Carphone Warehouse held its annual store managers’ conference on Tuesday this week, with the senior management team presenting at a venue in Wembley Stadium in north-west London.
Retail MD Steve Blan and trading director George Dymond outlined the key Christmas products with Nokia’s Comes With Music taking top billing as well as a string of new laptops.
Chairman and CEO Charles Dunstone told the managers about the bleak economic climate and tough trading conditions affecting all retailers, but attempted to lift morale by saying that Carphone was better placed than others because of its product range.
He also gave an insight into new co-owner Best Buy, which will start taking a bigger influence in the company. There was also a video presentation from a former Carphone UK store manager who is running a Best Buy Mobile store in America.
Managers saw a range of 24 laptops to be unveiled at the new concept store in the as-yet-unopened Westfield shopping centre in White City. Stores currently stock just five laptops.