Domo forecasts turnover of $135m from commercial galleries

Domo, the retailer of electronics and electrical home appliances, has reported turnover of 75 million euros for the first nine months of this year, 30% more than in the corresponding period last year.

“For the entire year, we are estimating turnover of 135 million euros. Anyway, as in previous years, the final months of the year contribute a lot to overall sales,” said Lorand Szavadi, general manager of Domo Retail, the company that runs the Domo store network.

If the company hits its targets this will mean growth of around 35%. Domo Retail turned over more than 100 million euros last year, according to Finance Ministry data.

“This year we have a bigger sales area and a new brand image. We also have a partnership through which we will open stores in the commercial galleries at Kaufland hypermarkets,” Szarvadi explained.

The first Domo store in a Kaufland gallery was opened on Wednesday, in the Colentina-Bucur Obor area of Bucharest. A further five such stores are due for opening in a number of other cities by the end of the year.

“This is the first time we present the new brand identity. We will go together with Kaufland at all their locations on the Romanian market.

Kaufland stores also sell electronics and home appliances, but this is quite limited. We will mainly focus on medium and above-medium product categories, though we will also have cheap products,” added Szarvadi.

He expects the last month of the year to generate sales of 30 million euros, an increase on December last year.

“The second half of the year continues to be much better than the first half for the electronics and home appliances market,” he said.

This year saw Domo begin a rebranding process (the launch of a new visual identity and a new store concept) involving more than 2 million euros of investment.

According to Domo officials, the idea for the rebranding surfaced this spring in answer to the company”s need to grow, not only by expanding its national retail network, but also by enlarging its product portfolio, especially in the IT&C domain.

Over recent years, IT&C product sales have grown strongly amid slower growth for traditional home appliances, such as refrigerators and cooking stoves.

Domo Retail last year split from Interexpo, a company set up in 1994 by a number of private investors and involved in the importing, distribution and retail of electronics and home appliances.