DSGi-owned electricals chain Currys yesterday opened its first Megastore incorporating a mezzanine floor, enabling the retailer to merchandise its assortment more effectively than ever before.
The 55,000 sq ft store on Croydon’s Purley Way is a refit and, having doubled its trading space, it is the biggest of Currys’ megastores to date. The store carries more than 10,000 SKUs.
The mezzanine floor also allows a clear division between white goods, which form the dominant part of the offer on the upper floor, and higher-tech ranges, including TVs, computers and the home entertainment categories on the ground floor.
Currys is well-placed to add mezzanines to its stores, as the majority of its larger stores are retail park sheds, which would make expansion of this kind straightforward.
MHE Retail chairman Edward Whitefield said: “I’m a bit sceptical. Increasing size, up to a certain point, does drive market share because you increase the size of your catchment. There is a point, however, beyond which people simply will not drive in order to take advantage of increased selection.”
Tech Guys roll-out
DSGi will be expanding its Tech Guys troubleshooting service to all of its UK stores over this bank holiday weekend.
The service will be made available in close to 700 PC World, Currys and Dixons Travel shops, compared with 427 at present.
The initiative, part of DSGi’s renewal and transformation plan drawn up by chief executive John Browett, will include an expanded range of services – eventually to even include oven cleaning – and cover all product categories, rather than just computers.
A new lookand feel has been created for the Tech Guys area in stores using brand characters called Techlings. The Techlings will also feature on all packaging, merchandising and points of sale,
as well as on the redesigned Tech Guys website.
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