Dixons Carphone closes all 531 standalone Carphone Warehouse stores in the UK, making 8% of the retailer's total UK selling space, from 3 April 2020, a move bringing the loss of 2900 jobs.
Part of a move the retailer describes as "the next step in its transformation," all Dixons Carphone mobile retail will take place through shop-in-shops in 305 big Currys PCWorld outlets, as well as online. The retailer adds it managed to save the employment of 1800 people as it switches them to work in other, larger outlets, but as mentioned earlier the rest will be made redundant.
As to the reason behind the closures, the main culprit is, of course, the coronavirus (aka Covid-19). Dixons Carphone has already closed all stores across the UK, Ireland and Greece, and is currently only still operating in the Nordics. Online operations are also going on, and the retailer says it sees "very strong" trading in all countries even as stores remain closed. However the retailer was expecting sales worth up to £400 million from the now closed stores, and as such the loss of sales will impact full-year 2020 results.
The situation has also lead Dixons Carphone to admit it has no guidance for the current year or in the medium-term, at least until the impact of the coronavirus becomes more clear. The retailer did see 8% Y-o-Y growth on the sales for the January-March 2020 period, with electrical sales reaching 23% thanks to "very good" results from laptops, printers, TVs, gaming devices and home appliances.
Go Dixons Carphone Takes Essesntial Next Step in Turnaround of UK Mobile Business
