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8 11 14 16 INSIDE ISSUE 1 · SUMMER 2007 THE HONEYMOON IS OVER WOLSELEY ADOPTS BUILDER’S SHOPS SELLING A FOREST A DAY WOMEN ARE BETTER PREPARED Sales Marcus Nybom, Starkki Vantaa: 4 READ PAGE Must Pay Off

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DT Magazine is Wolseley's Nordic employee magazine, published three times a year, and read by staff in Denmark, Sweden, Norway and Finland. The magazine serves multiple purposes but the most important objective is to contribute to a strong sales culture. If you want to know more about the magazine, feel free to contact Patrick May at 0045 3115 4477

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Dt magazine 01

8111416

INSIDE

ISSUE 1 · SUMMER 2007

The honeymoon is overWolseley AdopTs Builder’s shopsselling A ForesT A dAyWomen Are BeTTer prepAred

salesMarcus Nybom, Starkki Vantaa:

4reAd pAgeMust Pay Off“

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t.Contents

We have a plan

hardTalk

The honeymoon is over

Wolseley Adopts Builder’s shops

Bezzer Wizzzer

A Forest a day

new design Concept at stark

dT employees save in shares

The Final Word

4

6

8

11

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DT Group +45 39559700Wolseley +44 118 929 8700Starkki +358 3850900Stark +45 89343434Beijer +46 752411000Neumann +47 55549900Silvan +45 87308730Cheapy +46 431443547DT Trade +45 39559700

useFul numBers:

glowing grillsBlue Mountain Grills Selling like Hot Cakes

selling to Female Customers

It’s not that hard

yes, you’re quite right. Something has happened to your company magazine since the previous issue. The format is new and just right for your pocket, the title DT Magazine is new, and the articles are different from what you’re used to.

The transformation has been brought about after consultation with employees in all DT Group divisions, and our hope is that it will help create more transparency on the Nordic level. Another novelty is that the magazine offers you a direct line to the DT Group CEO. And you don’t need to mince your words as we plan to question him closely.

The new DT Magazine also tells the story of what happens from the moment the woodcutter cuts down a tree until the finished boards are in the shops. The entire process takes one month.

We hope that you’ll enjoy this our first shot and that you’ll want to contribute to making the future issues even better.

We welcome your opinion of the magazine and your good ideas. Please don’t hesitate to contact me.

enjoy your read!Charlotte Gullach, [email protected]

dear colleague!

Magazine2

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We are expandingnew shops since 2006!

stark (7):Within the last months sTArK has acquired or estab-lished shops in Copenhagen, roskilde, lemvig, hillerød (sTArK Byggedesign), Køge and most recently svend-borg. These initiatives have made sTArK a market leader in the most attractive, dynamic and densely populated areas of denmark.

ledreborg Tømmerhandel . . . . roskilde . . . . . . . denmarkledreborg Tømmerhandel . . . . osted . . . . . . . . . . denmarkKrejsler Tømmerhandel . . . . . . lemvig . . . . . . . . . denmarkAdelgaard Byggeforum . . . . . . hillerød . . . . . . . . denmarksuperbyg Kalallit nunaat. . . . . greenland . . . . . . greenlandJakobsen & sønner . . . . . . . . . . København . . . . . denmarkXl-Byg, Baagøe & riber . . . . . svendborg . . . . . denmarksTArK now has 88 business addresses 83 in denmark and 5 in greenland

Beijer (6):lissma såg & Byggvaror . . . . . stockholm . . . . . swedensträngnäs Brädgård . . . . . . . . . stängnäs . . . . . . swedenhjalmars Trä . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . stenungsund . . . swedenCarl K persson & son . . . . . . . . eskilstuna . . . . . . swedenhäggvik . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . stockholm . . . . . swedenJärn och Trä orust . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . sweden Beijer now has 65 business addresses

silvan (2): silvan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . greve . . . . . . . . . . denmarksilvan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . vanløse . . . . . . . . denmarksilvan now has 51 business addresses 40 in denmark and 11 in sweden

neumann (2):røthing . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . haugesund . . . . . norwayh.r. sandvold . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . haugesund . . . . . norwayneuman now has 12 business addresses

dT Trade (3): helatukku Finland oy . . . . . . . . seinajoki . . . . . . . Finland4a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . greve . . . . . . . . . . denmark4a . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . slagelse . . . . . . . . denmarkdT Trade now has 16 business addresses

