Claire’s Looks to Expand Concessions

Claire’s Stores Inc. intends to expand on its concession program, currently in place in 130 Toys ‘R’ Us stores, as it looks to use a combination of shops-in-shop and e-commerce to lessen the effects of poor mall traffic. Claire’s currently has 116 concessions in Toys ‘R’ Us stores in Europe and 14 in the retailer’s North American stores. Those departments “continue to exceed our expectations,” said Beatrice Lafon, chief executive officer of the youth-oriented jewelry and accessories retailer. “We plan to open about 450 more concessions in 2015 and plan to continue to expand this program in the months and years ahead,” she added. “Our success in this area allows us to mitigate continuing declining mall traffic.” Pressed on the program during a Wednesday morning conference call to discuss fourth-quarter results, Lafon said Claire’s is conducting tests of the departmental shop concept with seven additional partners “and in conversations with a few more in addition to that, and we expect some of these, if not all of these, tests to work.” Claire’s had 20 concessions in place at the end of 2013. A second channel initiative is the expansion of e-commerce and mobile commerce that “enable us to communicate with our customers in real time.” E-commerce

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