Darty Q4 revenues boosted by France digital switchover

Fourth quarter like-for-like revenue at France-based electrical retailer Darty rose 12%, with sales particularly strong in vision driven by the digital television switchover in France.

The company said it also saw positive sales in all other major product categories apart from multi-media, where the market remained weak.

Web-generated sales continued to grow, up 14.4% excluding Mistergooddeal.com, now representing over 16% total product sales.

Darty (excluding Mistergooddeal.com) continued to outperform the market, with total revenue up 17.2% and like-for-like sales up 16% by the digital vision switchover.

The switchover impacted an estimated 3m televisions, meaning customers had to buy a set top box or a new television.
“At the switchover deadline in early April, Darty sold over 8,000 set-top boxes, 3,000 HDMI cables and 800 new televisions every hour,” Darty said.

Darty's web-generated sales grew over 17% to represent close to 16%. This was driven by a more than 50% growth in click and collect sales.

Régis Schultz, chief executive said: "We saw an exceptional sales performance in France during the quarter as our service credentials made us the reference retailer for customer advice on the television switchover.”