Medien zum Selbermachen Der Baumarkt als Ort des medialisierten Einkaufs seit den 1970er Jahren

Abstract

Abstract Starting in the late 1960s and even more pronounced in the 70s, West-Germany saw an increasing number of hardware stores being founded. Since the idea behind the integrated Do-it-yourself-retail-store originated in the United States, it had to be adapted to suit Western-German circumstances. The problem that hardware-store owners faced right from the beginning, was, that the articles in their stores did not represent finished consumer goods, but rather goods that were meant to be turned into such by being used by the customer. Furthermore, until late in the 70s the products on offer were unfamiliar and in need of explanation to the German customers and therefore consulting intensive. In order to reduce the need for customer advisory, but still offer an attractive shopping experience and moreover to make clear, that the store offers not only products, but solutions to a range of different problems, the store owners, their franchise centers and their trade-association focused their efforts on the use of new technologies. It was the video technology that developed a leading role in this effort: By using this technology, stores were able to combine the offer of entertaining media, explanations to the usage of their products in action (which in turn reduced the need for customer advisory) and illustrations of the features of the DIY-products on offer. Starting in the mid-70s, this led to the production of films, which were shown on infinite loop in the hardware-stores.