NBB celebrates 20th anniversary

The NBB Group is active not only in the DIY and garden market, but also in the timber trade, the fishing sector and the pet food market. Last financial year saw the group achieve consolidated sales of 380.8 mio euro from a total of 343 outlets. Tony Arthur Farkas, chairman and founder of NBB, considers that the reason why the trading group with activities in five different branches has been able to achieve success even against the trend in each of these markets is rooted in the franchising philosophy: “All businesses are based on the work of successful independent entrepreneurs, who are the recipients of support from the centre.”
NBB AG with its five franchise systems has activities in parallel in different markets. In existence alongside the Bauspezi concept, inaugurated in 1982, is the Gartenspezi concept from 1986, which was followed by Angelspezi in 1985, the Kiebitz-Markt format in 2000 and MDH, the marketing association for German timber merchants that is run “almost” on franchising lines.
Growth reserves in rural regions
The core of the company’s development was the Bauspezi concept for the building sector. Conceived as a neighbourhood convenience outlet, this concept has now been multiplied 96 times over.
Farkas sees growth reserves in rural areas above all, and in medium-sized and small towns as well. Like the convenience stores in America, NBB concentrates on small floorspaces of between 1 000 and 3 000 m2 with good service benefits, which means it offers a trend running contrary to the wave of mega-stores. Consideration is given to regional factors and those relevant to the particular store when planning the product offer.
NBB’s marketing concepts are characterised above all by customer proximity and a carefully targeted location policy. “The basic product mixes at country outlets or in relatively small intermediate centres definitely will also remain competitive in the future,” is how Farkas sums up the situation.
Successful mix of business types
In the group’s core business, the DIY stores, the outlets that have proved to be particularly resistant to competition are those where a mixture of DIY store, building materials and garden centre has been implemented. Board member Heinz Dingfelder would therefore like to intensify the process of developing multi-purpose locations which include the Angelspezi concept together with the Gardenspezi and Holzspezi formats. At the same time a self-service building materials concept that requires a retail area of…