This is a consequence of the group's drop in sales in 2023. Maisons du Monde announced this Tuesday in a press release that it wants to sell off 40 to 50 of its 340 stores by 2026, via "closures" or "transfers". ".
This aims to reduce “capital intensity with a more balanced and optimized
(store)
network ,” the press release states.
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.
These closures seem to be an extension of the strategy of Maisons du Monde, which carries out 55% of its activity in France.
“At the end of December 2023, the store network reached 340 directly owned stores, following 18 net closures including 5 transfers of stores to affiliates, as planned,” the group specifies in its press release.
9.3% drop in sales
Group-wide, sales decreased by 9.3% in 2023 compared to 2022, to 1.13 billion euros.
This comes, according to Maisons du Monde, “in a difficult context for the Homes and Decoration sector, accentuated by unfavorable macroeconomic factors (geopolitical uncertainties, unprecedented inflation, decline in consumer confidence)”.
In detail, sales of decoration fell by 9.9% in one year, those of furniture by 8.4%.
Also read “Products at −30% or −50%”: Maisons du Monde launches into second-hand goods
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 director 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.