German electronics distributors Media Markt and Saturn have finally decided to enter the online market. Their goal is not modest: becoming market leaders.
Saturn starts web shop in 2011, Media Markt in 2012
Saturn will open its German web shop right before holiday season, while its sister company Media Markt will join them in the first quarter of 2012 – according to Metro chairman Eckhard Cordes in the Germain Welt am Sonntag.
During this year, preparations will include takeovers of online electronics retailers, as to acquire the necessary know-how. Just like the recently bought web shop Redcoon, those retailers will continue to function as separate entities, so Metro can make their grasp on the online market as complete as possible – with the minimum goal being 30%.
Reassuring the franchisees
To reassure the franchisees of the physical stores (which had been a major issue in the past), they will receive a commission on the web shop turnover. Moreover, prices in web shop and physical stores will be the same, and franchisees will only have to deal with the web shop if the ordered products are too big or too complicated to be simply delivered by a courier service.
So far, there are no concrete plans to start with a Belgian web shop. The Dutch version is already online: it was the test project that started two years ago.