Cheapy (7):Cheapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . nässjö . . . . . . . . . swedenCheapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Ängelholm . . . . . . swedenCheapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Katrineholm . . . . swedenCheapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Karlskoga . . . . . . swedenCheapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Köping . . . . . . . . . swedenCheapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . värnamo . . . . . . . swedenCheapy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . motala . . . . . . . . . swedenCheapy now has 22 business addresses

new shops . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28Total number of shops . . . . . . . . . . .274

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incentive bonus pays off at starkkiThe bonus scheme

is one of the initiatives ena-bling Starkki to earn money for the company as well as for its employees: The salespeople earn

2002+ is the name of the simple strategic plan follo-wed by all divisions and shops in DT Group. It consists of only a few requirements and lets the individual divi-sions choose themselves how to fulfil them. We have talked to Starkki, Beijer Bygg and Stark, as these chains achieved the best results when measuring on the important parameter P20B.

a bonus if they sell products for more than a certain amount eve-ry month. The higher the amount, the higher the bonus. This pays off for both the sales staff and for Starkki, since although it generates increased turnover

We have a

– and it is a success

sTrATegy

Magazine4

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it does not to the same extent result in increased staffing costs. In other words: It is more favour-able for Starkii to employ one salesperson with a high turnover and consequently a high bonus than employing two salespeople who together generate the same turnover and consequently earn no bonus.

”The bonus scheme definitely makes me work harder,” says Jari Rissanen, a business-to-business salesman at Starkki Helsingfors. He has worked for Starkki for eight years and thus started before the introduction of the bonus scheme. ”Obvi-ously it’s important for me to

sell enough to achieve a turno-ver that generates bonus,” he continues and explains that the bonus ladder has four steps, which really gives you something to strive for.

”I provide my sales staff with backup, and we often discuss that the deals must pay off. I don’t mind telling my salespeople that have sold too cheap! The bonus scheme is a constant reminder to me that the deals must pay off,” shop manager Marcus Nybom of Starkki Vantaa explains. His own bonus is based on the overall performance of his shop.

removing administrative work At Beijer Bygg in Sweden the working days changed when the strategy plans were implement-ed. The objectives for the shops were to focus on the customers

We have a

ThE rEqUIrEMENTS IN ThE PlaN arE aS fOllOwS:

p20 A The profit margin must be above 20 per cent of the gross profit.

p20 B result that shows how well the shop yields interest on the money invested in it by the owners – the result must be above 20 per cent. But today it is much higher.

p45 The staff costs must be max 45 per cent – the means to achieve the aim of p20 A.

p10 An annual sales growth of at least 10 per cent.

We have talked to starkki, Beijer Bygg and stark, as these chains achieved the best results when measuring on the important parameter p20B.

ConTinued on pAge 22

”I must sell enough to generate bonus”

Jai rissanen, starkki:

B2B lOGISTICS ShOP

5Magazine

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how will the negative Wolseley results in the us influence our business?

It will not influence the opera-tions of DT Group. Construction activities has dropped consid-erably which has influenced the earnings at Stock Building Supply with almost 15000 employees. But this is also an opportunity to remember that the bad times may return and that all managers should consider what they would do if the market drops by 10 %.

Why are there no appar-ent synergies between dT group and Wolseley yet?

I do realise that the synergies are not apparent on shop level.We soon realised that major synergies were to be found in purchasing. In DT Group we al-ready cooperated across bor-ders, and we have established a European purchasing organi-sation in Wolseley headed by the purchasing manager of DT Group, Ole Mikael Jensen. I would like to stress that we would prefer to keep our present main suppliers. I know how much work it entails in the shops if one of the major suppliers is re-placed. This is not something that is done quickly one morning before opening time.

Will we have more private brands in the shop?

Yes, that’s part of the strate-gy. Both DT Group and Wolse-ley aim at having a larger share of private brands in our shops - not in order to reduce our sales of brand names but to make us more attractive to customers. And our goal is to increase our sales of both pri-vate brands and brand names.

The goal is not the same for every division. For in-stance, our goal is that Silvan will carry 3-4 times as many private brand products as Stark.

is it true that raptor is to replace tools for the professionals in the shops?

