conforama.fr
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The leader in France in furniture and a worldwide player in home furnishing, the objective of Conforama is to "Provide home comfort access to the greatest number according to their own taste and at the best price." Faithful to its discounter concept, Conforama is a multi-specialist in home furnishing, offering its customers one-stop shopping for furniture, decorative items, elec-trical appliances and consumer electronics (multimedia, hi-fi, sound) in an extensive array of styles, with immediate availability.
The Conforama slogan "bien chez soi, bien moins cher"
("Comfort at home at an affordable price") is true to its strategy and its positioning.
To reinforce its image as a discounter, the company has enhanced pricing signage in all of its stores and relies on a "lowest price" range in all the countries where it is established. Conforama operates 246 stores worldwide, including 215 that are directly-operated. In France, the company has 159 directly-operated stores and 31 franchise stores (19 in metropolitan France and 12 in French overseas departments(1)). On the international scene, Conforama has a direct presence via a network of 56 stores in 6 European countries: Croatia, Italy, Luxembourg, Portugal, Spain and Switzerland. In Italy and Croatia, Conforama operates 22 stores, including 14 under the Emmezeta trade name. With over 20,000 listed products in-store, of which 80% are available immediately, Conforama’s product offering is enhanced by specific signage over an average selling area of 3,500 square metres.
Conforama has accelerated the modernisation of its store network. The new layout of these stores encourages the use of realistic product settings (living room, dinette, kitchen, etc.) and self-service for less bulky products. Overall, 36 remodelling projects were carried out in 2007, including Italy, bringing the number of Conforama stores which have adopted the new concept to a total of 119. This modernisation has also been reflected in the offering. En 2007, this mostly concerned the living room, dinette and kitchen concepts. A thorough study of trends in the French furniture market was also conducted in order to adapt the Conforama range to the ever changing expectations of its customers.
At the international level, Conforama has adapted its development strategy according to the country of establishment. Active in Switzerland since 1976, Conforama has adopted a geographical networking strategy and has 13 stores throughout the country. In Spain and Portugal, the Conforama market shares remain modest, but the company’s goal is to feature among the top 3 local companies. Conforama is concentrating on the market segments of these countries where it is the most legitimate player: the selling areas were reorganised to devote more space to furniture and decoration. In Italy, the conversion of the Emmezeta stores to Conforama was stepped up in 2007, with the aim of converting the entire Italian network to the Conforama banner in early 2009. In addition, a new management team has been set up to meet the challenges which the company faces in this country.
(1) Formerly overseas departments and territories.
The Conforama strategy is to feature among the top 3 players in home furnishings in each country where the company is established. Active in Poland since 2001, Conforama is no longer banking on a top 3 position in home furnishings in the short or medium term, despite the success of the company’s repositioning initiated 18 months ago. Accordingly, Conforama prefers to concentrate its international efforts on Southern Europe, which is to say in Italy, Spain and Portugal, where its development is more advanced.
In 2007, Conforama continued to develop its remote sourcing activity and optimise merchandise purchases and flows. Procurement is based on 6 purchasing agencies located in the world’s main production centres for furniture and home decoration items. Conforama has also stepped up the deployment of its logistical capacities. Warehouse surface areas have reached 200,000 square metres spread over 5 major platforms in France. Respectful of the environment, Conforama encourages river barge transportation, routing 90% of its containers using this method.
In 2007, Conforama also intensified its recruiting and training policy and reaffirmed the company’s civic responsibility by pursuing its partnership with Secours populaire français.
In 2007, Conforama generated revenue of €3,313 million, up by 1.8% compared to 2006. Recurring operating income amounted to €168 million, compared to €183 million in 2006, a decrease of 8%. The drop is entirely due to the activity in Italy. The Conforama profitability rate is 5%. Excluding Italy, Conforama posted a profitability rate of 6%, which is identical to 2006.
In 2007, Conforama pursued its modernisation in France and continued to address the situation of its Italian subsidiary. Conforama also continued to renovate its store network and for the first time used a television advertising campaign to communicate the company’s strengths and modernity. This campaign obtained an approval rating of 92%, which represents a record in this retail category (Source: TNS Sofres).
In 2008, Conforama will continue to pursue the conversion strategy implemented 3 years ago. The main focuses will be: the pursuit of the store concept modernisation,
with a more explicit presentation of the offering for the day, night and kitchen segments, further development of the home decoration range, the improvement of supply chain efficiency, the restructuring and development of the Italian activity, and the reinforcement of positions in Spain and Portugal.
Conforama key figures
- 3,313 € million in revenue in 2007
- 168 € million in recurring operating income in 2007
- 15,403 employees at the end of 2007
- 215 directly-operated stores at the end of 2007 (not including 31 affiliated stores)
- Active in seven countries : France, Spain, Switzerland, Portugal, Luxembourg, Italy and Croatia
BREAKDOWN OF 2007 REVENUE BY PRODUCT CATEGORY
BREAKDOWN OF 2007 REVENUE BY GEOGRAPHICAL AREA
