Carphone Warehouse, Great Britain’s largest independent iPhone retailer, said Tuesday it will shut all of its 531 stores as competition intensifies and mobile phone sales move online.
The decision will impact almost 3,000 employees, according to the retailers parent company, Dixons Carphone. It hopes to relocate 1,800 of those positions to take new roles in the business.
The 531 Carphone Warehouse stores will close April 3. The company said it will continue to sell mobile phones through its 305 PC World and Currys stores and that it remained committed to mobile. It added that it was launching a new mobile offer later in the year and everything would still be available online.
A drastic but necessary move for the future
The dramatic business decision has all to do with the changing shopping habits of consumers, according to research analysts. Consumers are not upgrading their mobile phone as often as they used to and are increasingly buying online and from its big stores – which sell computers and TVs as well as mobiles – instead of its smaller, standalone mobile shops.
Dixons Carphone has been losing £90 million ($108.5 million US) a year in its mobile retailing stores, according to the company. Carphone Warehouse is currently the largest independent mobile retailer of iPhone products in the United Kingdom, according to market research firm, CCS Insight.
“They can’t find all this in the small mobile-only stores that are one-twentieth of the size; they’re visiting these less and these stores are losing more money as a result,” said group chief executive Alex Baldock.
“I don’t underestimate how upsetting this news will be for our colleagues, and we’ll treat everyone with honesty, respect and care,” Baldock said in a company statement.
“But though this is by far the toughest decision we’ve had to make, it is necessary. We must follow our customers. They want help with all technology, all in one place, and this trend is only going to accelerate in a more connected 5G world.”
Company executives say the decision had nothing to do with the coronavirus outbreak that is impacting businesses worldwide, but has been in the planning stages for some time.
“The coronavirus and uncertain outlook ahead has underlined the importance of acting decisively, but no, the driver here is what we’re seeing from customers,” Baldock told the BBC’s Today program.
