Planet-Centered Innovation With Hansgrohe's Steffen Erath | Global DIY Summit 2026
In this Omni Talk Retail interview, recorded live from the Global DIY Summit 2026 in Amsterdam, Chris Walton talks with Steffen Erath, Head of Innovation at Hansgrohe, about why sustainability should be more than a business objective and instead become a starting point for innovation.
Steffen shares how Hansgrohe approaches innovation at the intersection of sustainability, technology, and customer experience, and explains why he advocates for "planet-centered innovation" alongside more traditional product and customer-driven strategies.
He also discusses the role AI can play in accelerating sustainability efforts, why solving environmental challenges requires collaboration across industries, and how manufacturers and retailers can better help customers make sustainable choices without sacrificing performance, convenience, or enjoyment.
One particularly memorable takeaway: consumers don't buy water-saving showers because they're sustainable. They buy them because they deliver a better shower experience.
Key Topics Covered:
• What Hansgrohe means by "planet-centered innovation"
• Why sustainability can be a powerful innovation strategy
• The relationship between AI and sustainability transformation
• Moving from competitive advantage to collaborative advantage
• Why solving environmental challenges requires ecosystem thinking
• How Hansgrohe balances sustainability with customer experience
• The "60% Potential" and consumer decision-making
• Why retailers should sell benefits, not sustainability claims
• Helping consumers make more sustainable choices in the bathroom
• The future of innovation in home improvement and building products
Thank you to Vusion for supporting Omni Talk Retail's live coverage from the Global DIY Summit 2026 in Amsterdam.
This podcast uses the following third-party services for analysis:
Podcorn - https://podcorn.com/privacy
Transcript
Hello, everyone, this is Omnitalk Retail.
Speaker A:I'm Chris Walton coming to you live once again from the Vuzion Podcast studio at the DIY Summit in Amsterdam.
Speaker A:Now, joining me is Stefan Arat, the head of innovation at Hansgrohe.
Speaker A:Stefan, welcome to the show.
Speaker B:Thanks for having me.
Speaker A:Yeah, no, it's great to have you.
Speaker A:I always love when I get to meet new folks at these conferences.
Speaker A:And you never know who's going to walk through or walk into the Vuzion Podcast studio and share their thoughts with us.
Speaker A:So for our audience back home, tell us about yourself and also about hansgrohe.
Speaker B:So I'm 41 years old and 20 years with the company of Hans Gru.
Speaker A:Okay.
Speaker B:So this means I'm innovating for life.
Speaker B:And I learned a lot from the family of Krohen.
Speaker B:We're talking about showers right now.
Speaker B:Bathrooms.
Speaker B:That's where Hans Grohe is based.
Speaker A:That's their core, like what they're known for.
Speaker B:Right?
Speaker A:Showers.
Speaker B:It's 125 years old company.
Speaker B:They started in selling physical hygiene, which at the end of the day is bathroom faucets and fixtures.
Speaker B:And it evolved into a company which is really close to consumers.
Speaker B:So we are selling, Meanwhile, in over 140 countries, shower pleasure while safeguarding water, energy, climate.
Speaker B:So that's actually my challenge, you know, the intersection between sustainability and innovation.
Speaker B:And that's a quite a wicked intersection.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker A:So you sell Shower Pleasure.
Speaker A:Wow, that sounds like an amazing job.
Speaker A:Is the company is as cheeky as you are too, in terms of that.
Speaker A:I heard heard on stage you showed shower videos and you got the audience all excited.
Speaker A:Like, what were some of the videos you shared?
Speaker B:Yeah, actually, you know, when you think about bathrooms, I could talk about plumbing and then probably it would be very basic and very rational.
Speaker B:And at the end of the day I say, look, of course it's plumbing, and yes, we have toilets as well, but at the end of the day, we are selling products you take every day.
Speaker B:You know, you even are naked in front of our post, so how intimate can it be?
Speaker B:So it's really.
Speaker B:It's like life science and taking a shower.
Speaker B:It's not about getting clean.
Speaker B:It's about if you're looking at it in a mental way, it's about mental cleaning.
Speaker B:So you wash the stress away, you wake up, you relax.
Speaker B:To get sober, you take a shower.
Speaker B:There's 40 reasons to take a shower and 39 have nothing to do with getting clean.
Speaker A:Is that right?
Speaker A:Is that documented?
Speaker A:You guys documented that?
Speaker B:Of course it's always a kind of gut feeling.
Speaker B:There is no studies with peer reviews, but that's experience after 125 years.
Speaker A:That's awesome.
Speaker A:That's awesome.
Speaker A:And speaking as someone who loves a long shower, I am bought into that religious philosophy in terms of what a shower can do for an individual.
Speaker A:All right, so you're here at this conference though because you're a big proponent of this idea of planet centered innovation as opposed to maybe customer driven innovation or customer centric approaches to innovation.
