Cross-channel on the sales floor

Bernhard Hönig, Dehner managing director, wanted to make one thing clear from the outset at the opening of the new Dehner store in Frankfurt-Rödelheim: "We are not an online retailer, but a cross-channel retailer." This sentence is important in relation to the opening of the new garden centre insofar as the outlet in Frankfurt-Rödelheim, due to its limited retail area, is operating as a representative store for cross-channel shopping. "We want to offer our customers a flexible shopping experience above all," said Hönig. "The store retail area is still the most important selling platform." Nonetheless, various digital info terminals are expected to inspire visitors to the store to order online too. At the new terminals, customers can find out about products by themselves or with assistance from the staff and order products that are not in stock from a range of over 20 000 items. Products that can only be ordered online are also presented in the store in special "showcases". "To provide customers with the best possible overview, we have also digitalised all Dehner catalogues. We thus offer a 'virtual shelf extension' in store so that every customer will find all the goods available in each of our stores," stated Hönig.

Conversion and modification of the store in Frankfurt to create its present appearance took ten months to complete. The Bavarian family firm acquired the former tree nursery of Wirtz & Eicke in March 2015 and reopened it again almost immediately. The various conversion and extension projects were then undertaken while the store continued to operate, so that it could open its doors in the new Dehner livery in good time for the start of the 2016 gardening season. In addition to a significantly larger home and garden range, Dehner has also incorporated a pet department covering around 300 m² and featuring small mammal enclosures and an aquatics area. The high number of Dehner private label products in the new pet department, including items for small animals, is striking. "We are focusing more on private labels and extending these continuously to all areas of the pet product segment," said Anne Hahnenstein, Dehner's advertising manager. In the small animal area in particular, which covers around 25 m², Dehner has opted for an especially pet-friendly presentation concept. "The pets are accommodated in a spacious, fully air-conditioned area that only specialist staff may access, as recommended in the Dehner…