Intratuin is a market leader with 52 garden centres in the Netherlands and five in Belgium. Niek Kuiperi, Retail Manager: “We urgently needed a more dynamic and user-friendly platform”.

Before it joined forces with RetailSonar, Intratuin took location decisions based on a statistic model that was anything but user-friendly. “Our approach was outdated and very static. In fact, it was even to our disadvantage as the market is continuously involving. We really needed a more dynamic model!”.

“Choosing RetailSonar made a world of difference for us. This platform is much better suited to the current geomarketing approach. What’s more, it is updated annually, meaning we are much more in tune with changes in the market. I genuinely consider this a basic requirement. We want to ensure our strategic choices are up to date, which is why it is so crucial that we can rely on current sales evolutions and changing competition patterns.

“Our platform is updated annually with the most recent data so we are really up to speed with market changes.” 

What is the biggest difference between then and now? “This is such a powerful model. It has plenty of parameters integrated into it, calculating the potential of new locations thoroughly and accurately. This insanely user-friendly model also saves us a lot of time. What a difference with the past, when we had to calculate everything manually (laughs). I also like that I can export reports to PDF and Excel, because at least I can check how the output was calculated.”

“This insanely user-friendly model saves me a lot of time.” 

Intratuin is a franchise organisation. Its members are independent entrepreneurs who carry out an activity in a profit-making capacity. “We purchased the tool as the franchise holder. We use it to calculate sales forecasts and cannibalisation. Our franchisees stand to benefit from this type of information. They make the type of investments that runs into millions, these are major investments. That is why we find it so important that they have the right information to motivate and underpin the choices they make.”

“We purchased the tool as the franchise holder. We use it to calculate sales forecasts and cannibalisation. Our franchisees stand to benefit from this type of information.” 

Intratuin is the market leader in the Netherlands with 52 branches. There are five Intratuin garden centres in Belgium. Niek uses the cross-border tool in both countries. “How we use the model in the Netherlands and Belgium is not that different. We have fewer shops in Belgium, and fewer data to work with as a result. But the method – collecting data, analysing the market and calculating sales potential – is the same for both countries. In principle, we use the same starting premises. Obviously, there are some cultural differences. Belgians are traditionally prepared to drive greater distances, while Intratuin has more competitors in the Netherlands.”

“How we use the model in the Netherlands and Belgium is not that different. We use the same method for both countries.” 

Niek has been working with RetailSonar for 1.5 years. “I like working with them, the team clearly listens to my input. I like to delve deeper into certain things, meaning I can be a bit of a pain in the ass now and then. I’ll inform the team when I feel that the results for certain locations are still too far removed from reality in the platform. At the end of the day, this is just a model, a representation of reality. But our aim is to approximate this reality as much as possible. We adapt the model where necessary. I think both parties share the responsibility for this and we should inform each other and examine the model critically.”

“The team is very ambitious. You can see that they are continuously working on developing and improving the platform” 

Would he recommend RetailSonar to colleagues? “Definitely. I really appreciate the openness to changes and criticism. The team is very ambitious. You can see that they are continuously working on developing and improving the platform. This is bound to only increase our satisfaction even more in the long term.”