Matt Tyson has seen B&Q through some highs and lows in his 20 years at the retailer. But, he tells James Thompson, the latest shake-up is the biggest he’s ever seen.

Matt Tyson, who joined DIY giant B&Q more than 20 years ago, has witnessed a few changes since signing up as an assistant manager. He has seen the introduction of Sunday trading, the DIY boom of the late 1990s and tumbling sales of garden furniture during the UK’s wettest summer on record this year.

But B&Q’s managing director of operations is adamant that the speed and scale of the changes the retailer is making this year to its stores, product range and service are the biggest and most far-reaching he has ever witnessed. “I have never seen anything akin to this pace of change,” he enthuses.

Tyson is responsible for day-to-day operations in the UK and Ireland and shares responsibility for proposition development with marketing and customer proposition director Jo Kenrick and commercial director Regis Schultz.

The biggest shifts are the revamp of B&Q’s product range and overhaul of the bulk of its 45,000 products. Quite simply, B&Q is responding to the rapidly moving tectonic plates of the DIY market towards home improvement, which, at£60 billion a year, is worth three times the sales of the traditional DIY market.

Tyson says that women are now more integral to purchasing decisions and more customers are getting someone in to do it for you (DFY). “The customer dynamics have been changing – probably more quickly than any time I can remember in my time in retail. Their expectations are changing and they are becoming much more diverse,” he says.

Commenting on store refurbishment, Tyson concedes that the big-shed B&Q Warehouse format had become a little jaded. “Its development in the mid-1990s was instrumental in building the B&Q that exists today, but it’s fair to say the proposition was ready for a refresh,” he says.

The retailer has stepped up the revamp of its 117 large Warehouses and mini-Warehouses this year. Through its refurbishment and store opening programme, B&Q’s estate will cover 7 million sq ft in the year to February – that’s equal to the combined retail floor space of the John Lewis Partnership-owned department stores and stablemate supermarket chain Waitrose. He adds that B&Q will have 40 Warehouses operating under the new format by the end of its financial year in 2008.

A key element of the Warehouse revamp is to install 12 shop-in-shops – including bathroom, flooring and soft furnishing areas. Tyson says that B&Q is pleased with the early sales performance of the revamped stores. “We have seen strong sales growth in areas such as wall and window, decor, curtains and blinds, and flooring,” he observes.

However, he insists that not all this growth is coming from the soft end of the range and that products at the harder end are playing their part too. Although the retailer had been enhancing or replacing its soft ranges initially, it is now tackling its hardware, such as power tools. B&Q’s product review and overhaul of its 45,000 products will leave no stone unturned.

“We will have touched 50 per cent of the linear footage by next year,” Tyson points out. “This is by far the biggest range change that I can remember in my history with B&Q.”

He believes that the shift towards home improvement and a “do it for you” stance will accentuate the influence of tradesmen in home enhancement. To this end, B&Q has been testing handyman services, such as replacing light switches, for more than a year.

After kicking off the handyman trial in two London stores last summer, a pilot is now running in 23 stores, primarily in London and the Northwest. “Some of those customers, such as the handy innovator and the trade [customer], are very important. And with the trend towards DFY, the influence of the trade increases,” he says.

Like many in the sector, Tyson gets his biggest buzz from being in stores. “The time I enjoy most is in the stores, in front of the customer. At 17, I started in retail like most retailers do, as a Saturday boy. I got the bug and I have never got rid of it. When I am in stores, the pace picks up for me.”

HANDY FACTS
Age: 48
Lives: A small village, Curdridge, in Hampshire
Family: Married with two kids – a boy and a girl
Interests: The Mancunian supports Manchester United. He also helps manage an under-13s football team and loves watching any motor sports
CAREER HISTORY
1984-present: Joined B&Q as assistant manager in 1984 and became operations director in 1995. Rose to the board in 2000