Carphone Warehouse to grow tablet offering

Retailer Carphone Warehouse is upping its tablet offering following strong sales in 2012.

It said experienced "significant" year-on-year growth in tablets, particular during the second half of last year, in line with its strategy to invest in the sector and grow market share.

"We plan to continue to develop the tablet category, both through standalone sales and handset/tablet bundled propositions," read a statement.

"The development of 4G services is expected to improve download speeds significantly and therefore to stimulate demand for tablets with connectivity to mobile networks as well as wi-fi services.

"We achieved increased relevance in the tablet market, in part through bundling with mobile phone connections. During the year, we have increased our market share across all our categories and further built our trusted brand. This includes making very good progress in establishing Carphone Warehouse as a recognised destination to buy tablets."

The news comes as Carphone Warehouse Europe publishes its 2013 Financial Report. It generated revenues of £3,694.3m in 2012-13, an increase of 11.5 per cent year-on-year. Earnings before interest and taxes hit £136.6m, a slight rise over the year prior.

Carphone Warehouse announced earlier this week it has teamed up with Kate Moss to offer a new range of tablet accessories.

The retailer is also part of a Government-backed scheme called ‘Tablets for Schools’, which aims to give every child access to tablet computing and content in school and at home.

CPW Europe says it’s the largest independent telecommunications retailer in Europe, with 2,377 stores.