Breakthrough in competitive strategy: How to unlock scalable competitive advantage from the existing business platforms? 

Screwfix have always been innovators, creating multiple platforms with potential for growth;

• A customer proposition which strongly appeals for trades and serious DIY-ers alike
• A catalogue that has established itself as the bible for trade supplies, to be found in vans and on bedside tables throughout the land
• An award-winning customer service centre and deliveries that created customer delight
• A pioneering online channel and web-based services such as Click- and-Collect

By 2011, all of these innovations had created a national, fast growing £500m business. The issue was what and who to focus on to drive the next phase of growth and become established as a leading player in the market?

Our solution, with so many opportunities in different directions, was to identify the single, distinctive Golden Thread for the whole organisation to focus on for long-term growth. We recognised that the answer was not in which opportunity to choose, but in pinpointing what connected all the opportunities together.

For Screwfix, the Golden Thread was in convenience, which has enabled:

• Sales growth from £0.5bn to £1.3bn in 6 years
• Single-minded focus for competitive advantage, applied from the board through every business unit
• Bespoke new measures that quantify and track Screwfix’s competitive advantage in convenience
• Customer proposition that credibly encompasses trade and DIY in a market that traditionally focuses exclusively on either DIY or trade