High street showrooms
“The
rationale is that people can come in, touch, feel and look at how it will be in
their home – afterwards they can buy on their mobiles in the store“, said European CEO
Maria Holland in an interview with the Financial Times. However, she didn’t say how many
stores they plan on opening up.
The shops
will mainly come in the most important shopping streets. They will also have
quite large surfaces. The online chain has already mandated real estate agents to
look for suitable buildings.
Almost
break-even
Fab.com is
swimming against the current with its decision, as more physical retailers are
focusing more on online sales. Fab.com does not start from scratch though: when
it bought German furniture producer MassivKonzept earlier this year, it also
acquired its physical shop in Hamburg to change it into a showroom.
Fab.com is
expecting sales of 100 million dollar or 75 million euro this year in Europe.
About sixty percent will come from Germany and Austria. The company is also on
its way to break even for the first time in 2014.
