The dawn of a new era

The motto of the fifth Global DIY Summit is "End of an era - A glim-pse into the future of home improvement". "The world in which we live is changing rapidly. In June 2016, the UK voted to leave the EU and since then the pound sterling has depreciated and brought instability to glo-bal markets. All this, together with the 4th Industrial Revolution, is the beginning of a new business climate where companies have to adapt to a new set of realities", this is how John Herbert and Ralf Rahmede explained the reasoning behind the motto. They are the both chairmen of the two associations, the European DIY Retail Association (Edra) and the European Federation of DIY Manu­facturers (Fediyma), which host the international congress for the DIY and Gardening retail trade.
The summit speakers will approach the main conference theme based on five key topics: "Big boxes vs. other formats", "The path of self-disruption - cooperation with start-ups", "Market update - life after Brexit", "Garden - great business opportunities", and "Home improvement around the world". The extensive programme of presentations is divided into these main topic blocks.This time, the congress is being held in the German capital, Berlin on 8th and 9th June 2017 with a get-together on the evening of the day before the congress starts. Sergio Giroldi, CEO of Obi, Germany's market leader and the third largest European DIY store operator, will give the opening speech. On the day prior to the congress, as at previous summits, there will be a Store Tour in the greater Berlin area. One of the topics will be the current situation of the German DIY trade, after the collapse of Praktiker, formerly the second biggest DIY operator in Germany.

The Congress has been jointly hosted by Edra/Ghin and Fediyma since 2010 and attracts more and more participants from around the world every year. At the last Global DIY-Summit, around 800 industry representatives, more than a quarter of which came from the retail sector, came together from all corners of the globe in the Swedish capital, Stockholm. The gala dinner on the evening of the first congress day, is traditionally the setting for the DIY Lifetime-Award ceremony. The industry meeting is accompanied by an international…