At Univers Retail, we like to keep a close eye on innovation. In this series of articles, each week we'll take a look at a major retail company and its strategy for collaborating with start-ups in a spirit of open innovation.
What are the challenges facing Leroy Merlin?
With its more urban customer base, Leroy Merlin needs to offer a visual experience that e-commerce cannot deliver. The stores thus become veritable showrooms. This implies ultra-personalized support and complementary services such as 1-day delivery and home improvement applications. In this context, Leroy Merlin has developed an open innovation strategy through partnerships with start-ups. The company gains a capacity for innovation, and the start-up an opportunity for industrialization.
What areas of innovation are addressed by our partner start-ups?
CUSTOMER EXPERIENCE
> Frizbiz
Community of home handymen for small jobs
> My little worker
Framing solution for renovation projects
> Allow me to build
Help in obtaining building permits or declarations of works
> Troubleshooting Bob
Fixed-price craftsman service
PERFORMANCE
> Retency
Expertise in-store travel data analysis
> Metigate
AI-based solution for optimizing seasonal or weather-dependent offers
> Lineberty
In-store queue management and appointment scheduling
DELIVERY
> Steedy
1-hour delivery service BtoC in the Paris region
> Trusk
Urban delivery specializing in oversized items
> Colisweb
In-store and web delivery solution with appointment booking throughout France
> You2you
Specializing in last-mile urban delivery
How do we work together?
Leroy Merlin has set up the Start cell to facilitate innovation in collaboration with start-ups, as well as anintrapreneurship program. Start-ups are selected from incubators in France and abroad and then put to the test. Participants have to work in a very short time and on a limited budget, relying exclusively on Leroy Merlin data to industrialize their concept. In the best-case scenario, as with Frizbizthe group can acquire a stake in the start-up.