Between DIY store and bazaar
On the road in Bucharest
In Romania, it is not primarily the installers but the end consumers who make the decisions in the bathroom. This is why the do-it-yourself business is important.
A typical commercial area on the northern outskirts of Bucharest, where one furniture store follows another. Opposite the famous Swedish furniture giant is an orange and blue building complex emblazoned with a logo featuring a dog’s head with a construction helmet.
The Romanian DIY chain Dedeman is the place to go for DIY enthusiasts. Here you will find over 80,000 products, including sanitary equipment.
Focus on end users
“End consumers are the main decision-makers in the Romanian sanitary business,” explains the responsible Geberit sales consultant Liviu Bulea. Together with his boss Paul Blajan, he is visiting the DIY store today.
“The do- it-yourself business accounts for around 30 per cent of our sales company's total turnover,” adds Paul Blajan. The 42-year-old is head of the eleven-strong sales team in Romania, which is spread across three regions of the country.
A sea of WCs and price tags
The duo skilfully navigate through the aisles, flanked to the left and right by floor-to-ceiling shelves packed with building products. Liviu Bulea heads purposefully for the sanitary area. When they arrive, they almost disappear into the ceramic jungle of toilets, washbasins and cisterns.
Battered is good
The Geberit sets with Rimfree toilet and the Duofix installation element, including cistern and Delta30 actuator plate are popular, as you can see from the somewhat battered exhibits. “A good sign,” says Liviu Bulea, laughs, and points to a competitor’s product: “Museum pieces like these that are still shiny don’t mean good sales.”
As the almost empty shelves at the Geberit exhibits indicate, the team can’t complain about a lack of sales here. “One of our success factors is our close and friendly customer relationships,” explains Paul Blajan.
At the sanitary bazaar
After a short detour to a showroom with luxuriously designed booths, the complete opposite awaits less than 200 metres away: “We call it the bazaar,” says Liviu Bulea. Ceramics, bathroom furniture and bathtubs are wildly jumbled together in a confined space, with boxes piled up in between.
One vendor follows the next, people browse, consult and negotiate in oriental style. “The staff are extremely knowledgeable about our products. They are a very important sales partner for us,” says Liviu Bulea.
