As part of its Christmas trading statement 2015/16, Dixons Carphone group chief executive Seb James has reflected on the effect of Black Friday on sales and ongoing restructuring of the group’s retail offering.
Seb James commented: “I am very happy to be reporting a further year of good like-for-like growth over our peak trading period. The two-humped camel shape that emerged last year was further accentuated with an all-time record day on Black Friday and a strong promotional period after Christmas.
“Integration continues to go well, all key activities are more or less complete, and it gives me real pleasure to see the emergence of a distinct – and sometimes quirky – Dixons Carphone culture that contains some of the best elements of our different histories. We are seeing the benefits that we expected from the merger, and these will roll through into the next full year. As part of this process, we are now also taking the opportunity to put our estate into its long-term shape by rolling out the 3-in-1 format across the UK and Ireland with a major property programme that will enhance long-term earnings and improve our customer experience.”
The changes to the bricks and mortar offering are said to be as a result of customer feedback on the new Dixons Carphone retail format.
He continued: “Following the merger, it has become clear to us that customers really like our fully refurbished 3-in-1 store concept, and we have decided to launch a major programme to roll this format out across the whole market and put the portfolio into its long-term state. This will involve merging the remaining PC World and Currys stores and inserting a Carphone Warehouse.
“While this will reduce our store numbers by 134, we have been doing this – on a smaller scale – for some years and are very confident that the impact on sales and colleague numbers will be neutral or better. In addition, our experience shows that that colleagues prefer working in – and customers prefer shopping in – our new 3-in-1 format stores.”
