Darty Q4 revenues boosted by France digital switchover

26th May 2016 07:54

(ShareCast News) - Fourth quarter like-for-like revenue at France-based electrical retailer Darty rose 12%, with sales particularly strong in vision driven by the digital television switchover in France.The company said it also saw positive sales in all other major product categories apart from multi-media, where the market remained weak.Web-generated sales continued to grow, up 14.4% excluding Mistergooddeal.com, now representing over 16% total product sales.Darty (excluding Mistergooddeal.com) continued to outperform the market, with total revenue up 17.2% and like-for-like sales up 16% by the digital vision switchover.The switchover impacted an estimated 3m televisions, meaning customers had to buy a set top box or a new television."At the switchover deadline in early April, Darty sold over 8,000 set-top boxes, 3,000 HDMI cables and 800 new televisions every hour," Darty said.Darty's web-generated sales grew over 17% to represent close to 16%. This was driven by a more than 50% growth in click and collect sales.Régis Schultz, chief executive said: "We saw an exceptional sales performance in France during the quarter as our service credentials made us the reference retailer for customer advice on the television switchover."