Barely any company remains unaffected by the economic crisis. However, the way companies deal with the situation varies greatly. Some react passively, whereas others react proactively and implement measures to counter the consequences of the economic crisis.

MyHammer and Praktiker are two German companies that decided to adapt a proactive approach and tackle the situation via co-operation. Praktiker is a hardware store selling tools and outdoor furniture all over Germany. MyHammer is an online brooker bringing together high quality tradesmen and service providers with people looking to get all kinds of jobs done properly and according to their needs. Contrary to MyHammer, Praktiker serves the “Do-it-yourself” mentality and sells the necessary tools to fix the garden and the house.

Source: Joint microsite of MyHammer & Praktiker

In the middle of the economic crisis both companies realized the potential advantages of a co-operation. Although MyHammer and Praktiker cater to the needs of a similar customer base they complement each other rather than compete for each others’ customers. While MyHammer caters towards customers that need or provide services, Praktiker provides the customers with necessary D.I.Y. tools. This enables both companies to benefit from the synergetic effect that is created via the co-operation. More precisely, it is the joint development of a new marketing concept and implementation of co-marketing measures with which MyHammer and Praktiker aim to maximise profit. Each company creates incentives for its customers to make use of its co-operation partner via strategic marketing initiatives. Their first co-marketing initiative is a campaign that was started only days ago: Praktiker grants MyHammer customers that received gardening services for more than 200 € with a 20 € Praktiker voucher. The online platform and service provider MyHammer in turn ensures Praktiker with online publicity.

The hardware store Praktiker and the maintenance provider MyHammer use the time signified by challenge creatively and decided to work closely together rather than to compete. It will be interesting to see where this innovative marketing co-operation will lead to and what kind of co-marketing initiatives will follow.