Speaker A:But what's lost and what's gained with that approach in your mind?
Speaker B:Look, I don't say it's either or, I just want to add, you know, normally it's like, you know, when you look back the last 70 years, the starting point of innovation and especially here where Hans Groh is founded in Germany, in the south of Germany, it is tech push innovation.
Speaker B:So it's all based in R and D. And this was in the 50s and 60s, you know, after World War there was a desire for products so you could whatever you created, there was a demand for it.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker B: And then in: Speaker B:So Toyota Lean Principle told us, okay, maybe we don't have to create everything when you have to create it lean or cheaper in a global way so that it's more affordable because now there is the competition.
Speaker B:And then came the Silicon Valley guys and told us it's all about user experience, user experience first, which is good because we want to have appealing products.
Speaker B:But I think sometimes they are designing problems which are not there in order to sell us stuff we don't need.
Speaker B:So I think at the end of the day, innovators love nothing more than problem solving.
Speaker B:Enterprises are problem solving machines.
Speaker B:And the biggest problems of our time are in the area of sustainability, planetary societal problems.
Speaker B:So 193 countries across the globe agree that we have to solve the 17 Sustainable Development Goals.
Speaker B:And these are sustainability topics.
Speaker B:And that's why I think there is another approach to innovation you have to try out.
Speaker B:I don't say you don't have to do tech push or user centered or business model, but why not using sustainability as innovation search field?
Speaker B:And this is called planet centered innovation.
Speaker B:And this is something, I wrote a book about it and I want to share this knowledge because it only works if everybody's doing it.
Speaker B:It's not about competitive advantage, rather collaborative advantage.
Speaker A:Right.
Speaker A:So when I hear you say that, I mean in a lot of ways it almost feels like there's a needle in our arm or a drug in Terms of how we've been doing innovation driven by tech.
Speaker A:I'm curious, does AI make that even more of a difficult challenge to overcome to get towards this planet centered innovation approach that you're talking about or what is it going to take to get there?
Speaker B:The bigger the change, the bigger the opportunity.
Speaker B:And we have two big changes right now.
Speaker B:We're talking about twin transformation.
Speaker B:So we have the sustainability change, the green transformation and the tech change, digitalization and, and as a spearhead, it's now AI and it always depends, you know, AI as a means to an end to a sustainable world.
Speaker B:I like it.
Speaker B:AI to create cat videos.
Speaker B:Maybe you have to think about it.
Speaker B:So it's always, you know, how you use the technology.
Speaker B:And yes, it is a lot of energy consuming the technology, but doing the right stuff with it.
Speaker B:I'm totally for it because, you know, we should have started the green transformation 40 years ago.
Speaker B:Yeah.
Speaker B:So we need to accelerate.
Speaker B:And in my positive view of the world, I see now AI helping us accelerating this transformation so it can get.
Speaker A:At those unsolvable problems a lot faster.
Speaker A:Which is what you always hear.
Speaker A:That's really interesting.
Speaker A:You've also advocated that the industry as a whole needs to move from competitive advantage to one of collaborative advantage.
Speaker A:What does collaborative advantage mean?
Speaker B:You believe in ecosystems, you believe that you cannot change the world alone.
Speaker B:So if I see water scarcity as an issue, a big challenge, and I really mean it to solve it.
Speaker B:So it's not about that.
Speaker B:We are saving water and our competitor is throwing water out of, you know, then we don't save net.
Speaker B:So we have to collaborative work on, agree and say, let's work on, you know, solving the water crisis and even cross industry.
Speaker B:You know, now I talked about competitors, you know, if we are saving water in the shower, but later when you flush it and in the canalization, they flush it with fresh water, it doesn't work.
Speaker B:So you need a systemic approach.
Speaker B:And this is why it's a wicked problem.
Speaker B:It's not easy, like user centered.
Speaker B:You can decide yourself what to do.
Speaker B:You can approach the user, they buy it or not.
Speaker B:And then, you know, if it works with planet centered innovation, you have to work together.
Speaker B:And this is not easy.
Speaker A:So let me, let me push you on that because I think, you know, I think a lot of people would fundamentally agree with what you're, what you just said.
Speaker A:But what is the mechanism by which you get that to happen?
Speaker A:What do you advocate?
Speaker B:You know, let's go into the most capitalistic system, let's go into venture Capital.
Speaker B:So here the idea is to create unicorns.
Speaker B:Meanwhile, they talk about decacons or whatever.
Speaker B:So in our world, we're talking about zebras.
Speaker B:You know, the cake is big enough.
Speaker B:So why do we have the one solution, which is the monopolistic solution for the problem?
Speaker B:We can have, you know, multiple solutions.
Speaker B:And the cake is big enough.
