OBI emerges as the strongest national winner

At national level, OBI records the strongest position in the German DIY market during the analysed period. Between February and April 2026, OBI reached a 22.6% share of visits, while strengthening its position by 3.1%, or 0.7 percentage points, versus the same period in 2025.

In contrast, Bauhaus recorded the clearest decline, with share of visits decreasing by 4.9%, or 0.8 percentage points. toom Baumarkt also declined by 3.6%, or 0.6 percentage points, while Hagebau showed a smaller negative trend. Hornbach remained broadly stable.

Outside the largest national chains, two players stand out positively: Globus Baumarkt increased strongly by 7.6%, or 0.8 percentage points, while Dehner recorded the strongest relative growth at 17.3%, or 0.9 percentage points.

Interestingly, the momentum around OBI comes exactly at the moment the retailer is repositioning its brand communication. The company recently launched a new campaign focused less on products and more on guiding consumers through projects and services, positioning OBI increasingly as a mentor rather than purely a retailer.

This broader shift from transactions towards problem-solving and project guidance was also a major topic during last week’s World Retail Congress in Berlin, where OBI appeared on stage as part of the discussion around the future of retail.

The behavioural visit data now suggests that this strategic repositioning may already be resonating in the market.

Growth is driven by more visitors, not higher frequency

Average visit frequency remained remarkably stable across the German DIY market, with most retailers showing almost no meaningful change in how often existing visitors returned. OBI itself recorded only a marginal decline in frequency compared to 2025 levels.

The stronger signal comes from fraction of visitors — the share of unique shoppers visiting each retailer during the period. Here, OBI clearly expands its reach, increasing its unique visitor share to 33.3%, gaining 0.9 percentage points versus 2025. Globus Baumarkt and Dehner also expanded their visitor base.

Meanwhile, Bauhaus recorded the clearest decline in unique visitor reach, followed by Hellweg and toom Baumarkt.

This indicates that current market changes are primarily driven by additional shoppers entering certain banners, rather than existing customers visiting more frequently. In other words: the winners are attracting more people, not simply generating more repeat visits.

Importantly, these are behavioural visitation shifts rather than sales measurements — showing how quickly changing consumer behaviour can become visible in the market.

Customer journeys show how OBI captures market movement

Customer journey analysis reinforces the same direction.

Looking at where shoppers visited immediately before visiting OBI, several patterns stand out. A substantial share of visits comes from loyal returning customers, where shoppers repeatedly return to OBI across consecutive visits.

At the same time, OBI also captures visitors from competing chains including Bauhaus, toom Baumarkt and Hagebau. The strongest competitive inflows come from:

• Bauhaus → OBI
• toom Baumarkt → OBI
• Hagebau → OBI

Another important signal comes from reactivated visitors (“None”) in the customer journey chart. These are shoppers who had not visited any of the selected DIY retailers during the previous 90 days before visiting OBI.

This is particularly relevant during the spring season, when many households restart gardening, renovation and outdoor projects after winter and re-enter the category as occasional or seasonal shoppers.

The data suggests that OBI is not only winning share from competitors, but is also particularly effective at attracting these new or returning spring shoppers into the category.

Again, this reflects behavioural movement between retail banners, rather than direct sales performance.

Regional differences reveal where OBI gains strongest momentum

Regional analysis shows that growth dynamics differ strongly across Germany. To illustrate these regional shifts more clearly, we zoomed in on OBI — the largest player and strongest national grower — and Bauhaus, which recorded the clearest national decline during the analysed period.

To keep the comparison focused and economically relevant, we selected Germany’s six largest federal states by economic output, which together account for roughly three quarters of German GDP.

The figures below reflect the change in share of visits in percentage points between 2025 and 2026.

The strongest gains for OBI appear in:

• Bavaria (+3.2 percentage points)
• Lower Saxony (+3.0 percentage points)
• North Rhine-Westphalia (+1.1 percentage points)
• Hesse (+0.8 percentage points)

Meanwhile, OBI loses momentum in Berlin (-1.7 percentage points) and Baden-Württemberg (-1.4 percentage points).

For Bauhaus, the strongest positive momentum appears in Baden-Württemberg (+0.7 percentage points), while the sharpest declines appear in Berlin (-2.8 percentage points), Bavaria (-1.8 percentage points), Hesse (-1.8 percentage points) and Lower Saxony (-1.4 percentage points).

These regional differences illustrate how competitive dynamics in DIY retail remain heavily influenced by local market structures, store density and regional consumer behaviour. They also demonstrate how granular behavioural intelligence can uncover regional market realities that national averages often hide.