Interview: B&Q’s retail director on the future of DIY stores

The lights are turning back on in the home and DIY sector as trading picks up after a turbulent few years following a cost-of-living crisis and depressed housing market.

Spending on home improvement was up 4% in the year to April, up from a 4.7% drop the year before, according to data from Barclays – and it’s something that B&Q is well positioned to capitalise on.

The DIY retailer helped deliver a 5.9% like-for-like increase in sales for owner Kingfisher, driven by a strong growth in its seasonal categories and recent range reviews of its bathroom and kitchen lines.

B&Q’s retail director Paddy Earnshaw, who joined the business in 2019 from House of Fraser, says the business has revamped its proposition particularly in the past 12 months amid growing competition from general merchandise discounters B&M, The Range and Home Bargains through to ecommerce titan Amazon.

One notable company missing from the list is Homebase. The retailer’s brand was snapped up The Range last November when the chain fell into administration.

Commenting on the collapse, Earnshaw says Homebase was “in a very different position” to B&Q.

“You could probably start to see that if you stop investing in a business, it can lead to challenges because you fall behind the market [and] it’s really hard then to get back.”

From B&Q’s perspective, Earnshaw says the business has learned not to take anything for granted.

“The thing that you want to watch out for is being everything and nothing. So, we are very, very aware that in order to stay number one, we have to think like we’re number two,” he says.

Retail Gazette popped down to B&Q’s store in Basingstoke to find out how the UK’s biggest DIY retailer is looking to stand out in a crowded home improvement market.

Upgrading the store experience

Earnshaw explains that B&Q has upped investment in range expansion, colleagues and the customer experience, both online and in store, over the last year – which it will continue to do in the year ahead.

The question that underpins Earnshaw’s strategy: “What is it you’re adding to the product journey to make customers lives easier?”

The retail director explains the 80,000sq ft Basingstoke store where we are speaking – one of the biggest in B&Q’s portfolio, is a good example of “the store formats that we want moving forward”.

The location’s entrance is currently filled with abundance of green foliage from its plants range and pallets of its new ‘When it’s gone, it’s gone’ Aldi-inspired specialbuy products.

B&Q’s product lines have had a glow-up – with Earnshaw pointing out that more than half of the retailer’s garden outdoor range is new this year.

“We’ve taken more of trend-led approach so it’s a little bit more modern,” he says, pointing out the new outdoor seating sets, retractable aluminium pergolas and modular ranges for outdoor kitchens.

It’s a big undertaking considering the wet and cooler weather during last year’s summer months weighed heavily on seasonal sales across retail. However, the risk paid off as warm weather at the start of 2025 helped drive sales of B&Q’s garden ranges.

And it’s a similar story with retailer’s bathroom and kitchen showrooms. Earnshaw says the business has chosen to experiment at its new Basingstoke branch by tapping into customers’ senses – such as scent diffusers that emit ” a gentle coffee smell” through the store’s kitchen showroom.

“That is just not something that B&Q have done in the past but it’s all about how we lift the experience? Anything that makes people feel more comfortable buying is really good,” says Earnshaw.

Signage for B&Q’s new ‘Prices Nailed’ campaign, which spotlight the retailer’s commitment to keeping prices low across everyday essentials, are also dotted around the branch – although Earnshaw is quick to point out the business is still “largely quite gentle in the way that we call out our price position”.

B&Q has reconfigured the shopfloor layout in some of its stores to house its Trade Point business, offering local tradespeople access to tools and decorating products at a discounted rate.

Some of the changes have included adding in a separate entrance to the store to serve local builders and electricians outside of the retailer’s normal store hours.

It’s a big investment for the business, but one that Earnshaw says is “worth it every single time”.

One of the changes he’s most excited for is the introduction of retail media in store.

“Over the coming months, you’ll start to see more and more retail media stations in and around B&Q stores to show off what’s on promotion [and in] what is a competitive market for the vendors, a chance for them to really start getting through [to customers].”

The retailer’s new Basingstoke outlet provides a glimmer of what’s to come as the store’s Valspar station has been fitted with digital screens to allow shoppers to browse the brand’s extended paint range and get inspiration on their next project.

Earnshaw adds a somewhat less noticeable change coming to a handful of B&Q stores later this year is electronic shelf edge labelling (ESEL), which is already featured across Kingfisher’s store estate in Europe.

Expanding B&Q’s footprint

Most of B&Q’s efforts of late is underpinned by its strategy to improve its convenience offering for customers, whether through expanded product ranges or by physical reach.

Last month, the retailer completed its transformation of the five Homebase stores it acquired for £2.5m at the start the year. The deal saw the business open new outlets in Altrincham, Biggleswade, Leamington Spa and Worcester, as well as relocate its Basingstoke branch to a bigger unit.

Earnshaw describes the retailer’s expansion approach as “opportunistic”, explaining there are no immediate new store openings in the pipeline.

“There are about 50 areas of the UK that we think are really attractive for us. We will pick them off, as we are doing now, kind of ticking off area by area to improve our retail offering,” he says.

The retailer is also growing its partnership with Deliveroo, which first launched across its B&Q Local London shops in August 2024 and has since expanded to include five of its larger stores in Beckton, Sidcup, Watford, Acton and Romford.

“We’re seeing a significant wave of new customers shopping with B&Q,” he shares, noting the retailer is selling a “significant amounts of paint” on the platform.

“You can see when someone’s coming to the end of their tenancy [when] what they’re buying on Deliveroo might be a bit of a patch up job, so you might get some filler, a bit of paint and a paintbrush,” says Earnshaw.

The future of DIY

B&Q is banking on its improved services to help drive customers in stores, which include click and collect within 15 minutes, timber cutting and design services.

Earnshaw says timber cutting is a “big investment” for the business, but is a worthwhile undertaking “because it plays to you being helpful” to customers.

It’s also become a useful point of differentiation for B&Q in the crowded home improvement sector: “Amazon don’t have a timber saw – we should be focusing about how the leverage things like that,” explains Earnshaw, adding that “the level of analysis of our own performance is at its highest for years.”

Earnshaw echoes M&S chief executive Stuart Machin’s words of staying “positively dissatisfied” of how B&Q looks at growth.

He notes that “there is definitely more space for us to drive into installation”, extending B&Q’s remit beyond kitchens and bathrooms to include tiling and flooring.

“Design is a really interesting space…if we know how to design spaces elegantly, why can’t we start thinking about living rooms, kitchen areas for eating rather than where you’re cooking,” says Earnshaw.

With competition in the sector heating up, B&Q’s “number two” mindset might just be the smartest way to stay number one.

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