Dixons Retail plc was one of the largest
consumer electronics
Consumer electronics or home electronics are electronic (analog or digital) equipment intended for everyday use, typically in private homes. Consumer electronics include devices used for entertainment, communications and recreation. Usually r ...
retailers in Europe. In the United Kingdom, the company operated
Currys
Currys (branded as Currys PC World between 2010 and 2021) is an electrical retailer and aftercare service provider operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, specialising in white goods, consumer electronics, computers and mobile phones.
E ...
,
Currys Digital
Currys Digital was an electrical retailer in the United Kingdom owned by Currys plc, Dixons Carphone, with its origins in a photographic shop opened by Charles Kalms.
The chain was known as ''Dixons'' until 2006, when parent company DSG Inter ...
,
PC World
''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication.
It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tech ...
(with stores increasingly dual branded 'Currys PC World'), Dixons Travel and its service brand Knowhow.
Dixons Retail's Nordic and central European business was operated under the
Elkjøp
Elkjøp, better known as Elgiganten outside Norway, is the largest consumer electronics retailer in the Nordic Countries with four hundred stores in six countries and 10,000 employees. Elkjøp was founded by Trygve Fjetland on 16 March 1962. I ...
umbrella, and it also operated
Kotsovolos
Kotsovolos ( el, Κωτσόβολος) is one of the leading electrical and electronics retailers in Greece. It started in a small neighborhood store downtown Athens in 1950 and today has a network of over 90 stores, in Greece and Cyprus, both co ...
in Greece. The company was listed on the
London Stock Exchange
London Stock Exchange (LSE) is a stock exchange in the City of London, England, United Kingdom. , the total market value of all companies trading on LSE was £3.9 trillion. Its current premises are situated in Paternoster Square close to St Pau ...
and was a constituent of the
FTSE 250 Index
The FTSE 250 Index ( "Footsie") is a capitalisation-weighted index consisting of the 101st to the 350th largest companies listed on the London Stock Exchange. Promotions and demotions to and from the index occur quarterly in March, June, Septemb ...
until its merger with
Carphone Warehouse
The Carphone Warehouse Limited was a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc (previously named "Dixons Carphone"), which was formed by the merger of its former parent Ca ...
on 7 August 2014 to create
Dixons Carphone
Currys plc, formerly Dixons Carphone plc, is a British multinational electrical and telecommunications retailer and services company headquartered in London, England. It was formed on 7 August 2014 by the merger of Dixons Retail and Carphone ...
.
At the time of its merger in 2014, Dixons Retail had 530 outlets in the United Kingdom and Ireland and 322 in Northern Europe.
The company, formerly known as Dixons Group plc and later DSG International plc, specialised in selling mass market technology consumer electronics products, audio video equipment,
PCs, small and large domestic appliances, photographic equipment, communication products and related financial and after sales services (e.g. extended service agreements, set up and installation and repairs).
It also sold other products and services, electrical products, spares, mobile services and extended warranties.
History
Early years
Dixons was founded as a photographic studio by
Charles Kalms
Charles Kalms (1898?-1978) was a British retailer and founder of the Dixons chains that expanded to become the UK's largest electrical retail chain.
Career
Kalms opened the first Dixons photographic studio at 32 High Street, Southend-on-Sea. Th ...
and Michael Mindel in the High Street in
Southend
Southend-on-Sea (), commonly referred to as Southend (), is a coastal city and unitary authority area with borough status in southeastern Essex, England. It lies on the north side of the Thames Estuary, east of central London. It is bordered ...
under the name of Dixons Studios Limited, a company registered in October 1937 with share capital of £100.
The name Dixons, selected randomly from the
telephone directory
A telephone directory, commonly called a telephone book, telephone address book, phonebook, or the white and yellow pages, is a listing of telephone subscribers in a geographical area or subscribers to services provided by the organization tha ...
, was sufficiently short to fit above the small shop front.
In the early 1940s, Dixons set up seven studios around London but by the end of
the Second World War
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...
the business had been reduced to a single studio in
Edgware
Edgware () is a suburban town in northern Greater London, mostly in the London Borough of Barnet but with small parts falling in the London Borough of Harrow and in the London Borough of Brent. Edgware is centred north-northwest of Charing Cros ...
