Focus

Focus is the third largest UK DIY retailer

Focus Key Benefits:

• High Foot Fall
• Face to Face Contact with customers
• Top DIY brand name
• 10% days
• Book Exhibitions from 1 day upwards.

Customer Demographics:

• Home Owners
• Over 65’s on Tuesdays
• Building Trade

Focus is a well known DIY retailer. Through its branded stores, Focus offers an extensive range of home improvement products to both DIY and trade customers. As at 31st December 2005, the Group operates 256 Focus stores nationwide.

Focus aims to be the store of choice and convenience for DIY and gardening products in each of its local markets. Focus Stores target DIY customers seeking to undertake light home improvement and maintenance projects and offer a comprehensive range of DIY and gardening products. These stores are well distributed nationally, with a significant portion located in smaller towns, where Focus stores trade most profitably. The Groups strategy for the location of its Focus stores is to open new stores principally in similar smaller town locations.

Focus were founded by Bill Archer in 1987. They have grown over the years making a number of acquisitions, including Do It All Limited in 1998 and Great Mills in 2000. Following these acquisitions, all stores were rebranded to the Focus brand. In addition, in September 2000, Focus acquired Wickes PLC and converted 39 Focus stores located outside the target markets to Wickes stores to improve their profitability.

At the beginning of 2003, Steve Johnson was appointed as Managing Director of the Focus business and, in February 2005, became our Chief Executive Officer.

On 11 February 2005, Wickes Limited was sold to Travis Perkins.

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Homebase

Homebase operates in the wider and more creative home enhancement market

Homebase Key Benefits:

• High Foot Fall Stores
• Face to Face Contact with Homeowners
• Over 270 Stores in the UK
• Prime Concession sites in Store
• 10% days throughout the year
• High Television Advert Budget

Customer Demographics:

• Home Owners
• Home Improvers - DIY & Interior Design

Homebase is the UK’s second largest home improvement retailer and is recognised for choice, style and customer service across the wider home enhancement market. It has more than 300 large, out-of-town stores throughout the UK and Republic of Ireland, and is planning to add to its store chain with around 15 new stores a year. It sells over 30,000 products across DIY and decorating, home and garden ranges, and has a growing internet offering. Homebase serves over 70 million customers per year through its stores and offers customers the convenience of home delivery for bulky, high-value items.

Homebase was the first in the UK to launch a loyalty card and have over many years built a significant customer data base of over 5 million and its “10%” days are famous in the retailing industry and provide a significant tool to drive footfall. A typical 10% day will easily see a tripling of customers visiting the stores.

Home Retail Group is the UK's leading home and general merchandise retailer with sales of over £5.5 billion in the last financial year. It sells products under two distinctive and complementary retail brands, Argos and Homebase, which are household names in the UK.

In June 2005 Homebase was awarded DIY Retailer of the Year in the National Home Awards. Homebase was the first UK DIY retailer to achieve Forest Stewardship Council Chain of Custody certification.

Homebase was founded in October 1979 as a joint venture with the Belgium retailer GB-Inno-BM (GIB). J Sainsbury Plc held a 75% controlling interest and GIB the other 25%.

Homebase more than trebled its size in 1995 when the company acquired the Texas Homecare business from the Ladbrooke Group Plc. Sainsbury announced in spring 2001 that it had sold the Homebase business to Primera (formally Schroder Ventures) and in January 2003 Primera sold Homebase to GUS Plc. In October 2006 Homebase, along with Argos, demerged from GUS Plc and became part of the Home Retail Group.

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Shopping Centres
Over 7 million people visit shopping centres every day

Shopping Centre Key Benefits:

• High footfalls
• Long dwell time for customers
• Mixture of demographics

Shopping Centres and Retail Parks are becoming more and more of a family destination, with some providing a place to shop, eat and be entertained. As a long dwell environment consumers are relaxed and familiar to their surroundings and can be more open to adding to their shopping experience through promotions.

Sites available in Shopping Centres include short term retail merchandising units (RMU’s), product promotions and advertising space. As Centres house a number of different types of retailers, many with loyal customers, you can take advantage of additional peak footfall times of the year such as Valentines Day, Mothers Day and Fathers Day. Centres can also offer sites in various areas which allow us to match your target audience to the best suited site in a centre.

We offer a dedicated shopping centre account manager who will source and manage promotional opportunities for you and provide full details of flagship stores in centres, average weekly footfalls and site information and availability.