Germanos gets a new look
Mobile phone accessory and battery retailer Germanos is hoping that a major revamping of its network and image will help it maintain its market leadership amid intensifying competition. The company said yesterday that it is investing more than 10 million euros in the makeover, involving a new logo, new shop layout and new inventory software. The overhaul of the national network which kicked off in June is expected to be completed this month. Germanos’s outlets in Poland, Bulgaria, Romania, the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Cyprus are slated for remodeling next month, with the new look estimated to be in place by the end of the year. The retailer is partially financing the changes, with franchisees also footing a portion of the bill. General Manager Dimitris Lolis told Kathimerini English Edition that Germanos is looking to boost its market share with the new image. «We currently have 36 percent of mobile telephony contracts in Greece. We hope the revamping will improve this by two percentage points by the end of the year,» he said. Sales aside, he said Germanos’s new image underscores its focus on customer-friendly service, while the new shop layout will allow customers to try out the products on display. Germanos, which offers CosmOTE and Stet Hellas’s products and services, is not holding talks with Vodafone (Panafon) on including the latter’s products in its outlets, Yiannis Karayiannis, managing director, said. «However, we are always open to any eventuality,» he said. Germanos last month reported a 36.1-percent increase in first-half consolidated sales and a 42-percent rise in earnings before interest, tax, depreciation and amortization. Group turnover for the full year is projected to increase by 25-30 percent and profits before tax and after minority rights by 15 percent. It is currently flying to Dubai via Beirut, but had planned to open Belgrade-Kuwait-Dubai and Belgrade-Tehran-Dubai lines. «But it seems that the only certain new destination will be to Tirana,» Vulic added.
