PCR Tech and IT retail, distribution and vendor news
After severing ties with its telecoms sister-firm TalkTalk, The Carphone Warehouse is planning a huge expansion of its retail base, with 30-40 new stores which are scheduled to be opened over the course of this year.
The stores will be the larger 3,000 square-foot ‘Wireless World’ style premises, which are positioned further into the IT market than standard Carphone Warehouse stores and considerably closer in line with retail partner Best Buy’s stock lines.
The extension of the portfolio comes as the firm is looking to take a larger chunk of the broadband and PC market, and should be completed by the time the first five Best Buy big box stores arrive in the UK next spring.
"There will be about 30 to 40 of these stores coming over the next financial year – that will be a mixture of brand new stores and refits on existing premises, for those that are actually large enough to cope with it," a Carphone Warehouse spokesperson told us.
"We’ve had some great results recently, broadband connections are up – higher than anyone else – and we continue to take market share in the mobile markets."
The firm says that the demerger with TalkTalk will help its planned expansion, by prompting deals with the likes of BT, which does not currently have a presence in the store.
On the severance, the spokesperson said: "The analysts and some shareholders have been calling for this for a while. It will give everyone greater clarity – for the shareholders in what it is they’re investing in, and for analysts what it is they’re analyzing exactly. You can compare like for like a lot easier."
