Hard blow for employees.
The German perfume group Douglas, owner of the French Nocibé, announced Thursday the closure of nearly 20% of its stores in Europe, to focus on online sales, while the pandemic has brought down its in-store activity.
"Around 500 of the 2,400 European stores will be closed by the fall of 2022," the German group said in a statement.
In total, 2,500 jobs are threatened by these closures in Europe, including “around 350” in France, where the group operates entirely under the Nocibé brand, company spokespersons tell AFP.
The group intends to close 62 stores in France, or 12% of its fleet, the largest in Europe.
According to the CFTC union, 338 employees working in stores and 9 at headquarters are concerned in France.
"The Covid has accelerated digitization, as everywhere, but it's a shock", "we had seen nothing coming" commented the secretary (CFTC) of the social and economic committee, Véronique Moreau, noting that the closures will target oldest stores.
New consumption habits with Covid-19
Douglas, present in Spain, Italy and Poland in particular, justifies these measures by “changing the consumption habits” of its customers, in favor of online purchases, to the detriment of physical sales.
This phenomenon, already present before the crisis, was "accelerated by the Covid-19 pandemic", explains the company.
The company's project, which also includes a component for the development of digital activity, was presented Thursday morning to representatives of French employees.
It ensures that it wants to "seek all solutions" for "appropriate support" for employees affected by these reductions of subsidiaries.
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A large part of the closures should in any case take place in the countries of "southern Europe", where the group's activity has been "particularly hit by the impact of the pandemic", which has led to several periods of closure. “non-essential” businesses.
In Spain, 40% of stores will be closed, that is to say 97 closings and six restructurings, indicated in a statement the union Workers' Commissions, which estimates at 600 the number of positions which could be cut.
The union considers this restructuring "totally disproportionate".
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The group is owned by the investment fund CVC Capital partners and the Kreke family, founder of the Douglas perfumeries at the beginning of the 20th century in Hamburg (north).
Douglas experienced a sharp drop in adjusted operating profit (-16.7%) and sales (-6.4%) for its delayed 2019/2020 financial year.
In online sales, however, in 2020 the group achieved a turnover up 40.6%, to 822 million euros.
