It seems a lost fight to compete with web shops, but not every retailer is simply throwing in the towel. A German household appliance seller has found an original way to entice customers.
Saturn has opened Europe’s first checkout-free electronics store in Austria. The former Metro Group chain offers its customers traditional sales assistance, but payments have to happen using an app.
Ceconomy will create uniformity between Media Markt and Saturn’s online and offline pricing. This will be possible thanks to the digital price tags it now uses in the stores, because there can be altered in real-time.
2017 may have been a record year for smartphone sellers, but the market is weakening: for the first time since 2004, there were fewer smartphone sales in the fourth quarter.
French entertainment and electronics retailer Fnac Darty (owner of Belgian chain Vanden Borre and Dutch BCC) has experienced a “solid 2017”, with a nearly 40 % turnover increase.
Ceconomy, Media Markt and Saturn’s parent company, revealed a small turnover growth for its first quarter, thanks to improved online sales. Expectedly, its profit did drop.
There has been yet another thorough shake-up among Fnac Darty’s shareholders. The merger company, which owns Belgian electronics chain Vanden Borre and Dutch retailer BCC, will now welcome insurance company SFAM, after it bought investment fund Knight Vinke’s shares.
Apple broke its turnover and profit records in the first quarter of its fiscal year, which ended on 30 December 2017. Nevertheless, there are unfavourable signals, because iPhone sales were below expectations.
An Edinburgh-based store of British chain Margiottahalted its Pepper robot experiment after merely a week, because its customers apparently found it too confusing.
Korean technology firm Samsung has released preliminary quarterly results indicating it forecasts record profits in 2017’s fourth quarter. Nevertheless, it does not seem it can live up to analysts' expectations.
Erich Kellerhals, co-founder of electronics chain MediaMarkt, has died on Christmas day, aged 78. The German laid the foundation for one of the world’s largest electronics chains in 1979.
Media Markt and Saturn’s new parent company, CECONOMY, has performed well in its fiscal year 2016/2017. Its 1.3 % turnover increase was largely thanks to improved online sales.
Supermarket firm Carrefour and electronics seller Fnac Darty are considering an alliance for their electronics acquisitions. The combination could lower purchase prices.
Saturn customers can use their own VR goggles to see products in two virtual environments. It is not yet possible to actually buy something in VR however.
MediaMarkt’s parent company, Ceconomy, has the key to consolidate the European electronics industry even more. The retailer will sell services and solutions: “We help people make the right decisions.”
Ceconomy, a former part of German Metro Group, achieved a 4.6 % fourth quarter turnover increase to 5.264 billion euro. Media Market’s parent company mainly made strides online.
Fnac Darty has raised its third quarter turnover by 6 % to 1.792 billion euro, with growth in the Benelux as well. The company also revealed the integration of both companies is ahead of schedule.
