White devices are opening up new avenues for the Framework

Of George Lampiris

A milestone are the home appliances for Plaisio with the company aiming to strengthen this category, which is constantly gaining a share of the turnover. The philosophy of the people of Plaisio is to offer the possibility to the customers who visit their stores to buy a spare printer ink or a cpu, so that they can also supply home appliances.

“The success of home appliances is due to the fact that we can take advantage of the traffic of the store and our customer can see that we also have home appliances”, noted the vice president and CEO of the company, Costas Gerardos during the regular general meeting of shareholders .

The white devices are available in 10 stores

The company currently has the white devices through 10 points of sale with the prospect of further developing this activity.

At the same time it is based on the omnichannel consumer experience, with the disposal of the specific goods but also of the whole range through physical stores, eshop as well as through call center. An important step was the entry into the HoReCa market during 2021.

In 2021, Plaisio recorded a record turnover of 436.9 million euros, an amount which also includes the aid it received in its sizes from the Digital Care program with an increase of sales over 23% and cash available of 62.1 million euros from 58 , EUR 5 million in 2020.

From 22 million euros to 42 million euros the category

The product categories that recorded the largest increase in turnover last year were digital technology products with an increase in sales by 39 million euros, followed by white appliances, which increased from 22 million euros in 2020 to 42 million euros in 2021, with a participation of 9.7% in the company’s turnover.

At 15% the participation of ecommerce in the turnover in the first four months of 2022

In terms of the course of ecommerce at the moment it has stabilized, reflecting 15% of the turnover for the Framework during the first four months of 2022 and is now showing stabilization trends. It is noted that in the four months of 2021, which was a year with the closure of physical stores for a significant period of time, ecommerce reflected a percentage of 20% of total sales, compared to just 8.5% which was the corresponding percentage in 2019, before the pandemic.

For this year, there is a plan to create two new stores, while at the moment negotiations are underway to close the points that will host them. As for the size of the specific stores, it will be approximately 1,500 sq.m. while both will have white devices.

Consumption “frozen” in the first four months

Referring to the course of the first four months, Costas Gerardos noted that consumption for the entire market was frozen due to increases in energy and consequently due to pressures from the consumer.

“We do not consider it a tragedy that we are facing. Our assessment is that this is something that will pass, but it is a difficult situation for the whole economy.

There are shortages, however we have the capital adequacy to buy larger quantities to have availability, while we also have sufficient logistics facilities to house the stocks we create. “As far as our products are concerned, the strict lockdowns in Shanghai do not affect our availability”, said Costas Gerardos.

He added that this April was a difficult month, which is also due to the fact that it is compared to last year, where the Digital Care program was implemented as early as March.

Another reason why April was declining this year is because the stores reopened the same month last year, which pushed consumers to physical stores. However, he added that May shows more positive samples compared to last April.

“Through these conditions we are flourishing. We are used to difficult conditions and we will do well.

“White sales are a key pillar of the Framework and despite the fact that we have only 10 points of sale through our physical stores, we have significant sales growth, which shows that people prefer us to buy these products,” he added. Mr. Gerard.