My name is Fiorella Origlia, I’m French. You might have come across The Retail Revolution in the Jan/Feb issue of The Hardware Journal. I started my career right at the heart of the DIY retail world, not as an outsider looking in but deep inside the machine.
Inside the Retail Engine: ADEO
I joined ADEO, the group behind Leroy Merlin, Bricoman and Weldom, as a Hardware Buyer. Fresh out of my Master’s Degree, I was thrown straight into the reality of large-scale retail decisionmaking. And it was intense.
I was handed the full fasteners range. Thousands of products. High-stakes business impact. Sixteen business units across multiple countries, each with different logistics models and sourcing areas. For a young buyer, it was both overwhelming and exhilarating, a masterclass in retail strategy under fire.
From day one, I faced the questions that define retail success:
– How do you make sense of a range this complex?
– How do you prioritise when everything feels critical?
– How do you make choices that won’t just work today, but will still be right in three to five years?
Those years shaped the foundation of my retail knowledge. learned that buying decisions are never just transactional or individual. They’re strategic. They’re structured. They’re tied to a category vision and a carefully orchestrated network of colleagues.
At ADEO, my role was to negotiate mainly with buying offices. We orchestrated private label tenders and market allocations. Direct supplier negotiations? They happened, but usually under time pressure or strategic urgency.
And that’s when it hit me: most suppliers only see a tiny fraction of the retail picture.
Retail From Another Lens: Kingfisher
To go deeper, I joined Kingfisher’s EMEA Buying Office as a Product Sourcing Manager for Tools and Hardware. Different company. Different structure. Different strategic culture.
But closer to suppliers than ever before, acting as the bridge between group strategy and execution. In my first year alone, I visited nearly 30 suppliers.
The experience was as challenging as it was rewarding. Sourcing at that level demands relentless negotiation skills, resilience and razor-sharp strategic clarity.
I also went through The Complete Skilled Negotiator by The Gap Partnership, an intense, uncomfortable, transformative program that pushes you to a completely different level of negotiation mastery.
Around the same time, I started teaching international negotiation at university. Someone once told me: “When you start teaching a subject, that’s when you truly master it.” They were right. Teaching forced me to turn instinct into method, experience into framework.
The Supplier Side: A Wake-Up Call
After years in retail, I made the leap to the supplier side. It seemed logical, I thought I could bridge the gap from within.
But reality hit fast. I later realised this wasn’t about one company, but a pattern I recognised across many supplier organisations.
Inside supplier organisations, I saw a different kind of chaos:
– Strategies diluted by internal silos
– Objectives fragmented across departments
– Commercial teams overwhelmed, running tenders without clear methodology or strategy, starved for time and resources.
The ambition was there. The expertise was there. But the structure wasn’t.
I realised something crucial: bridging the supplier-retailer gap from inside a supplier organisation is nearly impossible. Not because people aren’t talented or motivated, but because internal dynamics constantly sabotage deep transformation. That was my turning point.
Why I Created LaRévolution
After countless conversations with suppliers and months of deep reflection, I made a decision that changed everything: step outside the system entirely and create LaRévolution.
It wasn’t a rash move. It was inevitable.
Because here’s what I kept seeing, over and over again: Talented supplier teams working incredibly hard. Investing in product development. Building relationships. Showing up at every meeting. Doing everything they thought they were supposed to do. And still struggling to perform with major retailers.
The problem wasn’t effort. It was understanding. LaRévolution exists because of one simple, undeniable truth: There’s a structural gap between retailers and suppliers. And someone needs to fill it. Not with more sales pressure. Not with flashier presentations or bigger trade budgets. Not with promises of volume or threats of delisting.
With method. With systems. With strategy. With mindset. Fixed from the roots. Retailers and suppliers think differently, yet they share the same goal: serving the customer.
Same industry. Different languages. Different priorities. Different rhythms. Same goal.
