The interest was high when Clas Ohlson opened a new store in St Albans in the outskirts of London yesterday. This is Clas Ohlson’s very first store in the new smaller format where the interaction between stores and e-commerce is more visible for the customer, an important step in the development of the company's omni-channel strategy.
The new store is the first to present the product range in a new way, and in substantially less space that a typical Clas Ohlson store, while the width of the offering is maintained. The store has more digital solutions, more inspiring elements and customers have access to the full range of products via customer terminals. This will also be Clas Ohlson's first store to offer so-called Click & Collect, i.e. the ability to order online and pick up in store. This is now also being introduced in all Clas Ohlson’s stores in the UK.
”We are constantly striving to become more relevant and accessible in our offering and in the customer meeting. With this new, smaller store format, we can offer a full product range in a much smaller space which will help us to be more flexible when expanding our store network,” says Peter Jelkeby, Vice President of Clas Ohlson.
The new store format is a complement to existing larger stores and part of the company's omni-channel strategy. Clas Ohlson plans for another couple of stores in the new small store format in the first evaluation phase.
The new store is located in The Maltings Shopping Centre in St Albans with a retail space of approximately 300 square meters. The store’s primary catchment area is large, and the shopping centre has about 21 million visitors annually.
During the 2015/16 financial year, Clas Ohlson plans to establish a total of 10-15 new stores. The total number of future store establishments under contract is 12. Clas Ohlson currently offers online shopping in all its markets and has a total of 201 stores, of which 82 are situated in Sweden, 74 in Norway, 32 in Finland, 12 in the UK and a franchise store in Dubai.
Future store openings
Sweden
Center Syd, Löddeköpinge, scheduled to open in November 2015
Mall of Scandinavia, Solna, Stockholm scheduled to open in November 2015
Umeå Syd, Umeå, scheduled to open in March 2016
Norway
Svolvær, scheduled to open in August 2016
Stovner, Oslo, scheduled to open in November 2016
Finland
Iso Omena, Espoo, scheduled to open in October 2015
Mylly Shopping Centre, Raisio, scheduled to open in November 2015
Kaivotalo, Helsinki, scheduled to open in October 2016
UK
Ealing, London, scheduled to open in January 2016
Germany
Jungfernstieg, Hamburg, scheduled to open in summer of 2016
Altona, Hamburg, scheduled to open in autumn of 2016
Alstertal, Hamburg, scheduled to open in autumn of 2016