Obi (hardware store)

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OBI Group Holding SE & Co. KGaA

logo
legal form Limited partnership based on shares
founding 1970
Seat Wermelskirchen , GermanyGermanyGermany 
management Sergio Giroldi (CEO), Oliver Geiling (CFO)
Number of employees over 46,000 (2015, including franchise partners)
sales 6.7 billion euros (2015, including franchise partners)
Branch Hardware stores, retail
Website www.obi.de
As of December 31, 2015

OBI DIY store opened in Vienna in 2014 on Triester Straße
Exterior view of an OBI hardware store in Cologne
Aerial photo of an OBI hardware store in Bremerhaven (2012)
OBI in Finowfurt

The OBI Group Holding is a Europe-wide hardware store - retail chain headquartered in North Rhine-Westphalia Wermelskirchen .

Ownership structure

OBI Deutschland is part of the OBI Group Holding GmbH Wermelskirchen , which in turn is wholly owned by Olympics Baumarkt Holding GmbH Wermelskirchen . The Tengelmann Group and the Lueg Group hold 74.23% of the Olympics Baumarkt Holding GmbH .

Ranking

OBI Germany is one of the largest DIY store companies in Europe and tops the top list of DIY stores in Germany. DIY stores are operated at 654 locations in 11 countries, 354 of them in Germany. In the 2015 financial year, the OBI stores with 46,000 employees achieved sales of 6.7 billion euros.

history

Obi was founded in 1970 by Emil Lux , Manfred Maus and Klaus Birker with the opening of the first Obi store in the Alstertal shopping center in Hamburg-Poppenbüttel . Maus bought the company name Obi for 3,000 francs (around € 460) from business people who ran a hardware store with this name in France ; the name goes back to the French pronunciation of the word hobby . According to the purchase agreement, no further Obi stores may be opened in France. The existing Obi stores in France belong to the French Leroy-Merlin hardware store group.

In 1985 the Tengelmann group took over the majority in Obi, the stake was increased from 63% to 74% in 2007 through the purchase of the shares of the founding family Lux.

At the end of the 1990s, the IMO-Markt Baumarkt chain with six stores became the first franchise partner in Austria . In 2010, IMO-Markt Baumarkt sold the Obi DIY stores to Obi. The real estate remained with IMO-Markt Baumarkt. Eight franchise partners also operate a total of 32 stores. One of these partners is the building materials dealer A. Sochor, which has been in existence since 1894 and who in 2006 generated sales of around 100 million euros.

The eleven Swiss stores have been operated as a franchise partner since the cooperation with Migros , which has been trying to build an Obi hardware store in Pratteln since 2005 .

In 2015 OBI took over a total of 68 branches of the Austrian competitor Baumax in Austria , the Czech Republic , Slovakia and Slovenia .

Group structure

In 2013 Obi operated DIY stores in Germany (338), Italy (52), Poland (44), Austria (82), Czech Republic (33), Hungary (28), Russia (19), Slovakia (14) and Switzerland (10), Slovenia (9). A temporary engagement in China was given up again. In April 2015, the commitment in Romania was also given up. The German markets are controlled by Deutsche Heimwerkermarkt Holding GmbH (Wermelskirchen).

Many OBI stores are franchised by independent entrepreneurs ; so they are not part of the Obi group.

Several service companies belong to the company:

  • Obi Mietprofi (tool and machine rental)
  • Obi MachbarMacher (craftsman service)
  • Obi Smart Technologies formerly GfD - Society for data processing (IT services)
  • OBI E-Commerce GmbH (responsibility for online shop)

In addition to products for building and home improvement, the company also offers household goods and garden supplies. For advertising and marketing purposes, the company uses a comic-style beaver as a brand symbol. Meanwhile, the DIY industry is in a strong displacement and competition , so the advertising intensity has also been increased significantly, including as a co-sponsor of sports programs and sporting events. For example, Obi was the only retail company to officially sponsor the 2006 World Cup .

Cooperations

Obi cooperates in the interior fitting business with BOS Haus GmbH , a sales subsidiary of Bien-Zenker .

With Obi @ Otto , Obi entered into a cooperation with Otto-Versand in Hamburg . The aim was to combine the advantages of an online shop and an in-house delivery service , Hermes and Schenker for large shipments (such as garden houses) with the common Obi range. However, since the beginning of 2007, Otto-Versand has continued its brand presence under the name OTTO Baumarkt directly in cooperation with hagebau in Soltau without the Obi DIY store group .

