The French electronic goods and book retailer is adding three more stores to its chain in Portugal with Faro joining Oeiras and Setúbal.
The three new stores will be between 900m2 and 1,600m2 building on the medium size format that gives optimum profitability.
Last December the group’s management commented that it wanted to grow faster and to open up in places with slightly smaller store formats and be more accessible to customers.
There are currently 19 stores in Portugal built up over the last 15 years, the last new store opening in 2010. The Faro store will be located at the burgeoning Fórum Algarve which recently has been attracting customers with a series of store signings including an Apple shop and a new Nespresso outlet.
Fnac management is betting on smaller stores and is open to working with franchisees as it concentrates on reducing costs and building up its online business.
The company has experienced a drop in turnover with €320 million in 2012 representing a €9 million drop from 2008 but the company is weathering the retail downturn and now is expanding in a show of faith in an emerging Portuguese economy.
Cláudia Almeida e Silva took over in 2010 but could not halt the sales decline of 4.2% last year, but Fnac still turned over €654 million last year in Spain and Portugal with first half figures in Portugal up this year.
See also: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fnac
