June 18, 2024 Right now at 11:00 am
The brand new proprietor of Casa is having an enormous sale for a month. The Belgian inside design chain then opts for a technique that ought to result in revenue once more.
Casa desires to make tabula rasa with a sale of greater than 5 weeks. Merchandise are offered with tens of % reductions, each in shops and on-line. Casa can be making an attempt to do away with the big quantity of unsold objects in its warehouse in Olen. ‘Casa has bought an excessive amount of lately. It’s now lowering these shares as a way to increase the required money,” says Johan Van Loon of the ACV commerce union.
It’s unclear what the corporate plans to do after the sale. The inside design chain says it’s engaged on ‘a brand new positioning of the shop idea’, however doesn’t need to reply questions in regards to the future.
Casa has been in dire straits for a number of years. In 2020, the corporate filed for cover from its collectors. The underlying firm has been making a loss since 2016. Within the monetary 12 months 2022-2023, there was an working lack of 10 million euros on a turnover of 168 million euros. The newest monetary 12 months, for which no figures are but public, was ‘difficult’ based on the unions.
Gradual and unstable
The corporate was sluggish to answer new traits. For instance, Casa solely began e-commerce in 2017. On the similar time, competitors from inside design chains reminiscent of IKEA and Motion elevated.
Casa is divesting most of its Dutch shops. No shops have closed but in Belgium.
Moreover, the shareholding was unstable. For years the chain was owned by the Dutch Blokker household. Casa offered it to the Globitas funding fund in 2021. The corporate offered that to the Swedish-Lebanese businessman Ayad Al Saffar in April this 12 months. He’s, amongst different issues, the proprietor of the Swedish retail group Åhléns, which has been round for greater than 100 years and has roughly fifty shops in Sweden.
Instantly after the takeover, Al Saffar appointed Frank Pruijn as industrial director. He places the knife within the retailer file. Within the Netherlands, a 3rd of the 34 shops will disappear. Some shut their doorways and different shops are offered to competitor Xenos. Lately, the variety of shops decreased from virtually 500 to 450. The variety of workers fell from 3,200 to three,000. Casa has shops in ten international locations.
The query arises whether or not shops are additionally closing in Belgium. The unions are usually not anxious in the interim. “It has been agreed within the collective labor settlement that administration should inform us no less than three months upfront if a retailer is closing,” says Van Loon. ‘To date, not a single retailer has closed in Belgium.’