The new European showroom was opened with a launch event last month, where the ribbon was cut by retail tycoon Theo Paphitis and Hajir Hajji, ceo of Action – Europe’s fastest growing non-food discount retailer.
The new showroom is spread across a 16,500 sq ft space at the Homexpo Paris showroom complex, where the anchor tenant is JJA, one of France’s largest home furnishing suppliers. The site, which is near Charles de Gaulle airport, is ideally located for hosting both existing and prospective customers across France and Europe.
To support the showroom’s activities, Ultimate Products has appointed a new sales team in Paris, which joins the group’s other international sales teams in Germany and Poland. Previously, the group operated a Cologne showroom, which was hugely successful in achieving traction and growth in Germany, a market which now represents around 30% of the group’s European sales. The group’s aim is to achieve a similar level of penetration within the French market.
Ultimate Products currently derives approximately 30% of it revenues from European countries (population c.477 million), where it has a much lower penetration than the UK (population c67 million). The group sells £1.72 of product per capita in the UK and around 80% of British households own at least one of its products.
Simon Showman, chief executive of Ultimate Products, commented: “I am massively excited to have opened a European showroom in Paris, which I am confident will help us grow our presence in the sizeable French market. Our products are already present in most UK households and I firmly believe that they will be just as attractive to retail partners and consumers in France, as well as the wider European market more generally.
“I would like to extend a warm welcome to our new team in Paris, who will be invaluable in helping us to achieve our ambitious growth plans.”
Rob Willis, director of Max Publishing and publisher of Progressive Housewares Magazine, said: “It was an honour tone invited to join Ultimate Products at their Paris Showroom. I have attended a fair amount of openings in my time, but this really was something special not just in terms of the layout and thought given to product display for visiting retailers, but the event itself really was a celebration of the business, its great brands and great partners.”