.
Stanley Kalms, the son of the founder, joined the business in 1948 and started advertising
direct sales
Direct selling consists of single-level marketing (in which a direct seller makes money by buying products from a parent organization and selling them directly to customers) and multi-level marketing (in which the direct seller may earn money f ...
in the press, with postal ordering and delivery.
In 1950, the company began to sell cameras, and in 1957, opened a new head office to:
*continue leadership, management, and strategy such as via board meetings
*accommodate the staff now dealing with 60,000 mail order customers
*centralise buying
*provide administration for its six stores, with more planned.
Dixons was first listed on the London Stock Exchange in 1962, changing its name at that time to Dixons Photographic Limited.
It bought out competitors Ascotts in 1962, and Bennetts in 1964.
In 1967, Dixons bought an colour film processing laboratory in
Stevenage
Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...
.
Charles Kalms was succeeded by his son Stanley in 1971.
In 1972, Dixons bought another competitor,
Wallace Heaton
Wallace Heaton was a photographic retailer based in London and was trading independently from 1917 until 1972 when it was bought by Dixons. The company was originally set up by a Wallace Heaton, a pharmacist who opened his shop in New Bond Street ...
, and in 1974, it opened its
Stevenage
Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Stevena ...
distribution centre.
1980s and 1990s
In 1984 Dixons acquired
Currys
Currys (branded as Currys PC World between 2010 and 2021) is an electrical retailer and aftercare service provider operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, specialising in white goods, consumer electronics, computers and mobile phones.
E ...
, a retail chain with 570 shops selling electrical and other household goods; Currys retained its separate brand identity.
In February 1993, Dixons bought Vision Technology Group (VTG), operating under the
PC World
''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication.
It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tech ...
brand at
Croydon
Croydon is a large town in south London, England, south of Charing Cross. Part of the London Borough of Croydon, a local government district of Greater London. It is one of the largest commercial districts in Greater London, with an extensi ...
,
Lakeside Shopping Centre
Lakeside Shopping Centre, is a large out-of-town shopping centre located in West Thurrock, Essex just beyond the eastern boundary of Greater London. It was constructed on the site of a former chalk quarry. The first tenants moved into the compl ...
,
Brentford
Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross.
Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...
and
Staples Corner.
Later that year, the company sold VTG's mail order division, Dixons US Holdings Inc and Supasnaps.
The company opened its first
duty free
A duty-free shop (or store) is a retail outlet whose goods are exempt from the payment of certain local or national taxes and duties, on the requirement that the goods sold will be sold to travelers who will take them out of the country, wh ...
store at
Heathrow Terminal 3
Heathrow Terminal 3 is an airport terminal at Heathrow Airport, serving London, the capital city of the United Kingdom. Terminal 3 is currently used as one of the main global hubs of the International Airlines Group members British Airways and ...
in 1994, and later that year launched phone store
The Link, the company's first venture into communications. The head office moved to
Hemel Hempstead
Hemel Hempstead () is a town in the Dacorum district in Hertfordshire, England, northwest of London, which is part of the Greater London Urban Area. The population at the 2011 census was 97,500.
Developed after the Second World War as a ne ...
.
In November 1996, Dixons bought DN Computer Services, a computer reseller business.
It also acquired the retail assets of Harry Moore Ltd, an Irish electrical retailer.
Cellnet
O₂ UK (legally incorporated as Telefonica UK Limited, stylized as O₂) is a British telecommunications services provider, headquartered in Slough, England. It operates under the O2 brand. It is owned by Virgin Media O2, a 50:50 joint ventu ...
bought a 40% stake in The Link in April 1997. Also that year, the Dixons website was launched.
In 1998,
Freeserve
Freeserve was a British Internet service provider, which was founded in 1998. At its height, the company became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, before merging into the Wanadoo group in 2000. It then became a subsidiary of France Telecom, ...