And in that gap? Missed opportunities. Frustration on both sides. Relationships that never reach their potential. I saw this gap from the inside at ADEO and Kingfisher. I saw it again from the supplier side. And I realised something critical: You can’t fix this gap from inside a supplier organisation, neither from inside a retailer organisation.
Not because people don’t care. But because the objectives get diluted. Personal career ambitions mix with commercial targets. Internal politics slow down real transformation. The urgency to “hit the number this quarter” overrides the patience needed to build sustainable retail partnerships.
The system itself gets in the way of the solution. Today, as a Retail Strategy Partner for DIY suppliers, I help suppliers understand retail the way retailers actually live it and translate that understanding into concrete, structured strategy. I’m not a former retail buyer selling access to old contacts. I’m the one who fixes the roots on the supplier side. The strategic partner who’s lived on both sides and knows exactly what needs to be rebuilt from the ground up.
What I Believe
I believe, deeply, that retail success isn’t reserved for the biggest brands or the strongest private label players. Any supplier can succeed in retail. With the right system, the right method, and the right strategy.
That’s not motivational talk. That’s what I’ve seen work.
Success doesn’t come from luck. It comes from:
– Understanding how retailers think and decide
– Structuring your organisation to be retail-ready
– Aligning sales, sourcing, supply chain, and strategy around a unified retail vision
– Building systems that drive long-term performance, not just short-term wins
– Creating real value for retailers in ways that get noticed, remembered and rewarded
Retail has evolved. Buyers’ roles have evolved. The complexity has multiplied. But too many supplier organisations are still operating with outdated reflexes, relying on relationships and charm instead of method, on gut feeling instead of structured strategy.
There are deep, structural issues inside supplier organisations that must be addressed if they want to perform sustainably with major retailers, they aren’t small tweaks. This is foundational work. This is about transformation, not tactics.
Today, I regularly work with CEOs, Sales Directors and Key Account Managers who’ve spent as many years in this industry as I’ve been alive. But experience and perspective aren’t the same thing and I’ve had the unusual advantage of seeing the entire game from both ends of the pitch.
What I’ve Done Over the Last Year to Help the Industry
Since launching LaRévolution, I’ve built multiple platforms with one clear mission: to tell suppliers what no one has ever properly explained to them.
The Book: The Retail Revolution gathers all the essentials suppliers should know to perform with retailers but were never taught. It’s packed with actionable tools to build evidence-based decisions, not gut-feeling guesses.
The Podcast: The Retail Revolution Diary shares weekly updates, conversations and thoughts from the front line as a Retail Strategy Partner, giving suppliers the insider perspective they’ve been missing.
An AI Twin: A digital version of my expertise that answers suppliers’ questions 24/7, making strategic retail knowledge accessible whenever they need it.
YouTube Channel & LinkedIn: Bite-sized, actionable insights suppliers can apply immediately, the kind of practical guidance that bridges theory and reality.
Every piece of content I create exists to fill the knowledge gap that’s been holding suppliers back for decades.
But beyond content, I’ve worked hands-on with a dozen suppliers across different types of projects:
– Deep transformative strategy work, restructuring their entire retail approach from the ground up
– Tender preparation, building winning submissions with method and strategic precision
– Workshops, aligning internal teams around a single, clear retail vision
– Negotiation support, helping clients reach better outcomes with major retailers
The question isn’t whether the gap exists
It’s whether we’re willing to fix it properly.
I look forward to exploring these topics further in The Hardware Journal in the months ahead!
Author Fiorella Origlia is contactable by email at fiorella@la-revolution.fr or visit www.la-revolution.fr or on Linkedin: Fiorella Origlia. Her book ‘The Retail Revolution’ is available from Amazon.
Fiorella Origlia tells suppliers what no one else will. Ex-buyer at ADEO and Kingfisher, she now helps DIY suppliers crack the retail code through LaRévolution, working strategically, structurally, from the roots up. Author. Podcaster. Retail Strategy Partner. Based in France, transforming suppliers worldwide.