We have gone further than our competitors by introduc-ing a private brand for pro-fessionals as a supplement to the brand names. We have had great success with Raw building materials and are well on our way with Raptor. In that area, our present sup-pliers will really put up a fight as they are not used to this kind of competition. And they will try really hard to prove that Raptor is inferior in qual-

hardTalkwith Steen Weirsøe

hArdTAlK

Magazine6

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ity to their own brand names. If a few of our private brand products should fail to ful-fil our high demands, we will deal with it. However, we will keep a clear head. Raptor is here to stay.

Why is there so little infor-mation on what the other divisions are doing?

We focus a lot on exchanging information on management level, and many ideas are ex-changed on this level. Espe-cially Stark and Beijer have learned a lot from the Sil-van expertise on private consumers, for instance regarding the presen-tation of the prod-ucts. The other way around Sil-van has bene-fited from the logistics of Stark as regards timber. Sil-van would not have achieved this on its own.And incidentally, this is one of the rea-sons for reintroducing DT Magazine.

in a company with 8000 employees the top management may seem far away. however, hardtalk brings the top manage-ment closer and invites you to enter a dialogue with the chief executive officer of dT group. steen Weirsøe will answer questions from you and your colleagues - including the tough ones. And even the confrontational ones. That’s the whole point of hardtalk. We dare you. steen is ready. Are you?

What would you like to ask steen? send your question to [email protected] don’t mince your words as you may remain totally anonymous.

7Magazine

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Which side of the double bed do you want, and what about

me who usually sleeps with the window open? These small but important worries are part and parcel of forming a partnership in your private life. In DT Group and Wolseley we are also begin-ning to realise what ”matrimo-nial life” means to day-to-day business. The times when we were a little worried whether the big bad Wolseley would tell tiny DT how things should be are now over.

Things did not turn out so badly. The everyday business in the shops hasn’t changed much, if at all. And Wolseley is

More than 6 months have passed since dT group was acquired by Wolseley.

So far, this has not lead to any changes in our everyday business. But what lies ahead?

full of praise for the DT Group employees who have succeeded in maintaining business as usual – even with increased sales.

Finding each other’s potentialDT Group is the largest acquisi-tion Wolseley has ever made. Thus it is also the greatest chal-lenge Wolseley has ever faced in trying to get the two parties to act as partners.

”We have spent time on analysing what each of us does the best and how we can ben-efit from being a large group of companies”, says Lars Hansen, CEO of Stark and member of the DT Group corporate manage-

Honeymooni s o v e r

Thesynergies

Magazine8

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ment. He believes that the most important result so far is that we have gotten to know a lot of competent colleagues.

The first phase of the inte-gration has been to investigate

The the prospects as regards logis-tics, purchase and sale. Having a large organisation means that shipping products from the Far East is much cheaper due to the large quantities. Another benefit is that we might draw on Wolseley’s European distribu-tion centre. In this way, we can speed up delivery and thereby meet our customers’ demands sooner.

Fewer lorriesAnother possibility may be to find suppliers whose products can be sold in all Wolseley shops. Søren Lysemose, a product group manager in

Wolseley was founded in Australia in 1887 by Fred-erick york Wolseley who manufactured sheep-shear-ing equipment. moved to great Britain two years later

departments in 28 coun-tries in europe and north America

has more than 5,200 shops has approx. 78,200 employ-ees. Turnover last account-ing year to July 2006 was £ 14,2bn

in the autumn of 2006 Wolseley acquired dT group at a price of £ 1,339m.

B2B lOGISTICS ShOP

WolseleyThe name the world builds on

9Magazine

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Stark and member of the Nordic purchasing group, has studied the market to find suppliers of floors, windows and doors with whom Wolseley will deal when the new Wolseley central pur-chasing organisation is in place.

The goal is to establish close connections to large suppliers and thereby get more favour-able prices and deals. This is not to reduce the number of products for sale but to create a more efficient day-to-day op-eration – for instance by having the products delivered by three lorries instead of ten.

”The individual shops will still remain fully free to purchase the products that they choose to market. However, many suppli-ers carry the same products, so reducing the number of suppli-ers should be no problem.”

Wolseley is contentApart from floors, windows and doors, we have also signed contracts on insulation, plaster, roof tiles and many other prod-uct groups. To a large extent, though, the benefits have been in our favour. Wolseley finds that they can learn a lot from DT Group:

”DT Group has a number of business concepts that we are currently implementing in our shops - for instance their shops for professional builders (see article on page 11),” says Sara Harper, who is involved in the integration process at Wolseley.