, a free Internet service, was launched; it was later sold to
France Telecom
Orange S.A. (), formerly France Télécom S.A. (stylized as france telecom) is a French multinational telecommunications corporation. It has 266 million customers worldwide and employs 89,000 people in France, and 59,000 elsewhere. In 2015, ...
and renamed
Wanadoo
Wanadoo was the Internet service provider division of Orange S.A. It operated in France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Mauritius, Madagascar, Lebanon and Jordan. It ceased to operate as ...
.
Dixons bought
Elkjøp
Elkjøp, better known as Elgiganten outside Norway, is the largest consumer electronics retailer in the Nordic Countries with four hundred stores in six countries and 10,000 employees. Elkjøp was founded by Trygve Fjetland on 16 March 1962. I ...
, a
Norwegian
Norwegian, Norwayan, or Norsk may refer to:
*Something of, from, or related to Norway, a country in northwestern Europe
* Norwegians, both a nation and an ethnic group native to Norway
* Demographics of Norway
*The Norwegian language, including ...
retailer, in November 1999.
2000s
In October 2002, Dixons bought UniEuro, an Italian-based electrical retailer, and Genesis Communications, a mobile phone service provider.
The company opened its first Electro World store in
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
in February 2002. In October 2005, ''Dixons Group plc'' changed its name to ''DSG International plc''.
Further potential expansion came in April 2005, when DSGi bought an interest in Eldorado Group, the largest electrical retailer in Russia and
Ukraine
Ukraine ( uk, Україна, Ukraïna, ) is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the second-largest European country after Russia, which it borders to the east and northeast. Ukraine covers approximately . Prior to the ongoing Russian inv ...
, with an option to buy the rest by 2011 for US$1.9 billion (about £1 billion GBP). This option was not pursued, DSGi withdrawing their interest in April 2007.
In May 2006, DSGi was awarded the
Queen's Award for Enterprise
The Queen's Awards for Enterprise is an awards programme for British businesses and other organizations who excel at international trade, innovation, sustainable development or promoting opportunity (through social mobility). They are the highest ...
.
The company announced that the Dixons brand would continue purely online and that all high street stores would be rebranded
Currys.digital
Currys Digital was an electrical retailer in the United Kingdom owned by Currys plc, Dixons Carphone, with its origins in a photographic shop opened by Charles Kalms.
The chain was known as ''Dixons'' until 2006, when parent company DSG Inter ...
.
DSGi also bought 75% of Fotovista, a French photographic business. In January 2008, DSGi announced that it would stop selling analogue televisions and only sell integrated digital televisions, in an effort to get consumers ready for the
digital switchover
The digital television transition, also called the digital switchover (DSO), the analogue switch/sign-off (ASO), the digital migration, or the analogue shutdown, is the process in which older analogue television broadcasting technology is conv ...
.
In May 2008, DSGi announced that it would close 77 of its 177 Currys.digital shops in the United Kingdom, as their building leases expired over the following five years.
2010s
In May 2010, the company secured almost exclusive rights to sell the
Apple
An apple is an edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus domestica''). Apple fruit tree, trees are agriculture, cultivated worldwide and are the most widely grown species in the genus ''Malus''. The tree originated in Central Asia, wh ...
iPad
The iPad is a brand of iOS and iPadOS-based tablet computers that are developed by Apple Inc. The iPad was conceived before the related iPhone but the iPhone was developed and released first. Speculation about the development, operating s ...
. In June 2010, DSGi changed its name to ''Dixons Retail plc''.
Merger with Carphone Warehouse
In May 2014, Dixons announced a merger, that soon came to pass, with
Carphone Warehouse
The Carphone Warehouse Limited was a mobile phone retailer based in London, United Kingdom. In August 2014 the company became a subsidiary of Currys plc (previously named "Dixons Carphone"), which was formed by the merger of its former parent Ca ...
; the combined company would have market capitalisation of around £3.8 billion.
Dixons thus became a wholly owned subsidiary of Dixons Carphone Holdings Limited, and was renamed to Dixons Retail Group plc.
Sebastian James
Sebastian Richard Edward Cuthbert James (born 11 March 1966) is a British businessman, who was formerly CEO of Dixons Carphone, and is the current CEO of Boots UK.
