Former Casa and Makro CEO to save loss-making Krëfel

Krëfel has a new CEO: Vincent Nolf, former CEO of the bankrupt retail chains Makro and Casa, has been tasked with turning the loss-making Belgian electronics chain around.

Major challenges

The electronics chain announced the management change on Friday. Current CEO Jonathan De Nys will remain on board as deputy CEO. “The challenges facing Krëfel are considerable,” he told the Belga press agency, adding that Vincent Nolf needs to bring “a fresh, external perspective” to the business.

This is urgently needed, as the chain has been in the red for some time. Last year, turnover fell to 432.7 million euros, while operating losses increased by 6% to 26.7 million euros. The net loss amounted to 29.3 million euros, which is a quarter higher than a year earlier. When announcing these figures, the retailer also said it was pessimistic about 2025.

Insufficient economies of scale

Krëfel has already taken a number of measures: the chain is closing its own kitchen shops, has shut down a distribution centre, pulled the plug on its subsidiary Tones and is closing four electronics shops this year. But the question is whether that will be enough to compete with big names such as MediaMarkt, Vanden Borre, Coolblue, Bol and Amazon.

However, since 2019, the electronics chain has been owned by a larger European group: United.b, the holding company of the French Mulliez family of entrepreneurs, which also owns the electronics chains Boulanger and Electro Dépot. Judging by the figures, this has not yet yielded the hoped-for economies of scale.