16 Apr 2015 Maplin Records Strongest Growth in Seven Years
Maplin has focussed strongly on product and service in recent years, which has paid dividends as the electronic retailer has seen its strongest growth since 2008.
Maplin’s full year like-for-like figures have increased by 4.3% with revenue up by 6.3% to £237m. Online sales have increased to 20.6% and now represent 10% of the company turnover. This has been driven by Maplin’s new ‘click and collect’ offering as well as a new web platform, installed in 2014 and the company’s wide product offering, which has nearly tripled in the last two years.
Maplin customers now have more choice with increased product ranges that include new and exciting high tech products such as drones, 10,000 of which have been sold in the last 12 months.
In addition to increasing the product range, Maplin has also increased its estate, adding four ‘core’ shops to its existing 218 stores across the UK plus 2 further trial stores, a ‘travel hub’ in Glasgow airport and its first trade counter in Sheffield.
John Cleland, CEO, said: “We have benefitted from a focus on improving Maplin’s product and service proposition, along with our commitment to the best customer experience. In the year ahead we will continue to unite our sales and service channels for the best customer journey and will continue to invest in the help and advice our colleagues provide, as well as continuing to support product innovation. These are very exciting times for Maplin and, again, I am proud of what our colleagues have done to change and improve the Maplin customer experience.”