Mattress etailer Emma has seen its physical presence in stores across Europe pass the 3,000 mark after the roll-out of its Emma Select collection.
Emma Select is sold by 11 UK retailers, headed by John Lewis and Furniture Village, and is stocked at 195 UK stores.
This has already passed distribution in Italy, Portugal, and Belgium/Netherlands. In Italy Emma has 18 stockists with 40 stores; Portugal 18 retailers with 50 branches and two retailers with 135 stores across Belgium and the Netherlands.
It is available from 36 retailers with 277 stores in France, headed by LaHalle and Conforama; 85 stockists with 255 branches in Spain, headed by El Corte Inglese. However, these numbers are dwarfed by its home German market, where 32 retailers, headed by Danisches Bettenlager, offer the brand in 2,284 stores.
The company is also seeking to open further UK showrooms, after the opening of its first at Cranmore Park, Solihull.
‘Ecommerce is growing continuously, and the pandemic has further accelerated the shift to online shopping. Nevertheless, opening the brick-and-mortar shops after lockdown has led to strong customer traffic. Some customers will always appreciate the option of testing products in-store and getting personal advice. The on-site experience of retail will never be fully replaced in the mattress industry. Investing in omnichannel approaches is the next big move for us while growing internationally,’ says Dennis Schmoltzi, Emma ceo.
‘It is not about putting the same product you sell online in physical stores. In fact, you have to offer customers a new kind of shopping experience offline. For example, different marketing assets like lightboxes or technical videos simplify the explanation of mattress types, and the presentation with large emotional images gains attraction in the displays of brick-and-mortar stores,’ says Neil Robinson, Emma UK and Ireland country sales director.