Early life
The son of Christopher James, 5th Baron Northbourne, he was educated ...
, who had been Dixons CEO since 2012, was appointed as CEO of Dixons Carphone.
Operations
As of 2014, Dixons had 530 outlets in the United Kingdom and Ireland, and 322 in northern Europe. The company is structured according to the international locations of its businesses and brands, as detailed below:
United Kingdom and Ireland
Brands comprise (40% of sales, largest market share in United Kingdom and Ireland):
*
Currys
Currys (branded as Currys PC World between 2010 and 2021) is an electrical retailer and aftercare service provider operating in the United Kingdom and Ireland, specialising in white goods, consumer electronics, computers and mobile phones.
E ...
/
PC World
''PC World'' (stylized as PCWorld) is a global computer magazine published monthly by IDG. Since 2013, it has been an online only publication.
It offers advice on various aspects of PCs and related items, the Internet, and other personal tech ...
– specialises in home
electronics
The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...
and household appliances.
*Team KnowHow – a provider of after-sales product support and cover.
*Dixons Travel – a retailer operating in the main airports in the United Kingdom and Dublin International Airport in the Republic of Ireland.
*DSGi Business – a specialist provider of IT solutions to business and the public sector.
Northern Europe
![Všebořice, Elektro World (cropped)](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/e/e2/V%C5%A1ebo%C5%99ice%2C_Elektro_World_%28cropped%29.jpg)
Brands comprise (32% of sales, largest market share in Nordic countries and Czech Republic):
[
*]Elgiganten
Elgiganten is a consumer electronics retailer operating in Denmark (including Greenland) and Sweden, where its parent Elkjøp operates in Norway and have subsidiaries like Gigantti ( Finland), Elko ( Iceland) and Elding (Faroe Islands). Th ...
– ("Electrical Giant") sells home electronics
The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...
and household appliances in Denmark and Sweden.
*Elkjøp
Elkjøp, better known as Elgiganten outside Norway, is the largest consumer electronics retailer in the Nordic Countries with four hundred stores in six countries and 10,000 employees. Elkjøp was founded by Trygve Fjetland on 16 March 1962. I ...
– ("Electrical Buy") sells home electronics
The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...
and household appliances in Norway.
*Elko – sells home electronics and appliances in Iceland.
* Gigantti – ("Giant") sells home electronics
The field of electronics is a branch of physics and electrical engineering that deals with the emission, behaviour and effects of electrons using electronic devices. Electronics uses active devices to control electron flow by amplification ...
and household appliances in Finland.
* Electro World – electrical superstores in the Czech Republic. The Polish Electro World chain is no longer owned by Dixons.
Southern Europe
Brands comprise (13% of sales, largest market share in Greece):[
*Κωτσόβολος ("]Kotsovolos
Kotsovolos ( el, Κωτσόβολος) is one of the leading electrical and electronics retailers in Greece. It started in a small neighborhood store downtown Athens in 1950 and today has a network of over 90 stores, in Greece and Cyprus, both co ...
") – sells home electronics in Greece.
Product brands
Since the Prinz brand was introduced in the 1950s, Dixons Retail has used a number of own brand
A private label, also called a private brand or private-label brand, is a brand owned by a company, offered by that company alongside and competing with brands from other businesses. A private-label brand is almost always offered exclusively by th ...
names for products sold in its stores.
Current
Dixons' brand lineup underwent a major reorganisation during 2010. , the brands in use include the following:
* Essentials – Includes Currys Essentials and PC World Essentials.
* Logik – Registered as a trademark since 1989. Intended for everyday use with an "emphasis on reliability and efficiency" and "a better value alternative to the major name brands without compromising on performance."
* Advent – Established PC World brand used for computers, peripherals and other accessories.
* Sandstrøm – Intended to compete with higher end consumer electronics brands, Sandstrøm is claimed to be "inspired by Scandinavian design nddesigned to combine aesthetics with performance."