”We are also most impressed by the excellent way in which DT Group communicates its overall strategies and ideas to the individual shops and the way in which the staff lives up to them,” she continues with reference to DT Group’s main objectives regarding earnings.

Employees are often af-fected by an acquisition due to the changes made to the man-agement; this has not happened here. On the contrary, Wolseley has great respect for the DT Group management.

”DT Group also gains from being part of a large organisa-tion,” Sara Harper explains. ”It provides enhanced security and stability.”

dAy-To-dAy BeneFiTs oF hAving FeWer suppliers

Fewer deliveries

improved efficiency

Fewer contacts

Better opportunities for thorough training

increased competitive power

”The goal is to establish close con-nections to large suppliers”

søren lysemose, stark:

Magazine10

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Synergy is a fancy word for finding out what each partner is

good at and then learning from each other. And synergy is one of the things that should arise from an acquisition like the one DT Group has just experienced.

In our case, not least Wolse-ley has been inspired by us and our concepts – in particular a concept which is a matter of fact to us, but not to Wolseley: the shop for the professional builder where he is in focus and can find everything he needs from coffee filter bags to expensive con-tractor’s machinery – one-stop shopping.

”This concept is totally un-known in Great Britain,” Kai Ove Hoffmann from Stark explains. He is a member of the group set up by Wolseley to study whether the concept can be introduced in Great Britain, France and Ireland.

”In England they are perhaps six to eight years behind us. English builders buy from small

The concept of special shops for professional builders is unknown outside the Nordic region. But Wolseley is crazy about this concept and will now try it out in several countries.

Wolseley Adopts Builder’s Shops

individual shops. They buy their working clothes from one shop, tools from another, and they might order products themselves from catalogues. And they don’t expect the high level of service and commitment that our sales-people deliver and which makes them return to our shops,” he adds and emphasises the impor-tance of a committed sales force to make the concept work.

”In England the salespeo-ple wait for the customers to come, as there are so many”, he explains.

In France they are perhaps three to four years behind, and most of the shopping takes place in specialty shops. Ireland is more like Denmark, but per-haps two years behind and their salespeople still stay behind the counter.

Wolseley is now planning to open test shops to learn what we do. The first shops are ex-pected to open in France in the third quarter of this year.

synergiesB2B lOGISTICS ShOP

11Magazine

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Test your knowledge of dT group, and win a stay in one of our pleasant

holiday houses. We grant you a little help: the answers to the questions are all found in this issue of dT magazine.

good luck!

how many nordic colleagues work in dT group?

A 6921B 7183C 8245

in how many countries is Wolseley present?

A 28B 12C 22

how much timber do the shops in the entire dT group sell every day?

A 20 soccer fieldsB 40 soccer fieldsC 50 soccer fields

1

2

3

how long does it take from the cut-ting down of the tree to the delivery of the timber to your shop?

A Four weeksB Eight weeksC Twelve weeks

What is the Wolseley slogan?

A Because you’re worth it

B I’m lovin’ itC The name the

world builds on

how many shops does dT group comprise today?

A 200B 230C 274

4

5

6

Wolseley was founded in 1887. But how did they start?

A They manufac-tured cars

B They manufac-tured sheep-shearing equip-ment

C They manufac-tured matches

What is soX?

A An American football team

B An abbreviation of Sarbanes- Oxley

C The word socks misspelled

What is the name of the dT group private brand grill?

A WeberB ParkC Blue Mountain

7

8

9

QuiZ

Magazine12

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If all your answers are correct, you have the chance of winning a stay in one of DT Group’s 11 pleasant holiday houses of your

own choice as well as airfare for two persons (if you live outside Denmark). The houses are at your disposal from week 34, and you can choose between a 5-day stay (from Monday to Friday) and an extended weekend stay (from Thursday to Sunday).

use the coupon or send your answers by e-mail to: [email protected]

1:2:3:4:5:6:7:8:9:

A B CName:

Address:

Zip and City:

Country:

Phone:

E-mail:

Employed at:

send this coupon to dT group, Att.: Charlotte gullach, gladsaxe møllevej 5, 2860 søborg (denmark)

send your answers before september 1st.

