Dixons Carphone are to close 134 stores in a bid to streamline operations following the merger of the two companies 16 months ago.
“We are very confident that the impact on sales and colleague numbers will be neutral or better”.
Chief Executive Sebastian James commenting on Dixons Carphone future
£50 million will be reinvested into the existing store portfolio with Carphone Warehouse stores moving into Currys PC World. Employee numbers will be not be affected as colleagues will be given the option to relocate throughout the business.
The announcement came following the mobile and electrical retailer reporting strong Black Friday and Christmas sales.
So with fewer Carphone Warehouse stores on the high street, it leaves the question open for the future of service led mobile retailing and the profitability it makes.
Carphone Warehouse currently runs its own virtual mobile network through Three, given access to 4G services that can be used abroad at no extra cost however does not offer a direct Three proposition. With the decision of the merger of Three and O2 expected to come as soon as May, it could mean that O2 will pull out of Carphone leaving propositions from only EE and Vodafone.
So while the closure of stores are being linked to streamlining, could it be that the retailer is preparing to avoid what could be a repetition of Phones 4U.
