Birner merges with Carat

Birner merges with Carat

At the beginning of next year, the Carat group of companies will be able to record a significant increase in the ranks of its affiliated trading companies. The Austrian parts retailer Birner joins the cooperation as a partner. The company will be one of the largest shareholders within the group. “Due to our very similar structures and objectives, we will be able to realize many synergies in the areas of purchasing, marketing and IT,” says Christian Gabler, Managing Director of the CARAT Group.

The Birner family business looks back on over 90 years of company history, is represented with 26 branches in all federal states in Austria and employs 560 people. Birner maintains a central warehouse with 600,000 items and will be able to supplement its logistics with the goods and logistics services of the Carat Group in the future. As a shareholder, Birner has access to the group's two warehouse locations, the ad-Cargo central warehouse in Castrop-Rauxel and the new ad-Cargo regional warehouse south logistics location in Nuremberg, which will be launched at the beginning of 2023.

Birner and Carat have been members of the European umbrella organization ADI (Autodistribution International) for years and have an identical supplier structure and the same workshop concepts. In addition to the supply of spare parts, both companies offer dealers and workshops a wide range of commercial and technical support, marketing and workshop concepts and training. The biggest challenge in the coming years will be the digitalization of workshop processes to secure the future of independent workshops. There will be numerous synergies in future collaboration. Carat's own brand Corexx will be introduced in Austria and will complement Birner's range.