The locations of our holiday houses:• Tannis (6 km from Hirtshals in North-

ern Jutland) – 6 persons, 3 kilometres of beach

• Tversted (35 km from Skagen) – 8 persons, 1.3 kilometres of beach

• danland in Ebeltoft (Eastern Jutland) – 6 persons, 2 kilometres of beach

• møllekrog in Vejlby (Northern Zea-land) – 8 persons, 15 minutes’ walk to beach

• herthavevej in Rørvig (Western Jutland) – 6 persons, short distance to sandy beach

• hesselbjerg on the island Langeland – 6 persons, 1.5 kilometres of beach

• marielyst near Nykøbing on the island of Falster – 6 persons, 250 metres of beach

• Bjerregård near Hvide Sande (West-ern Jutland) – 6 persons, 1 km from the North Sea

• Tranevænget in Skagen (Northern Jutland) – 6 persons, 1.7 kilometres of beach

• grenå (Eastern Jutland) – 6 persons, 900 metres of beach

• Knasborg near Aalbæk (Eastern Jutland) – 6 persons, 10 minutes’ walk to beach

REMEMBER: YOU MUST PAY TAx ON THE PRIZE.

B2B lOGISTICS ShOP

your AnsWers

13Magazine

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Imagine that Copenhagen was razed to the ground. That all buildings were torn down, the streets dug up, the

lakes covered and the entire area planted with trees.

Imagine then that all the trees were felled and sold in the DT Group shops. Would there be enough timber for a whole year?

Every day of the year the DT Group shops together sell so much tim-ber that a forest area the size of 40 soccer fields is cut down to meet the demands. But DT Group’s timber policy assures that at least as many new trees as felled are planted.

dT sells a Forest a day

The Journey oF TimBer From ForesT To shop

Magazine14

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The answer is No.Every year the suppliers of

DT Group cut down 140 square kilometres of forest. In com-parison, the Copenhagen area is only 88 square kilometres.

Counted in soccer fields, the annual amount of timber sold corresponds to the trees planted on 14,560 soccer fields – by international standards – or 40 forest-clad soccer fields a day.

increasing timber pricesA large part of the timber comes from forests in Sweden, Finland and Norway. A small amount comes from Denmark, and the Baltic countries and Russia also supply timber.

But an exceptionally mild winter has made life difficult for the sawmills in Northern Swe-den and Finland. The woodmen have had difficulties getting the timber out of the forest due to the softness of the forest floor. Normally, the frost will make

When everything runs smoothly, it takes only four weeks from the tree is felled until the timber is ready for sale in the shops.

The journey from forest to shop

the floor hard and thus easy to drive on for the heavily loaded timber vehicles. Russia has had the same problem. Furthermore, the Russian government has imposed duty on raw timber in order to retain the sawmill processing inside the country, ConTinued on pAge 18

B2B lOGISTICS ShOP

Felling

Transportation from the forest to the sawmill

storage at the saw-mill, perhaps under a sprinkler.

grading of raw wooddebarking sawing drying

grading

Further processing

packaging

storage for delivery

delivery. primarily direct delivery from sawmill to shop

storage at the shop

display to the cus-tomers

sale

WEEK

1

WEEK

2

WEEK

3

WEEK

4

15Magazine

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What is particle board exactly?Many of the technical

terms used off-hand by profes-sional builders and handymen mean nothing to female custom-ers. So when you tell the thirty-something female customer just to put up a piece of particle board and also remember to use

Selling to female customers is not a complicated matter, and you don’t necessarily have to be in tune with your feminine side to do so. Nevertheless, there are some rules of thumb which are good to know.

women are better prepared

bits that fit the screws, she may look like a question mark.

To many women, bits and particle board are technical terms making no sense in the actual sit-uation. But if you produce a bit from your pocket and show her how it fits the screw, she will understand. And while you’re at it, why don’t you show her a piece of particle board as well?

But do it like a gentleman. Don’t laugh out loud and exclaim: Don’t you know what particle board is?? Did you hear that, mates? The lady doesn’t know what particle board is. We sure have some hilarious customers in this shop.

