Mobalpa opens UK flagship store

French kitchen furniture manufacturer Mobalpa is set to celebrate the opening of its flagship store in Warrington, on June 23-24.

The 3,300sq ft showroom forms part of an expansion programme and will provide a blueprint for a series of UK concept stores. These will be either retail partnerships or Mobalpa-owned and will join its network of 500 showrooms across 38 countries worldwide, serving more than one million customers.

To celebrate the launch of its flagship store, Mobalpa has organised a number of events to run across the weekend. These include the head chef from Le Bistrot Pierre to host a French cookery demonstration on June 23, followed by a culinary presentation from a Neff appliances chef on June 24.

In addition, visitors will be able to enter a free draw, with the top prize being a weekend for two in Paris on a Bateaux Mouche excursion, as well as a day at the Alain Ducasse cooking school.

In addition, Mobalpa will also be offering free installation on any kitchen purchased from its Warrington showroom from June 23-July 21, 2012.

Mobalpa operates from three production facilities in France, employs more than 1,000 people, and manufactures over 50,000 kitchens each year.

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General manager of Mobalpa UK, Cyril Raberin said: “We know there is a healthy demand for our kitchen concepts in the UK through our success with some of our independent retailers.”

He added: “Following this store, there will be several more over the next couple of years all over the UK helping Mobalpa to become even more visible and further grow our position within one of the main European kitchen markets.”

Symphony launches 'New Perspectives' support package for retailers

Furniture manufacturer Symphony has revisited its retail offer to introduce the New Perspectives support package to help them attract more customers, win more business and increase margins.

The New Perspectives package covers product choice, display assistance, ordering and delivery packages, training, marketing, support, exclusive sales territories.

But where this support package arguably stands out, is independent retailers will be able to ‘pick and mix’ from the offer to best suit their locality and client base.

Retailers will be able to choose from Symphony’s collection of product ranges to suit the design tastes and price mix of the locality.

In addition, they can pick from marketing materials – brochures through to sales promotions - so the package is tailored to suit each business.

Group marketing director of Symphony Group Simon Collyns explains the concept behind the flexible retail package: “We’ve recognised the market - at the moment - is very, very tough. We’ve also recognised that retailers are very much their own people, in terms of localised areas, what they want to do and how they want to present their own businesses”.

Group managing director Marytn Davis commented: “New Perspectives is a huge milestone for us. We have spend the last few years transforming our marketing, product range, manufacturing capability and service delivery, so that we can respond to independent retailers better than ever before. This means our retail offer is now the strongest it’s ever been, as we can deliver a real point of difference in terms of our competitors. We’re raising the bar when it comes to the retail market.

“New Perspectives brings everything together in a compelling and tangible package that demonstrates a clever commitment to our retailer partners and shows how far we’ve come as a business. We’re confident this is a market-leading offer.”

This is the latest initiative from Symphony to help increase its customer of independent retailers. Most recently, the company committed to a price promotion with 50% off its Gallery premium range of kitchens and last year the company invested a six-figure sum in its marketing suite at its Barnsley HQ.

Symphony has 500 dealers selling its Milano and Gallery Kitchens brands, Embrace bedrooms and Aquadi bathrooms brand.

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