Conversation with… David Gomez Cardona, group marketplace director at Kingfisher
In this latest Conversations interview, we speak with David Gomez Cardona, group marketplace director at Kingfisher, about his impressive international career and his role in accelerating the home improvement group’s ecommerce strategy.
Can you start by telling us how you began your career in retail?
I started in logistics in the US, but I quickly realised I was more drawn to the fast-paced, customer-centric world of ecommerce. My journey into retail really began in Colombia, working for Grupo Éxito – the largest retailer in Colombia and one of the biggest in the region. That’s where I got hands-on experience in retail transformation, especially during the early stages of ecommerce in the grocery sector.
Later, I moved to Europe and helped scale Cdiscount’s (the second biggest French pure-player) marketplace in France as part of the same group. Eventually, I launched and led a marketplace from scratch for Leroy Merlin in France, building on its strong foundation as a home improvement and DIY specialist to create a tailored and scalable platform, broadening the product offer, accelerating innovation, and delivering more choice and value to customers.
Never Miss a Retail Update!Each of those roles gave me a different lens – ranging from operational depth to strategic vision. But most importantly, they taught me how to lead change in diverse environments.
Today at Kingfisher, I lead our group marketplace function. My role is about bringing together banners, partners, and teams from various regions to accelerate our ecommerce strategy and deliver a richer experience for home improvement customers.
You’ve held senior roles in several international companies, especially in France. What differences have you noticed in retail strategy and operations between France and the UK?
French retailers often take a more methodical, long-term approach to digital transformation. In contrast, UK businesses tend to move more quickly – testing, learning, and scaling innovations with agility. It’s a generalisation, of course, but it reflects the pace and mindset differences I’ve observed.
Also, store formats vary. France remains heavily rooted in hypermarkets, especially in grocery retail. The UK, on the other hand, is more advanced in terms of proximity retail and omnichannel integration.
We understand that Kingfisher is working to accelerate ecommerce by offering more speed and choice. How does the marketplace strategy support this, and how does it align with the broader retail offering?
That’s a core part of our strategy – meeting customer expectations through speed and choice, all while leveraging the strength of our store network. The marketplace enables us to expand our product assortment rapidly, without the limitations of physical storage space.
For instance, if a customer is shopping for a bathroom at Castorama in France or a B&Q store in the UK, they can now discover complementary accessories or extended bathroom ranges offered by third-party sellers – all within the same platform. This is done under Kingfisher’s quality assurance, ensuring both product and seller standards.
Ultimately, it’s a natural extension of our retail model. It deepens customer loyalty and enhances each banner’s brand appeal.
What are the main challenges and opportunities in leading marketplace operations across multiple retail cultures and geographies?
One of the biggest challenges – and opportunities – is managing diversity. That includes cultural differences, varying tech stacks, customer expectations, marketplace maturity levels, and brand positioning. That’s where Kingfisher’s approach gives us an edge.
We don’t believe in a one-size-fits-all model. Instead, we tailor each marketplace strategy to local needs while building a shared backbone across the group. Our differences make us stronger. The next frontier for us is scaling beyond country-by-country growth, leveraging our international footprint to become an integrated, group-wide marketplace operation.
You’ve spoken about agility and the need to move fast. How do you unite the senior leadership team to deliver such transformation?
It starts with top-level sponsorship. For the past five years, the marketplace has been a top-three strategic priority for the group. That level of support from the CEO down makes a big difference. It drives alignment and commitment at the local level too.
That said, agility varies across banners. For example, Brico Depôt Iberia – our operations in Spain and Portugal – are structured more like scale-up businesses, allowing for greater speed and autonomy in execution. They launched their marketplace in just three months, which is the fastest launch I’ve ever seen. It really depends on the complexity and structure of each organisation.
How do you see marketplaces evolving in the next few years?
I believe marketplaces are becoming more curated and value-driven. We’re moving away from the “everything store” model towards trusted ecosystems that blend first-party and third-party offerings – sometimes even services.
Services are especially interesting. The challenge is figuring out how to let third-party sellers benefit from our strengths as a retailer – our store network, click-and-collect, returns, loyalty programmes – all of which differentiate us from pure-play ecommerce giants like Amazon.
And of course, AI will be a huge enabler in terms of personalisation and seller enablement.
How do you choose which sellers to work with?
We focus on experienced sellers who already perform well on other marketplaces and align with our business principles. The goal is to strengthen our core categories. Beyond that, we also consider ESG (environmental, social, and governance) factors -working only with sellers who meet our sustainability and ethical standards.
We’ve developed group-level capabilities to scan and assess the market, and then we localise – enabling each banner to identify the best-fit sellers in their region. Now, we’re expanding this approach internationally, working with sellers outside the EU and UK. That adds complexity, but it’s essential for scale.
Can you share with us any future plans for Kingfisher’s marketplace offering?
Our focus remains on expanding our assortment within key home improvement categories, continuing to attract high-quality sellers, and scaling our successful marketplace model across all our banners. One of our strategic goals is to create an omnichannel marketplace that’s deeply integrated with our stores and connected to our brands.
We’re also working to simplify the integration process and enhance the overall experience for both our customers and partners. Two key priorities that I can share as examples are:
- Accelerating the onboarding of cross-border sellers – this means enabling sellers from the EU and beyond to access the UK market, and vice versa.
- Launching Click & Collect in stores for marketplace sellers, starting with B&Q. This is a major step and a real game changer for us.
Additionally, we’re developing new marketplace functionalities. Some are foundational, like enabling buy box competition between sellers. Others are more advanced, such as integrating complex promotions and syncing with our loyalty programmes, which we’ve traditionally used in our first-party business. It’s all about improving the ecosystem.
What advice would you give to aspiring retail leaders who are just starting out?
One principle I live by is: stay curious. Curiosity is key in everything. Retail is constantly evolving, and the best leaders are lifelong learners. Don’t pretend to have all the answers – keep questioning, keep exploring.
Also, don’t be afraid to challenge the status quo. Stay close to your customers, your partners, your colleagues, and your teams. And finally, build great teams. No strategy succeeds without people who believe in the mission. Empower them, trust them, and they’ll take you far.