Jens Ole Skafsgaard is the department manager of Silvan in Aarhus, the second larg-est city in Denmark. In recent years, he has held DIY courses

when you deal with a female DIY customer:1. Find out the details of

her project

2. show her what a bit is - instead of just explaining what it is

3. Try to gauge her diy skills

4. make sure she has got all the materials and tools required

5. make sure she feels comfortable about seeking your advice

1. Talk down to her

2. use superfluous technical terms

Don’t ever:

AsK The guru

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for women only, and he finds that there are major differences between servicing female and male customers.

It is important to find the cus-tomer’s level in the sales situa-tion – especially if the customer is a woman. Does she know that she can get edging strips for the laminated board? Has she got the tools required? And glue for the edging strips?

Single women in particular have taken to doing it them-selves.

”They often come into the shop, very well prepared for the project. At the moment, many customers want to put tiles on table tops – and 95 % of these

customers are women,” Jens Ole Skafsgaard explains and adds that women are ready to take on even big challenges:

”Recently, I had a female cus-tomer in her 40ies who wanted to tile her bathroom herself – both the floor and the walls – even though she’d never done it before.”

Jens Ole Skafsgaard could hear that the female customer was well prepared and knowl-edgeable; nevertheless, he warned her about embarking on the project on her own. When she returned to the shop later, she told him that the result was successful.

”Men tend to just buy the ma-terials and then take the plunge. Sometimes with good and some-times with really bad results,” says Jens Ole Skafsgaard.

So, there are many things that women can do better than

men. What most women don’t know is who won the world

championships in foot-ball in 1966. But

that is actually besides the

point… (Yes – it was England).

B2B lOGISTICS ShOP

Every year Silvan holds two DIY courses for women. In 2007 the

courses are on ”Glass weave and felt” and ”Power tools”.

duration: Two hours price: Free Time: Usually from 5-7 pm

Women onlydiy Courses For

17Magazine

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and all this has increased the prices of timber. At the same time, the demand for timber is rising, as it is not only the Nordic people who have extra money to spend on refurbishing. This trend is seen all over Europe.

The prices have now reached a level where importing timber from countries as far away as Canada or Chile might be a good idea. DT Group has already or-dered a trial consignment from Chile. It seems, however, as if the prices have peaked.

Fell one tree and plant anotherDon’t cut the bough on which you sit. And there is some truth in this old saying. Obviously, if you just fell trees as if there was no tomorrow, you will at some point run out of trees to fell and timber to sell.

In the Nordic countries the forest areas have grown considerably over the last many years, and sustainable forestry has been a natural fact in the industry. For this reason it has been fairly easy for DT Group to adapt to the still tighter regula-tory requirements and local environmental provisions, since DT Group has already laid down

a purchasing policy. But now DT Group has become a member of the Wolseley family, and the suppliers to DT Group now have to document that they live up to the Wolseley global purchasing policy supporting sustainable forestry.

To this end, we employ an external specialist consultancy firm whose job is to make sure that the suppliers meet the requirements in all aspects.

In this way, the DT staffs avoid checking themselves and can focus on what they do the best: buying and selling timber. The timber policy has been approved by the international environmental organisations fo-cusing on sustainable forestry: the PEFC and the FSC.

In the Nordic coun-tries, spruce and pine are the most

popular timber type.

1. spruce 2. pine 3. larch 4. Birch

spruce is number one

In 2006 DT Group bought timber corresponding to:

approx. eur 195,000,000

or approx. 866,000 cubic meters

of woodor

104 square kilometres of forestor

14,560 soccer fields

ConTin-ued From pAge 15

In the 1990s 30 European governments agreed on a definition of sustainable forestry in Europe. PEFC-certified forests must fulfil these requirements. PEFC Dan-mark has developed a system to check and document that a forest complies with the regulations. The Danish PEFC certification system for sustainable forestry was ap-proved by the international PEFC network in October 2002.

FSC stands for Forest Stewardship Council and is an international non-profit labelling system. FSC was founded in Toronto in September 1993 on the initiative of environmental organisations, forest owners and human rights organisations from 26 countries. The aim was to lay down common prin-ciples of sustainable forestry, including a new and reliable labelling system, in order to supply timber and paper based on sustainable forestry methods to consumers all over the world.

PEfC fSC

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B2B lOGISTICS ShOP

A dusty tile sample and a glossy cata-logue.

It’s difficult to imagine what your new bathroom will look like from the builder’s explanations and sketches.

