Holfords, the car accessories-to-bike retailer, is an expansion mode. The management is encouraged by rising demand from UK’s consumers for bikes and car maintenance products, and has plans to open more stores in Europe. The retailer has registered a jump of 11 per cent in its pre-tax profits despite global slowdown in economy. Total sales were £797.4m, up 7.2 per cent.
Nick Wharton, joint managing director of Holfords, states that company is prompted by the impressive performance of its stores in Czech Republic to expand and open first store in Wroclaw in Poland this autumn. Having opened three stores in Czech Republic last year, Holford is planning to open up in Hungary and Slovakia.
According to Wharton, ageing of cars in central Europe is creating a boom for its car maintenance products. He also intends to enter lucrative Russian market, but would be mainly focussed on central Europe for the foreseeable future. Holford operates 17 stores in republic of Ireland.
The average transaction value of Holfords in stores is meagre £20. According to Wharton, this protects the company against credit crunch and consumer downturn. He sees large growth potential in satellite navigation market since only 15 per cent of 33 million cars in UK are equipped with the navigation device till date.
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