children have any place in a DIY store. It's
full of sharp, heavy, pointy things. Keep 'em away, so they can't hurt
themselves, or others.


Self scan that works;

Website as searchable as Screwfix's with estimate stock levels for your
local store. It's hard to make this 100% accurate but the damn store
computer is scanning everything sold, so it should be possible to feed that
back real time so you have a pretty good idea if your journey is going to be
a waste of time or not.

[1] as opposed to something being 10 quid for 5m and 8 quid for 10m of the
same, the like of which I've seen in B&Q on more than one occasion.

It's difficult - a good B&Q actually carries a pretty serious range of
products these days. Sometimes their prices are pretty keen by public store
standards (eg plaster, bulk aggregate).