Furniture
The Dutch Blokker family has sold its loss-making retail company to current CEO Michiel Witteveen. This has been confirmed by Blokker Holding.
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Zara Home will become just another part of Zara, like the children's or men's clothing. The new, larger Zara stores will also get a Home collection corner, but the separate division - which has existed since 2003 - will be absorbed into the larger Zara brand.
Hudson’s Bay Company continues to cut in its activities: it will be closing all outlets of home decoration store Home Outfitters. Another chain, Saks Off 5th, will be thoroughly reviewed: twenty outlets may be closed.
According to CEO Jesper Brodin, any new stores Ikea opens will be smaller city stores. He claims product prices are sure to drop, but home delivery will become more expensive.
Made.com has had an excellent 2018, featuring a turnover increase by 37 % and 40 million pounds (45 million euros) of extra capital. Boosted by a new flagship store in London, CEO Philip Chainieux looks to the future with confidence.
Ikea is starting a Swiss test in which offices can rent their furniture instead of buying it. Eventually, the chain wants to give its customers the opportunity to start leasing their interior decoration, allowing people to change the look of their homes from time to time without throwing away furniture.
This August, Ikea's shelves will be displaying wi-fi speakers designed by the furniture chain in collaboration with Sonos. This will bring smart devices and the internet of things closer to everyone, IKEA believes.
Swedish furniture giant IKEA has announced it will open its first true city centre store in Paris on 6 May. At just 5400 sqm, it will be Ikea's smallest real store ever (excluding pick-up points).
Vente-Unique, a discount platform for furniture, saw its turnover rise 14 %last year. It is the seventh time in a row they manage a double figure growth.
Heavy investments in logistics and digitisation have taken quite a bite out of Ikea's profits in the past financial year, as the Swedish furniture chain has decided not to burden its customers with these costs.
Danish furniture chain JYSK continues its growth with a turnover of 3.6 billion euros in its financial year 2017-2018. The new record is mostly due to a large number of store openings and the chain's entry into the United Arab Emirates.
Kingfisher, Europe's second largest group of DIY chains, is leaving Portugal, Russia and Spain. The group wants to focus on its primary markets, including France, where their Castorama chain is struggling.
Swedish furniture chain Ikea plans to cut 7,500 jobs as part of its transformation plan, which should help the retailer cope with "changing customer behaviour". On the other hand, the chain will create 11,500 jobs in emerging markets.
Dutch Hema is feeling the strength of its new owner Marcel Boekhoorn. Four of the current eight directors have to leave the company in the next few months, they will not be replaced.
Not only are all 23 of Blokker's outlets in Wallonia running at a loss, the same is apparently true for the Flemish stores. Analysts fear a definitive end to the chain's Belgian branch in early 2019.
American internet platform eBay has sued Amazon because the latter has allegedly tried to lure away professional sellers in an underhand way. Earlier this month, the former auction site had declared its competitor in default.
