Investment and expansion

The Austrian builders’ merchant Bauprofi Quester is again going for an extensive programme of investment in 2002. “Investment is necessary, precisely when the economy is weak, in order to ensure success in the longer term and expand certain parts of the market,” says Hannes Quester, who two years ago took over joint management of the company together with Alexander Quester. The targets for 2002 are expansion of the franchise system and of the Bauprofi Quester locations, for which investment expenditure in excess of 2.5 mio euro has been set aside for the current financial year. Following the new “shop” concept, application-oriented displays and the realisation of participative shopping experiences for private customers are the key points of the company’s site development. A further sum of 400 000 euro is available this year as well for staff development projects.
In certain selected outlets it is possible for customers to try out the health and fitness equipment.
New shop concept
A new and uniform shop concept forms part of the brand strategy. The first of the newly revamped stores will open in time for the start of the building season. The eight product families – primary building materials, interior construction, windows/doors/gates, natural building materials/environment, garden/landscaping, timber, tiles, bathrooms/health and fitness – are presented there in a new form. Alexander Quester describes the primary concern of the company’s layout criteria, “We want to get away from the usual never-ending shelving, where the customer can neither find nor see anything. Our products are to be displayed so that they are shown to their best advantage.” As one example, tiles and flooring are shown on a flat display area or with the help of demo sample panels, which are about one square metre in size. In this way customers can better perceive the effect that a certain tile or type of flooring will have. The bathroom and health and fitness range will be presented as completely furnished bays, and it is even possible to test the latest equipment in certain selected branches.
Tiles and flooring presented flat are designed to give customers a better overview of the products.
One of the first of the revamped specialist stores is situated in Judenburg and has a retail area of 1 500 m2, in addition to a warehouse of 12 000 m2. Further locations where the new shop concept has already been implemented are the stores in Linz, Wels, Salzburg, St. Pölten, Vienna-Aspern, Bruck an…