That’s why the new Stark design concept may help both the builder and the house owner. The idea is that the builder can bring his custom-ers to Stark ByggeDesign and present the products to them in the right surroundings. It really does make a huge difference to feel the smooth surface of the glazed roof tiles and try out the closing mechanism of the front door yourself compared to just reading about it in a catalogue. And this goes for many other building projects.

The concept is aimed at two customer groups: the private customers who build or partici-pate in the building activities themselves, and the profession-al builders who generate 75 per cent of the Stark turnover.

Hello to a new design concept showing living environments to builders and house owners

Goodbye to dusty tile samples

”Builders often spend consid-erable time on obtaining cata-logues for customers. Here, they get the chance of showing their customers what they mean by good quality materials,” Pernille Olsen explains.

And Stark gets a chance of providing competent and pro-fessional sparring, which is the trade mark of the shop.

In April 2007 the first show-room of 2200 square metres opened in Hillerød north of Co-penhagen. Stark plans to open four more showrooms across the country.

A handful of building con-sultants with sound all-round knowledge and understanding of the customers’ needs will work in the showrooms.

design ConCepT

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It is time to start thinking about dinner. The children would

rather stay outdoors and play, and if they do come in, they’ll probably end up in front of the telly or the computer – as

The sale of grills at Silvan is booming, and the customers are buying our private brand Blue Mountain ball grills almost on impulse

Glowing Grills

always. From the neighbour’s garden comes the mouth-water-ing smell of grilled meat ………

Barbecuing – that’s the answer! Doing the cooking outside, so that everybody can participate, including the children

Top Tools

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who under adult supervision can grill sausages, vegetables and bread on skewers and feel like summer chefs.

From its sales figures Silvan sees that outdoor cooking is becoming still more popular. Grills and accessories are selling like hot cakes. And for the second season, Silvan and Stark offer Blue Mountain products – our private brand with prices that are 25 % lower than the prices of Weber grills. And already bestsellers.

Almost an impulse buy”I experience that our customers buy a Blue Mountain grill almost on im-pulse. The weather is fine. They know how wonderful outdoor cooking is - and then they check our products. Typically, people buy a Weber grill as a special birthday or wedding present, and our selling points are the 10-year guarantee and that they are the best grills on the market,” ex-plains Oliver Bradley, department manager of Silvan in Valby.

”But when we then tell the customers that the cheaper grills will last for three to four seasons, it’s fine by them,” Oliver Bradley adds. He thinks that the Blue Mountain grill, which is available in several sizes, is fine.

He often compares the two different brands of grill with cars: Weber is the Mercedes, and Blue Mountain is the Ford.

”You can buy a Ford and get an excellent ride. But you just know that a Mercedes is more exquisite,” he says.

Kirsten Larsen, a product group manager in Silvan, finds that all customers are interested in the cheaper brand, but espe-

cially those who do not care so much about brand names.

A popular small grillA small cast-iron fire pit from Blue Mountain has also become very popular in the shops.

”Last Saturday when the sun was out, I sold 40 of them.

The customers buy them when they come to buy other things, since the price is only DKK 249! And they

are brilliant if you live in the city. They don’t take up

much room – for instance on your balcony. It is fantastic how many we are selling,” says Kirsten Larsen:

”Families with chil-dren love them because you can use them as a charcoal grill or fill them

with firewood and use them for baking twistbread”.

All in all, the grills and acces-sories from Blue Mountain have been very well received by the customers, and Silvan will retain the products in the shops during the autumn and winter season as well. It turns out that the We-ber grills sell all year, so why not the 25 % cheaper version!

”Many people buy a grill as a Christmas or birthday gift, and you don’t need summer and sunshine to use a ball grill. We plan to include it in our Christ-mas catalogue, perhaps with a picture of someone preparing Christmas dinner outside in the snow,” Kirsten Larsen adds.

The Blue Mountain products also include an electric patio heater and a trampoline

B2B lOGISTICS ShOP

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and on the sale.”To relief our staff we

removed the administration of finance and pay from the shops. We also centralised purchasing by establishing a Nordic purchas-ing partnership. In this way we gained other terms of payment and a larger profit,” manager Anders Wassberg explains.

Henric Sandahl, who has worked as a salesman at Beijer Bygg in Värnamo since 1991, finds that he has always been able to focus on his sales work. However, he likes the fact that the shops have become more profitable.

”If you have to save money, it must be on the administra-tion. Never on service, product knowledge or self-organising. So I think they made the right deci-sions,” he says.

