Comet Group

Comet Group plc

Type	Electrical retailer
Industry	Retail
Founded	1933
Founder(s)	George Hollingberry in Kingston upon Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire
Headquarters	Nationwide, United Kingdom Rickmansworth, United Kingdom
Number of locations	248 stores
Area served	United Kingdom
Key people	Bob Darke (Managing Director), since March 2011, Mike Rooney (Retail Operations Director), Bob Darke (Commercial Director), Toby Lousada (Services Director), Richard Boult (Business Support Director),
Products	White Goods, Telecommunications, Information technology, Home Entertainment
Revenue	-6.5%
Employees	10,000
Parent	KESA Electricals
Website	comet.co.uk

Comet is an electrical retailer in the United Kingdom, which is owned by Kesa Electricals plc after the demerger of Kingfisher plc. The group was founded in 1933 by George Hollingberry in Hull as Comet Battery Stores Limited. The retailer specialises in electrical retailing after Comet demerged from Kingfisher, which also owns electrical retailer Laskys and DIY store B&Q and formerly Woolworths and Superdrug, in 2003 to form a new group under the Kingfisher Electricals S.A. umbrella. On 18 August 2005, Comet underwent a £20 million re branding campaign to differentiate itself from other players in the market, mainly Currys, as both company logos were in white print against a red background and the company names were 'similar'. It was often the case that customers would buy an item from Currys and attempt to return it to Comet, either believing the two companies were part of the same brand or simply mistaking the two^{[citation needed]}.

Comet operate a policy called Every Day Low Pricing. With this, they check competitors' prices and where they find lower prices they reduce their own to match. Like many retailers they back this up with a 'price promise'. This states that if a customer finds the same product on sale at another retailer locally (within 10 miles) for less, then Comet will match this price. The product needs to be exactly the same model, sealed new, in stock from the other retailer within 10 miles of the purchase store, and verifiable. They do not match Internet sites or warehouse outlets such as Makro as they do not offer the service and advice that Comet does in store. The price promise can be used at the time of purchase or at any time within the first 14 days after purchase.

Store types

Comet adjacent to their main competitor Currys, in Guiseley, West Yorkshire.

A Comet in Leeds, carrying the old logo.

The retailer has around 250 stores in the UK in three different layouts. The 'high street' style store contains large display cases stocking mainly small domestic appliances such as grey and brown goods with others in warehouses and few items available for self select. The 'core' store, larger than the previous, stocks a larger range of goods to include white goods. Some items are self select; other larger items are kept in a warehouse. The 'destination' store, stocks nearly the whole range that Comet sells, many items are self select except for very large and delivery only items. These stores will also stock many of what Comet calls the 'premier collection'. These are products by well-known brands such as, Panasonic, Pioneer, Apple, Sony, Samsung, Philips, AEG and Miele. Through Kesa, Comet also sell their own brand products covering most categories of small electricals under the name ProLine.

Kesa Electricals have also unveiled plans for forty two-storey Comet outlets by putting mezzanine levels into some of its 250 Comet stores, starting with 10 in 2007. Kesa, who launched a combined television, phone and internet service at its French chain Darty, ruled out bringing a similar service to the UK. Hugh Harvey, Comet's managing director, said the UK chain would "stick to a traditional retail offer while we watch Mr Murdoch and Mr Branson fight it out." In France, 28,000 subscribers had signed up to DartyBox by the end of January 2007 with a further 140,000 more subscribers by the end of 2007.^[1]

Slogan

Comet's slogan old phrase was "We live electricals". The 'mascot' was a small man wearing a helmet with a comet on it and riding a scooter.Edith Bowman was the voice of the television and radio adverts for Comet since 2005. The company had a new series of TV adverts, with a new slogan; "We deal in your ideal". The adverts see the old animated style dropped for live action film, but retain the voice of Edith Bowman, as well as the old slogan in as part of the logo.

On 15 September 2010 a new logo was launched, similar to that of the previous but slightly softer with the Comet wordmark in lowercase and with a new strap line of 'Come and Play'. The new branding is focusing on more of a fun and friendly approach to its customers, appealing to many different target audiences to come into store and try out some of the interactive displays such as 3D TV. There are 4 new TV adverts too, with Comet employees building one big technical visual appliance from lots of smaller ones.

Criticism

Comet regularly comes under fire for poor customer service issues^[2] and inadequately trained sales staff.^[3] Complaints about Comet's refusal to refund faulty products have led to investigation by Trading Standards.^[4] Comet price promise states, "There are a couple of exceptions. We won't try to match the price of internet or mail order companies with no stores. Nor do we match against warehouse or mail order clubs or voucher promotions, either online or in-store."

Distribution

Comet out-source their distribution operations to Wincanton and DHL. They have recently invested millions of pounds moving their southern Regional Distribution Centre (RDC) from River Way in Harlow to a state-of-the-art warehouse on Edinburgh Way, Harlow. In addition to their 'New Harlow' RDC, they have a further RDC in Skelmersdale and a National Distribution Centre (NDC) in Corby, Northamptonshire.

Financial results

Year	2000/01	2001/02	2002/03	2003/04	2004/05	2005/06	2006/07	2007/08	2008/09	2009/10
Sales £M	1,205.8	1,335.6	1,406.1	1,444.4	1,538.1	1,530	1,676.5	1,731.6	1,659.6	1,650.2
Retail Profit £M	33.1	38.4	43.3	47.4	52.0	38.0	46.1	44.2	10.1	11.5

This data is sourced from the Comet Group website

Comet delivered record trading from Boxing Day 2010 through to the New Year weekend, but this strong performance failed to offset the weaker sales seen early in December due to competitive trading and adverse weather conditions. Overall revenue for the period declined by 6.5 per cent in local currency and by 7.3 per cent on a like-for-like basis. Gross margin declined by c.140bps reflecting the highly promotional nature of the market over the period. Web-generated sales grew by only 3 per cent, reflecting some disruption during the introduction of the new software platform by Comet in November 2010. Since the introduction of the VAT increase on 4 January Comet has so far seen sales trends soften. In the light of these factors Comet is now anticipating the company will deliver a small retail loss for the year.^[5]

High Street

The High Street Comet on Briggate in Leeds.

Comet tested the idea of high street stores in Manchester and Leeds in an attempt to compete with Currys Digital.

The Leeds Briggate store was closed, 3 months after opening due to the store premises, which were spread over two storeys, being unsuitable for disabled access. The store was deemed a success and Comet are currently searching for another site in the area which would be more suitable for all customers.

The store in Manchester located in the Arndale Centre remained open after the trial period, however it closed on 17 January 2011.

Competitors

• Dixons, Currys.digital, Currys and PC World (owned by Dixons Retail plc)
• Argos (owned by Home Retail Group)
• Maplin Electronics
• Tesco Direct
• Asda Direct
• Best Buy

See also

• Kesa Electricals
• Darty
• Wegert
• DartyBox

References

1. ^ "Kesa plans 40 two-storey Comet outlets". The Independent. 22 March 2007. http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_qn4158/is_20070322/ai_n18740419. Retrieved 2007-12-30. ^{[dead link]}
2. ^ Ciao Comet Reviews
3. ^ Dooyoo Comet review Dooyoo
4. ^ Don't buy from Comet Platinax
5. ^ Third Quarter Interim Management Statement - January 2011 by Kesa Electricals

External links

• Comet
• Comet-Accessories
• Comet Business Services
• Comet Corporate Site
• Review of store on Kelkoo