* Goji
Goji, goji berry, or wolfberry () is the fruit of either ''Lycium barbarum'' or '' Lycium chinense'', two closely related species of boxthorn in the nightshade family, Solanaceae. ''L. barbarum'' and ''L. chinense'' fruits are simil ...
– Producer of equipment including computers, smartphones and audio products as well as bags and storage. Distributed by Dixons Group.
Former
* Prinz/Prinzsound/Prinztronic – The Prinz brand was first used on Japanese manufactured goods during Dixons' 1950s expansion.
* Miranda – Originally the name of a Japanese company, Dixons acquired the brand in 1981, and used it on cameras and photographic kit. As of 2011, Dixons still owned rights to the name, but no longer used it and planned to sell it off.
* Saisho – Introduced in 1982. Dixons announced its intention to sell the brand off in May 2011.
* Matsui – Introduced in the 1980s by Currys as a brand for its consumer electronics goods assembled in the United Kingdom, using imported components. Products in the Matsui line involved neither Japanese parts nor Japanese labour, but were branded with a Japanese sounding name, a rising sun symbol and the motto "Japanese Technology Made Perfect"'. The brand was retired in 2010 as part of the company's rationalisation of own labels.
*Carlton - was used by Currys for own brand white goods.
Former businesses
Former businesses include:
*Mastercare Commercial Services, a business operating from a call centre
A call centre ( Commonwealth spelling) or call center (American spelling; see spelling differences) is a managed capability that can be centralised or remote that is used for receiving or transmitting a large volume of enquiries by telephone. ...
offering IT services to IT businesses, which has since been rebranded as Knowhow.
*Freeserve
Freeserve was a British Internet service provider, which was founded in 1998. At its height, the company became a constituent of the FTSE 100 Index, before merging into the Wanadoo group in 2000. It then became a subsidiary of France Telecom, ...
, an internet service provider, which was purchased by France Télécom
Orange S.A. (), formerly France Télécom S.A. (stylized as france telecom) is a French multinational corporation, multinational telecommunications corporation. It has 266 million customers worldwide and employs 89,000 people in France, and 5 ...
and rebranded as Wanadoo
Wanadoo was the Internet service provider division of Orange S.A. It operated in France, Spain, the United Kingdom, Belgium, the Netherlands, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco, Senegal, Mauritius, Madagascar, Lebanon and Jordan. It ceased to operate as ...
in December 2000 (eventually re branded/merged into Orange).
* The Link, a mobile phone retailer based in the United Kingdom, sold to O2 in June 2006.
*Freetalk, a VoIP
Voice over Internet Protocol (VoIP), also called IP telephony, is a method and group of technologies for the delivery of voice communications and multimedia sessions over Internet Protocol (IP) networks, such as the Internet. The terms Internet t ...
business, whose customers were transferred to Vonage
Vonage (, legal name Vonage Holdings Corp.) is an American cloud communications provider operating as a subsidiary of Ericsson. Headquartered in Holmdel Township, New Jersey, the organization was founded in 1998 as ''Min-X'' as a provider of resi ...
, a VoIP company based in the United States, in August 2006.
*Pixmania
Pixmania (styled PIXmania), once known as Fotovista, was a French-based e-commerce website, founded in 2000. It promoted a variety of products, including consumer electronics and baby products, with turnover of over 300million in 2013. It operat ...
, a French-based online retailer, which was acquired by Dixons Retail in April 2006, and sold in September 2013.
*@Jakarta, a computer games store, which was sold to Gameplay.com in August 2000.
Financial results
The following table shows the company's financial results:
See also
* European Retail Round Table
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dixons Retail
1937 establishments in England
1960s initial public offerings
2014 disestablishments in England
2014 mergers and acquisitions
British companies established in 1937
British companies disestablished in 2014
Companies based in Stevenage
Companies formerly listed on the London Stock Exchange
Consumer electronics retailers of the United Kingdom
Currys plc
Defunct companies of England
Defunct retail companies of the United Kingdom
Mobile phone companies of the United Kingdom
Photographic retailers
Photography companies of the United Kingdom
Retail companies established in 1937
Retail companies disestablished in 2014
Video game retailers in the United Kingdom