On Thu, 14 Jan 2010 15:26:04 GMT, pete wrote:

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).

Trouble is, when you're short of something and your wife is out somewhere,
you've no choice but to take the kids. When you've got two young ones (we
have three, but one's just about old enough to be semi-trusted), a double
seater trolley is a blessing!

SteveW