“We must create a repair economy,” declares the general director of Fnac-Darty

How does a retail giant approach Black Friday? Enrique Martinez, general manager of the Fnac-Darty group, is the eco guest on November 24.

One in two French people plan to participate in Black Friday according to a Crédoc study. For a group like Fnac-Darty, it’s a day that should not be missed. Enrique Martinez, its general manager, is the eco guest this Friday, November 24.

This day is increasingly controversial, as shown by this advertising campaign from the Ecological Transition Agency for Black Friday, which encourages people to consume less with “resellers”. It angered some of the traders. It divides within the government.

franceinfo: What did you think of this campaign?

Enrique Martinez: I think consumers have already understood that there are alternatives to consumption. The proof is that one in two consumers have already sold or bought second-hand products. At home, we see that we have never repaired so many products. So that’s already part of consumers’ habits. This campaign, I think, is a bit ill-timed. It comes at a time when all traders are recovering their lost turnover. I think we could have gotten the message across in another way. Afterwards, basically, I think that consumers did not wait for this campaign to mobilize around more responsible consumption.

Maybe now is not the right time for you?

I prefer to give good arguments for consumers to do so rather than giving lessons and penalizing these traders, many of whom are already mobilizing to have more responsible products and short circuits. It is not small traders today who are hindering the ecological transition of consumption.

“We must take an interest in major global players, large platforms which are in the process of invading the European space with products which do not correspond to any of the quality standards that we want in our stores.”

Enrique Martinez, general manager of Fnac-Darty

at franceinfo

What does an event like Black Friday represent in terms of sales for Fnac-Darty?

Black Friday has become a great commercial time of the year, as Christmas is very close. This is an opportunity to anticipate Christmas sales and prepare for parties. And it’s also an opportunity to save money because we now offer quality products, but also with significant discounts. In times when purchasing power is a little in difficulty, it is an appointment that the consumer does not miss. So, it’s a big weekend of activity for us.

Isn’t that a bit paradoxical? Does it still make sense in 2023 to do these big promotional days? There are other brands that no longer do this, is this something you have thought about?

Christmas is always an opportunity for people to make the purchases they need for themselves and to give gifts. The products that we sell, for the most part, are products that we need to live our daily lives. These are not superfluous items or purchases that we throw away. When you buy a washing machine, you normally don’t do it for pleasure, you do it because you need it. When you buy a book, it is because you want to educate and cultivate yourself. So we don’t think we’re into advanced consumption. What we sell for Black Friday is exactly what we will sell throughout the year, Christmas included. Except that there are purchasing opportunities and the consumer seeks these opportunities for his purchasing power.

So we won’t see you giving up Black Friday promotional operations?

The consumer today has a purchasing power that is fragile. The economic model of traders is also fragile, and very challenged for different reasons. So we must not break these social models, we must make them evolve. We have made many commitments and initiatives on repairs to extend the life of our products. But if you break these models that employ millions of people today in this country, you will encounter an effect that is quite the opposite. I do not think that the government has embarked on a degrowth project, but rather on a responsible growth project.

“We can probably go much faster, but be careful not to make those who are not the culprits pay.”

Enrique Martinez, general manager of Fnac Darty

at franceinfo

Let’s talk about your sixth edition of the after-sales service barometer. What we read there is that the French have more of the reflex to have their devices repaired than before rather than buying a new one. But are there still any brakes?

The main obstacle is knowing if there are enough qualified technicians on the job market to repair products in good conditions. The answer is no. This is why we need training. And we train hundreds of them, but it’s not enough because we can’t cover all the markets. So we have done work to enlighten consumers and help them choose the right products. We have to work on the availability of parts, because without parts, we have no repair. But the big limit remains the training of technicians. This is a sector that must be set up because it is not repair bonuses and television announcements that are going to change things. We must create a repair economy.

How many products do you repair over the course of a year?

Before Covid, there were 1.6 million of us, almost a third of all that was done in France. Today, we already exceed 2.5 million. This has never happened in the history of our group. On the contrary, we were on a decline in repair. Today, we repair more and more because we have invested more in parts, because we have invested in technicians and because consumers are more open than ever to repairing these products.

What impact has inflation had on your sales and on the behavior of your customers?

Inflation, coupled with a lack of consumer confidence, has caused an overall decline in consumption volumes. We must also add the Covid period where certain categories produced significant volumes. So, all of this combined means that today, if you looked at our figures, we are approximately 20% less compared to last year. We are not able to exceed inflation in our volumes, we are a little behind and this is probably more impacted by the lack of confidence than by purchasing power which in France has not deteriorated too much Ultimately.