Leroy Merlin, a leader in the home improvement market in Spain, offers products, solutions and services for decoration, gardening, DIY and building construction. After more than 30 years in Spain, the company continues to accelerate its transformation to meet customers’ changing needs.
Through a new multi-format model, Leroy Merlin is strengthening its role as a trusted partner to customers through the Leroy Merlin URBAN, Leroy Merlin COMPACT and Leroy Merlin PROJECT stores. These formats bring the identity and experience of larger Leroy Merlin stores to smaller locations, complementing the larger stores while offering customers the same focus on quality and professional service.
Leroy Merlin established its Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Framework “Let’s Give Life to a Better Habitat” in line with the Sustainable Development Goals (SDG). The CSR strategy has continued to evolve and has been renamed Responsible Business, which better reflects its integration across the value chain, corporate identity and company management. Leroy Merlin's purpose is to inspire people to create environments where they can live better.
The creation of the Hogami Marketplace has expanded Leroy Merlin’s offering beyond its existing customers, providing services for anyone in the home regardless of what products they own or where those products were purchased. The platform has also expanded the catalogue to include services beyond Leroy Merlin’s traditional business, such as cleaning, disinfection and removals.
Turning changing customer needs into new growth
Leroy Merlin’s leadership position in the home solutions market gave the company insight into how technology and changing lifestyles were reshaping customer needs. Recognizing the potential impact on future growth, Leroy Merlin decided to continue its transformation by expanding its range of products and service solutions around customers’ needs.
Leroy Merlin asked NTT DATA to conceptualize and develop a business plan focused entirely on services. To this end, NTT DATA proposed qualitative and quantitative analysis, supported by a business case and prototype, to assess the project’s feasibility.
During the initial stage, market research provided an in-depth analysis of competitors, suppliers and potential customer profiles, including their needs, preferred channels and geographic locations. The conclusion was clear: there was customer demand for home services. With the right service platform in place, Leroy Merlin had a significant opportunity to grow its revenue.
NTT DATA was also responsible for defining the new platform’s technological architecture, based on three core requirements: modularity, scalability and the ability to evolve rapidly and continuously. The architecture also needed to meet the standards and requirements of a cloud-hosted platform.
Building a scalable platform for home services
NTT DATA and Leroy Merlin developed the new business model around an online platform built on Google Cloud Platform and designed for both end customers and the professionals providing services.
Through the Hogami website, the new platform was designed to offer a broad range of services that customers might need in their homes, such as plumbing and masonry.
The platform allows customers to filter providers by location and type of service, select providers based on ratings from other users, request quotes directly through chat and book the chosen service. Leroy Merlin backs the work of the providers available through the platform, giving customers greater confidence when booking a service.
Hogami initially focused on straightforward services closely related to Leroy Merlin’s core business, such as plumbing and carpentry. The longer-term vision was to expand into more complex services combining multiple types of work, recurring services and services beyond the traditional professional provider model. This could also extend to other areas of home life, such as personal care.
The service initially brought the established network of providers recommended by Leroy Merlin stores onto the platform. Hogami also recruited providers directly, expanding the network and increasing geographic coverage.
For the technical implementation, NTT DATA created a team spanning four areas: back office, front office, mobile and cloud. The team worked alongside Hogami to design a platform with the following characteristics:
- Modular
- Microservices-based
- Scalable
- Integration-ready
- Highly available and resilient
- Omnichannel
- Secure
- API management
- Additional capabilities to support process flows, including augmented reality
Growing a new home services ecosystem
Hogami was launched in February 2020 and, despite the Covid-19 crisis slowing activity for several months, the platform was well received by the market. This response reflected growing demand for a diverse range of services for homes and the people who live in them.
Providers have also responded positively, with their numbers growing as the service has developed.
What’s next for Hogami?
Hogami’s ambition is to consolidate its position and become a leader in Spain’s home services platform market, increasing its share of the online home services market. This means expanding its geographic reach, provider network and range of services, with the goal of becoming a leading destination for the home services customers need.
Why NTT DATA
Leroy Merlin needed a technology platform capable of supporting a new business model with specific requirements, including a cloud-based approach and advanced technology architecture. Delivering this required specialist capabilities and expertise. NTT DATA brought the knowledge and specialized teams needed to deliver the project, together with the flexibility and close collaboration required throughout its different stages.