JYSK's three-year plan to modernise its stores has been completed, at a cost totalling DKK 4.7b (c £527m).
Light floors in a wood look instead of blue carpets, and inspiring room settings, have made an entrance, while new lighting, new fixtures and subdued colours have replaced an older interior design.
In 2016, a prototype of a new JYSK store concept was tested in Horsens, Denmark. This was the start of JYSK's Store Concept 3.0, which in 2021 had shown such strong results that it was decided to speed up the rollout, says JYSK, which set a goal of having all stores of the right size and location converted within the subsequent three years.
"Our new concept has improved the shopping experience enormously, and together with the development of our range, we believe that we have taken a huge step forward when it comes to brand and quality perception. This is also reflected in more younger customers and better customer feedback," says Carsten Nørgreen Weinkouff, executive VP retail development, customer service and B2B.
Over the course of the three years, more than 2000 store activities were carried out – on average, more than one store was rebuilt each day.
"In order to continue to be attractive to our customers, we need to invest in our stores, and considering our constant revenue growth and solid earnings results over the past financial years, I dare say that the investment is worth the money," says Carsten.
Only a few older stores are still standing, where rebuilding has not been possible due to an existing lease.
"We must always consider whether it is a good business case or not to remodel a store. Almost all our stores are rented, and here we have to wait until the end of the contract if the current location is not the ideal one for a redevelopment, just as it does not make sense to rebuild a store that is going to close," explains Carsten.
The question now is when Store Concept 4.0 will be ready for launch – Carsten says that future changes will be made based on the current store concept: "It is not likely that we will implement such a major concept change again right away. We are now on a very good foundation for the future, and it will instead be concrete adaptations to different areas of the stores, where we can add something extra to the store experience."
