Long the leader in the sector, Gifi now faces competition from other brands offering even lower prices.
A situation which pushed the founder of the decoration and furniture brand to put it up for sale.
The TF1 news focuses on its difficulties.
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The 1 p.m.
Gifi is a catchy slogan that all generations know. The French brand is present throughout France with several hundred stores. “There’s a little bit of everything. It’s not very expensive,” reacts a passer-by in front of a store in Mondeville (Calvados), in the TF1 news report at the top of this article. “It’s really a store in which you can find a lot of varied things, crockery, decoration,” added another.
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In front of this Calvados Gifi, however, we see an empty parking lot. A few hundred meters further on, an Action store has almost full parking. “I bought some DIY items, because I'm doing some painting at home. The prices are very good here”rejoices a customer, her shopping bag full. “The prices are attractive, so it allows you to change the decoration regularly”underlines another.
Indeed, we see that a batch of low-cost glasses at Gifi is sold three euros more expensive than in this store. In recent years, in Mondeville, the French brand has seen many direct competitors set up, such as Action, BM, and Stokomani. “There are more interesting stores around them, and Action does a lot of nice things,” notes another passerby. A situation pushing the founder of Gifi to put the French brand up for sale.
Social networks as a weapon
Social networks constitute the other major asset of Gifi's competitors. For example, the Action brand regularly posts videos on TikTok of new products in stores. “You have the rise of internet players who arrive in particular from China, at very low prices, and who become real competitors, delivery included”says Frank Rosenthal, retail marketing expert.
“Where Gifi was a little alone and managed to attract all its customers, today, they share the cake. We understand that it is much more difficult”, he continues. More than 6,000 employees and collaborators are affected by the sale of Gifi. The buyers have until Monday, November 18 in the evening to come forward.
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