Electronics Boutique reaps reward of wooing more mature customers
Electronics Boutique has returned to profit for the first time since 1993, after repositioning its business to appeal to older customers.
The high street retailer made a profit of #495,000 on sales of #74 million for the year to 31 January. In 1996, it posted an #8.5 million loss on sales of #59.5 million.
John Steinbrecher, CEO of Electronics Boutique, said the upturn in the retailer?s fortune was mainly down to targeting a different type of customer.
?We are appealing to a wider and older age group,? said Steinbrecher. ?Our typical customers are not 10 to 16-year-old boys any more.?
The retailer has diversified from games into home and education software titles, and has refurbished more than half of its 115 stores during the year at a cost of #657,000.
Encouraged by the results, Electronics Boutique also plans to build a combined head office and distribution centre in Bracknell. It will then close its existing distribution centre in Borehamwood.
- Welsh PC vendor Atlantic Systems has been named as the PC hardware vendor for the Debenhams IT concession, alongside Electronics Boutique which provides the software. The Debenhams concession was split after the department store group ended its relationship with Anglo subsidiary Silica.