The ElectronicPartner buying group saw a successful end to the 2014 financial year. With central sales in the core market in Germany of 1.629 billion euros, the company reports growth of EUR 8.3 per cent. “The past year was marked by changing stimuli and again demonstrated how fast-changing our branch of industry has become”, said Friedrich Sobol, member of ElectronicPartner Management Board. “We are happy to have achieved a stable and secure position and thus further expanded our business success in this shifting environment.”
ElectronicPartner is back on course for growth with this result and has performed significantly better than the market. The merchandise group “Mobile telephony” especially contributed towards this success. The figures for this sector again exceeded those of the buying group for the previous year and are also significantly higher than the market average. As hardware marketing increased, so did the marketing of services. Potential remains as before in the turbulent TV business of the consumer-electronics sector.
“We see mobile telephony and services marketing as a strategic core area. Firstly, mobile telephony will become the control centre of a networked home in the medium term; secondly, at a time of declining margins, the marketing of services that require in-depth advice offers retailers a profitable market that is guaranteed for the future", said Friedrich Sobol to explain the importance of this business area. The buying group is achieving further success in this area with its own mobile telephony products (easyTel and smile mobile) and in the area of insurance (easySchutz).
Alongside the traditional areas in the specialist retail trade, the cooperation between specialist retails and the systems-manufacturers business, the buying group will continue to rely on Internet trading in 2015 by investing in pure players. New paths in the area of e-commerce will also be treaded by the EP: and MEDIMAX brands this year.
Development of the brands
An extensive quality campaign was launched in the past year for EP: as the trademark of the specialist retailers. The impact of specialist retailers was increased by means of a uniform visual appearance in shops and active participation in the tools of the 360-degree marketing concept. The quality campaign will be further expanded in 2015 and, for example, be supported by a new positioning campaign. Entry to online trading is planned by means of a “click & collect” solution by the autumn of this year.
The specialist consumer-electronics store line MEDIMAX was able to successfully exploit the football mania in 2014 with a campaign involving the sports journalist and football expert, Waldemar Hartmann.
Moreover, the focus remained on the course for expansion with numerous new store openings and individual store re-openings. More new stores are to be added to the current 126 locations in 2015 and the modernisation of existing stores will also continue. The next steps in e-commerce are also on the agenda: MEDIMAX will offer a “click & collect” solution from May onwards, with further steps towards e-fulfilment being taken by the end of the year.
The comTeam cooperation of systems manufacturers celebrated its 30th anniversary in 2014 and attracted great attention by means of numerous events such as the conference of systems manufacturers in the form of a cruise between Kiel and Oslo. Numerous events give the participating systems manufacturers opportunities again this year too for an in-depth exchange of experience. For example, comTeam has its own stand at CeBIT (Hall 15/Stand F75) from 16 to 20 March and will have a further appearance at the conference of systems manufacturers in Hanover in September.
Foreign business
The international activities of the buying group also exhibit a positive trend. Whereas all four national companies reported declining sales in 2013, Austria and the Netherlands are now also back on course for growth. Only Switzerland and Belgium reported figures below those of the previous year. With European sales of 378 million euros in 2014, ElectronicPartner closed the financial year with a slight loss of 1.6 per cent. As a result, central sales of the buying group are EUR 2.007 billion and 6.3 per cent higher than in 2014.
ElectronicPartner completes a profitable financial year
The ElectronicPartner buying group can look back…