Seven is the magic number

The magic number has finally been reached: Hornbach opened its seventh store in Switzerland at the end of April. Germany's third-largest home improvement retailer had to wait a long time for the outlet in Affoltern am Albis; although it located the site over a decade ago, in 2005, construction only commenced in March 2017.
The location is not ideal in every respect. A major plus factor is its position adjacent to the A4 motorway. The motorway exit was modified specifically for this and enables the store to cover the greater Zurich catchment area.
Nor are the size and customisation entirely optimal. Because the 32 000 m² site would not otherwise have been big enough, the company decided for the first time to opt for underground parking. The store has no drive-in facility either, just a building materials collection bay without a dedicated PoS.
Hornbach has invested around CHF 50 mio in the new building, creating a retail area of approximately 12 000 m² on which the latest concepts have been deployed. For example, the store features a special "Project show" area for live presentations relating to furniture assembly.
A new "Parquet, laminate, cork, vinyl" flooring module has also been developed for the wood department. A large number of samples are stocked here and complete orders can be created on screen.

The company makes targeted reference in store to its online shop, or more correctly, "interconnected retail", as board chairman Albrecht Hornbach and country manager Alessandro Pellegrini emphasised at the opening. After all, linking distribution channels, for example through Click & Collect, is what it is all about. The range comprises around 125 000 products, of which some 60 000 to 70 000 are available in store. Albrecht Hornbach says this multichannel approach is "almost more important in Switzerland than in Germany, due also to the smaller retail area density that we have in Switzerland."
The German chain has had a presence in the country since 2002. It has offered the online channel to its Swiss customers as a gateway to its range and service since 2014. The most recent actual store opening before Affoltern is even further back in 2012, although the next store could now come sooner and might be opened as early as 2019 or 2020.