Darty CEO Regis Schultz tells Bloomberg his plan to boost the retailer's market share by around 33% in its home France-- opening as many as 150 "mom and pop" stores in small towns.
“One of the things we are doing is trying to grow this market share by going into small towns,” Schulz says. “Our market share is about 20% in big towns, but we have no presence in small towns and we tend not to be in those type of catchment areas.”
Making these small Darty stores are independent businesses turned franchisees. According to Bloomberg 4 such outlets are open after first starting business last month.
The scheme is part of the Darty plan to concentrate solely on its core France, Netherlands and Belgium markets, following exit from Italy, Spain, the UK and Turkey. The retailer also seeks to increase consumer spending on appliances such as washing machines and TVs, even if low pricing is hitting on hard on profitability.
"What is really difficult in our markets is deflation,” Schultz tells Bloomberg. “It’s for us to find ways to be more efficient in order to be able to absorb this pressure on price.”
Go Darty Chief Targets 20% Market Share With Small-Store Expansion (Bloomberg)
