Kiriel to adopt a more dynamic approach

The first Kiriel store opened in 1996 in Saint-Cere on a 230 m² site. By the end of 2005, the company had opened 65 outlets across France. A franchise company affiliated to the Lisa rural trading cooperative, Kiriel acts as a local supplier in rural areas, and stocks a comprehensive range of products covering the garden, pet, workwear, animal husbandry and household segments. The range in each store is tailored to the respective location.To take account of the variation in locality in the market presentation of its stores, Kiriel’s head office has developed a modular concept for three different types of outlet. This differentiates between stores with a retail area of up to 300 m2 (for a catchment area of between 5 000 and 10 000 potential customers), of 300 to 600 m² for a catchment area of between 10 000 and 25 000 inhabitants, and of 600 to 1 000 m² (between 25 000 and 40 000 inhabitants in the catchment). The franchise partners are mostly independent rural traders with good specialist knowledge of the garden and pet segments. They receive the full support of the Kiriel central office from the planning stage all the way through to getting a store up and running, to ensure that it becomes established successfully in the market in the long term.One of the ways in which the franchise system supports its members is by picking up on new trends and developments and acting on these in cooperation with the affiliated businesses. It is also the job of the Kiriel central office to react flexibly to changes brought about for example by the demographic trend in France. For instance, a shift from urban to rural living has been observed in recent years, with many young people bidding farewell to the city and moving to the country, where they can have a house and garden – and often pets as well. In consequence, the proportion of young men and women among the rural population is steadily increasing. Kiriel is aiming to respond to this trend and has recently presented a new concept to its franchise partners that should improve the external image of the stores and also internal communication with the franchise businesses. The company’s new concept includes significantly strengthening the contact between the central office and the franchise partners by setting up an in-house Intranet. This should give member businesses the opportunity to increase the productivity and profitability of their stores with the aid of targeted assistance from the central office. A further step…