Fnac starts chain in Qatar

Franchise integral part of Fnac’s new strategy

Fnac partnered with Darwish Holding, an outfit that currently has
Middle-Eastern stores for Sony, Yamaha, Bose and Bang & Olufsen. This will allow Fnac to expand its network much
faster without having to invest a lot. Seeing how Fnac is currently
restructuring to save money, the deal with Darwish Holding is seemingly ideal.

It is Fnac’s first step into this
region and only the second time it uses the franchise formula for foreign
expansion. Morocco, with one franchise store, was the first country to get this
treatment. Franchising has been part of Fnac’s home territory France from 2012
onwards. The first Fnac franchise store opened in October 2012 in La
Roche-sur-Yon and the chain hopes to have some thirty franchise stores by 2015.

Fnac currently has 173 stores,
107 of which are in France. The others can be found in Spain, Portugal, Brazil,
Belgium, Switzerland and Morocco.