Speaker B:And it's not about you or me, it's about together.
Speaker B:And sometimes it's the synergy effects, which make a lot of sense.
Speaker B:And if you create a new market, if you go into a new market, you are happy that there are followers.
Speaker B:Because in the beginning, when you step into a new category, it helps you that others go in there as well.
Speaker B:Later, when it's a mature market, then it's a red ocean.
Speaker B:It's not a blue ocean in terms of innovation, but.
Speaker B:And then it's outperforming the others.
Speaker B:Okay, but now it's the time to create new blue oceans.
Speaker B:And I think sustainability can become one of these blue ocean strategies.
Speaker A:Okay, okay.
Speaker A:All right, well, let's get you out of here on this.
Speaker A:I want to go back to showers because I think you caught our attention at the beginning there.
Speaker A:And delivering pleasure through the shower.
Speaker A:You've also made the case publicly that retailers, and not just manufacturers, need to also help their consumers make more sustainable choices, particularly in the bathroom, which is your area of expertise.
Speaker A:What does that actually look like when you get down to brass tacks at the point of sale itself?
Speaker A:Like, does it require different shelf space, different product recommendations?
Speaker A:Does training need to be different?
Speaker A:Like, how do you think about that?
Speaker B:You know, this is very important, this topic.
Speaker B:You know, I advocate to give the planet a voice and start with sustainability as the starting point for innovation.
Speaker B:However, when you sell the product, it's all about user centricity.
Speaker B:So there is the 60% potential.
Speaker B:This is a famous book coming from Johanna Goldenhofer, a professor from the University of St. Gallen.
Speaker B:And she analyzed in a really proper way that if you sell sustainability.
Speaker B:So let's assume a shower company.
Speaker B:If they sell water saving showers, 20%, the Eco warriors, they like it and they cheer it.
Speaker B:20% Immediately are against it.
Speaker B:And the 60%, that's the 60% potential.
Speaker B:If I ask them and interview them, they say, of course I consume sustainably, I want a water saving shower.
Speaker B:But if you don't look at them, they buy the other shower because they think, oh, water saving.
Speaker B:Do I get the shampoo out of my hair?
Speaker B:And this goes to vegan, to all of the stuff.
Speaker B:So in the communication of sustainability.
Speaker B:It's very important that you always sell the shower pleasure.
Speaker B:And the sustainability feature is secondary.
Speaker B:So if the ice cream is called a vegan ice cream, nobody buys it.
Speaker B:If it's wild berry Lillet ice cream, everybody loves it.
Speaker B:And by the way, it's vegan.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So even if I'm anti vegan, I like the flavor, I consume it.
Speaker B:And this applies for sustainability.
Speaker B:Don't call it sustainability.
Speaker B:That's my message.
Speaker A:Huh.
Speaker A:Okay, what was the name of that study that sounds really fascinating.
Speaker B:The 60% potential.
Speaker A:60% Potential?
Speaker A:That's a book.
Speaker B:That's a book.
Speaker B:And they analyzed it at the University of St. Gallen.
Speaker B:Okay.
Speaker B:So it's a really famous business school.
Speaker B:So there is really proof points here.
Speaker A:Okay, awesome.
Speaker A:Yeah, I'm gonna have to check that out.
Speaker A:Follow your interest.
Speaker A:You'll always be interested.
Speaker A:That's my motto.
Speaker A:All right, well, thank you for spending time with us today.
Speaker A:I know you've got a train to catch too, here, but, you know, hopefully you get it.
Speaker A:And you know, how have you enjoyed the summit so far?
Speaker B:It's amazing.
Speaker B:You know, diy, you think it's really hands on, but it's so professional here and there's so many people.
Speaker B:Sea level people.
Speaker A:Yeah.
Speaker B:And amazing speakers.
Speaker B:So, like introducing already humble, humble, humble.
Speaker B:Talking about showers.
Speaker B:It's easy because it's relatable.
Speaker B:You know, you take a shower every morning, so it's way tougher for people doing power tools or screws or stuff like that.
Speaker A:Yeah, right, right.
Speaker A:No offense to that, but yeah.
Speaker A:No, I.
Speaker A:It's funny.
Speaker A:I remember a business school case in college.
Speaker A:I don't remember the company, but the whole premise of the business was a marketing case.
Speaker A:The whole premise was you needed a showroom for the shower to show the pleasure of the shower.
Speaker A:The shower that makes the earth move.
Speaker B:Right.
Speaker A:Like that was the whole premise of it.
Speaker A:And it was a great, great case.
Speaker A:I'll never forget it.
Speaker A:All right, man.
Speaker A:Well, thanks a lot.
Speaker A:Appreciate it.
Speaker A:Thanks to the DIY summit and Evusion for helping us make all of our coverage possible here from the show and as always, to everyone listening and watching at home, be careful out there.
