Clive Peeters will test the bathroomware market later this year.

Clive Peeters will enter the bathroomware and kitchen and bathroom renovations market later this year with a new pilot store concept to be tested in two unnamed Victorian stores.

The move comes as Clive Peeters faces increasingly tough trading conditions in the whitegoods and cooking appliances sector, reflected in the company’s announcement yesterday of a 23.7% drop in operating profit after tax for the 12 months to June 30.
Wider entertainment offering
The new stores will also accommodate an expanded offering in home entertainment and technology with the addition of Fuji photo labs, photo accessories, downloaded music, gaming soiftware, mobile phones, DVD software as well as a wider range of gaming hardware and laptop computers.

Clive Peeters said the total bathroom market, including new fit-outs and renovations (including hardware) is worth around $3.8 billion while the new and renovation kitchen market is worth $5.5 billion.

Concept to roll out over two years
Clive Peeters managing director Greg Smith said: “Once the success of the model has been established, it will be rolled out across other stores over a further two-year period.”

Smith said the company did not consider there to be “much likelihood of any significant improvement in retail conditions in the electrical retail industry for the remainder of this year and the first half of next year.