But Staffan Svensson, who has worked in the warehouse of Beijer Byg in Växjö for 17 years, finds it hard to live up to the new plan:

”We used to be eight men in the warehouse. Now we’re only six, but the work load is the same. We pick products for the customers, and we handle the purchase of building materials. I think it’s been hard, and I con-stantly feel that I only have time for the most essential tasks. It has reduced my job satisfaction,” he states.

stark is strong on strategy”The strategy is excellent because it makes sense,” says Lars Hansen, manager of Stark:

”It gives the individual shops the freedom to decide themselves how they want to achieve the goals – by economising or by getting up steam.”

At Stark Holstebro they decided some time ago to focus on selling the more expensive glazed roof tiles which had been difficult to sell in the local area. Until then the main demand had been for concrete tiles. Together with the roof supplier they set up an action plan, and since then they have held well-attended events regarding roofing which have attracted the local builders and drawn the customers’ atten-tion to this higher-class roofing material.

”Naturally, we listen when the customers ask for a quotation on concrete roof tiles. But then I ask the customer’s permission to tell about the glazed tiles – for instance that the warranty is twice as long, that the glazed tiles are self-cleaning and that they improve the property value. This often results in the customer asking for a quotation on glazed tiles. To some extent we influ-ence the builders to listen to us and move the customer to select glazed roof tiles,” says the sales-man René Jørgensen, who has sold more than 10 glazed roofs in this year alone. The aim is to increase the sales by 30 per cent this year compared to last year.

ConTinued From pAge 5

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A total of 18 percent of the DT Group em-ployees chose to save

a monthly amount in return for the option of withdrawing their savings and any capital gain after either three or five years. This is far more than among the other European employees of which only 5 percent took ad-vantage of the Wolseley offer.

At the moment, prospects look good for the 1219 DT employees who joined. The Wolseley share has risen in the first three months.

The market value has risen from 1221 on 20th March to 1284 on 20th June. The employ-ees with their savings in shares have thus already earned DKK 60 for every DKK 1000 invested. Including the 15 % discount, they have actually earned DKK 250 for every DKK 1000 invested dur-ing the first three months.

More than every 6th of the 6891 employees who have been with DT Group for more than a year has chosen to save in Wolseley shares when they got the first opportunity to do so in March last year

Many DT Employees Save in Shares

Saving in this way carries almost no risk. Should the share value be worth less in three years, you still get your savings back - without interest, how-ever.

Petra Hult, a checkout opera-tor at Cheapy in Kristianstad, has chosen to save SEK 150 a month for three years.

”I did it mostly for fun, but actually it’s rather exciting. The market value is announced in the shop every month, and I check it. I think that, in the long run, this gives me a more per-sonal attachment to the shop,” she says.

The Wolseley board will decide whether to offer more employee shares next year, and Jakob Larsen, HR and communications manager in DT Group, thinks that the chances of this are looking good.

shAresB2B lOGISTICS ShOP

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“ThE fINal wOrD”do you want the final word on this page?Write to [email protected]

We are 7183 Nordic Colleagues

SOx is the popular name for an American act imple-mented after a number of big auditing scandals. The abbreviation stands for The Sarbanes-Oxley Act which places heavy audit-ing demands on companies listed on the American stock exchange.

about SOX

Mention the word SOx, and you will be met by frowns and shrugs in many large

companies. The reason for this is that SOx may be a complicated and cumber-some system.

But the DT divisions have been little af-

fected by this control

no dirty soXsso far, the shop em-ployees have been only slightly affected by the fact that dT group must pass its financial trans-actions through a fine-meshed sieve.

system implemented to ensure complete control of the company assets.

Some employees in the DT shops may have bumped into SOx at the annual stock-taking but without realising it.

”More external auditors and management representatives than usual will be present at the stock-takings, but apart from this only people in key positions will notice the difference,” Jan Jansson, SOx coordinator in DT Group, explains.

SOx is a type of ISO pro-gramme for financial reporting implemented in all companies listed on the American stock ex-change, including Wolseley. This tool was devised after some ma-jor stock market drama, including the so-called Enron scandal.

One induced effect is that the financial year now ends on 31st July and that stock-taking often takes place close to this date. So far most DT divisions, however, have been able to take stocks in May.

(dec. 31st. 2006)