Prevention is better than cure. While sales are declining, Maisons du Monde, the distributor of furniture and decorative objects, announced on Tuesday March 12 in a communicated wanting to achieve “40 to 50 store closures or transfers” by 2026, out of the 340 managed by the group. The brand, which has also announced a net profit down 74% in 2023 compared to 2022, at 8.8 million euros, also wishes to pass “nearly 30% of the network under affiliation or franchise” here in 2026.
This strategy is already in working order. “At the end of December 2023, the store network reached 340 directly owned stores, following 18 net closures including five transfers of stores to affiliates, as planned,” the group specifies in its press release. A system put in place in the face of a decrease in sales of 9.3% compared to 2022.
Decoration sales fell by 9.9% in one year, those of furniture by 8.4%. We also observed a fall internationally, with sales falling by 12.9%. According to those mainly concerned, the fault lies in a “difficult context for the Homes and Decoration sector, accentuated by unfavorable macroeconomic factors (geopolitical uncertainties, unprecedented inflation, drop in consumer confidence)”.
85 million euros in savings in three years
In this context, the group has identified around fifty stores whose profitability needs to be improved. Solutions to achieve this include renegotiating rents, selling to affiliates or moving, for example from the city center to a commercial activity area. The definitive closure will only affect a “tiny” part of the park, assured AFP Christophe Lapotre, executive director of operations of the group, who is also considering other openings of points of sale.
While Maisons du Monde had already experienced a halving of its net profit in 2022, the distributor decided to place “an emphasis on simplification and financial discipline”, according to François-Melchior de Polignac, general manager of the brand, cited in the press release. The group wants to achieve a total of 85 million euros in savings over three years. To do this, in addition to store closures and transfers, it plans to reduce its stocks by one month and halve its number of suppliers.