Customer loyalty programs

In Germany, Obi was part of the Payback customer loyalty program until June 30, 2007. In the meantime Obi has set up its own bonus program for customers in Germany , the top customer card, which offers various reimbursements depending on the annual turnover, from 1500 euros 3%, from 2500 euros 5% and from 5000 euros 10%.

A new issue of top customer cards was discontinued in 2020. In Switzerland, Obi is part of the Cumulus program.

Criticism in Germany

  • In 2008, unions accused Obi of systematically obstructing works councils or preventing their establishment from the start. In addition, the employees are said to have been put under massive pressure and works council members are said to have been dismissed for flimsy reasons. There were works councils in only about 40 of Obi's 330 DIY stores.
  • In 2013, TÜV Rheinland accused Obi of having deceived customers since 2009 by improperly using test seals on devices that were sensitive to safety.
  • In and around Munich, 18 OBI stores switched to Hagebau at the end of 2013 , “because Munich franchisees refused to bow to the dictates of the company management [of OBI]”.

Partial takeover of Baumax in and around Austria

The Federal Competition Authority (BWB) allowed OBI in September 2015 (after a four-week review) to take over 48 of the 65 Baumax branches in Austria. OBI had planned to take over 49 branches. All locations in Slovakia (14) and Slovenia (2) were taken over, selected 4 of 24 in the Czech Republic. In all four countries combined, 68 branches were taken over.

Web links

Commons : Obi  - collection of images

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ obi.com: Imprint
  2. ↑ obi.com: Board members
  3. ↑ a b c d obi.com: The company
  4. ^ EBundesanzeiger: Annual financial statements as of December 31, 2010 of Olympics Baumarkt Holding GmbH . 2010.
  5. ↑ eBundesanzeiger: Share according to the consolidated financial statements as of December 31, 2010 of Tengelmann Warenhandelsgesellschaft KG .
  6. ↑ bertwem.de - OBI
  7. ↑ Top 10 DIY stores in Germany 2012 (based on sales in 2011). (No longer available online.) Archived from the original on January 20, 2013 ; Retrieved January 2, 2013 . Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.lebensmittelzeitung.net
  8. ↑ kundenservice.de: OBI - CUSTOMER SERVICE
  9. ↑ handel-nrw.verdi.de: Obi
  10. ↑ History ( Memento from March 2, 2018 in the Internet Archive )
  11. ↑ http://www.obi.de/de/company/de/Unternehmen/Historie/index.html
  12. ↑ https://tengelmann.de/unternehmen/unternehmensgeschichte.html#Generation4-tab
  13. ↑ www.manager-magazin.de
  14. ↑ Imo: Nine OBI stores sold to headquarters ( Memento of the original from March 26, 2013 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was automatically inserted and not yet checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on OBI dated June 4, 2010, accessed July 25, 2012. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.baustoffmarkt-online.de
  15. ↑ Sochor A. & Co GmbH ( Memento of the original dated November 12, 2011 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on the national coat of arms, accessed on October 1, 2010 @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.leitbetriebe.at
  16. ↑ As of March 2020: Market Finder . In: obi.ch , accessed on March 15, 2020.
  17. ↑ Michel Ecklin: Velowege is missing : Hardware store still does not come In: basellandschaftlichezeitung.ch , September 25, 2018, accessed on September 26, 2018.
  18. ↑ Number of stores , obi.de, accessed October 12, 2013
  19. ↑ Archived copy ( Memento of the original dated December 3, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / www.obi.ro
  20. ↑ Imprint obi.de , OBI E-Commerce GmbH Responsible and contractual partner for the online shop
  21. ↑ [1]
  22. ↑ Obi wants to resign from the works council ( memento from June 6, 2008 in the Internet Archive ) stuttgarter-zeitung.de, accessed on October 12, 2013.
  23. ↑ TÜV accuses Obi of deception with seals of approval . spiegel.de, accessed on October 12, 2013.
  24. ↑ DIY stores in Munich. From Obi to Hagebau . Süddeutsche Zeitung, January 24, 2014.
  25. ↑ orf.at September 30, 2015: Obi is allowed to take over BauMax branches

Coordinates: 51 ° 8 ′ 47.3 "  N , 7 ° 14 ′ 54.2"  E