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<\/div>\nNot many people will be familiar with the breadth of repair and refurbishment services that Currys has. <\/span><\/p>\n In fact, it operates Europe\u2019s largest tech repair facility and is a business that generated \u00a3676m in sales in its last financial year.<\/p>\n The division is not some recent addition, a response to the rising sustainability concerns. It\u2019s been around for more than a decade, and the retailer has big plans to grow its capabilities and make it a highly profitable business.<\/p>\n It all falls under the retailer\u2019s \u2018Long Live Your Tech\u2019 strategy, aimed at tackling e-waste by repairing, refurbishing and recycling used electronic goods.<\/p>\n \u201cIt also allows us to treat returns \u2013 the biggest perennial bane of any retailer \u2013 and create an opportunity rather than just a cost,\u201d explains Currys chief operating officer Lindsay Haselhurst.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re on the cusp of starting a meaningful circular economy around tech.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n But how exactly is Currys planning on achieving that?\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n Currys has built a multi-million pound division from monetising and extending the after sale customer journey.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201c[We have] one of the biggest opportunities to continue a conversation with customers that most retailers could only dream of,\u201d says Haselhurst.<\/span><\/p>\n This is because the customer journey is \u201clonger, more complex and much more engaged\u201d than most, she explains.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cIt creates a different relationship with customers and different expectations.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n Haselhurst says this provides the retailer with a \u201chuge opportunity\u201d.<\/span><\/p>\n Currys offers several care and repair plans spanning household goods, entertainment and computing gadgets, as well as specific product insurance.<\/p>\n It also handles repairs in warranty, and charges for such services on devices out of warranty.<\/p>\n The retailer has not only extended its relationship with customers all the way through to the moment they no longer want their product.<\/p>\n In fact, it offers consumers \u00a35 vouchers when they trade-in any used electrical goods.<\/p>\n The retailer has broadened its repair and returns services over the last three years even going as far as forging a partnership with eBay to resell used and refurbished electronics on the marketplace platform.<\/p>\n It seems one of its next business ventures could be taking on product warranties from the manufacturers, Haselhurst shares.<\/p>\n It\u2019s after sale journey features three key revenue streams: repairs, refurbishment and recycling.<\/p>\n The majority of which take place at its central hub in Newark, Nottinghamshire \u2013 an impressive 1,500,000 sq ft site that handles more than 26 million units each month.<\/span><\/p>\n On the west side of the campus, its repairs lab spans across 500,000 sq ft and has processed more than 2.9m products this year.<\/p>\n The lab is made up of 1,000 technicians, split between those who handle repairs and those that speak to customers via Zoom as part of the retailer\u2019s RepairsLive service, which turns one this month.<\/p>\n Currys\u2019 repairs lab is supported by more than 40 suppliers, including Apple, Samsung, Dyson and LG \u2013 some of which have even shared special equipment with the retailer.<\/p>\n The in-house repairs services is something that\u2019s unique to Currys as \u201cpretty much everybody else has outsourced it to a third party\u201d, according to Haselhurst.<\/p>\n \u201cIf we\u2019d have outsourced, I don\u2019t think we\u2019d have got that same outcome,\u201d she says. <\/span>\u201cSo for me, we have a huge asset and capability that\u2019s ours.\u201d<\/p>\n The move has helped to shave off costs associated with offering an external service and has also provided the retailer with an opportunity to use recovered spare parts from old devices and even 3D print its own.<\/p>\n Currys has been able to streamline much of its repair services, saving more than \u00a36m this year from harvesting parts alone.<\/p>\n For those products beyond repair, the retailer breaks them down to make a small fortune from selling the materials separately. For scale, Currys collected 1.6m items last year for recycling and reuse.<\/p>\n Despite Currys not really shouting about its repair services, the business is building strong momentum with 800,000 repairs made last year alone.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s a \u00a3400m market that the retailer forecasts will grow further as more consumers look to repair their tech and purchase more refurbished products.<\/span><\/p>\n It\u2019s all about timing, says Haselhurst, explaining that its capabilities several years ago were \u201cgood but it wasn\u2019t genuinely adding a huge amount of value\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cOver the last four or five years, that offering has evolved significantly and started to become really interesting.\u201d<\/p>\n She points out that conversations around sustainable habits have increased in recent years, providing the perfect market opportunity to rocket launch Currys\u2019 services.<\/p>\n However, Haselhurst says: \u201cCustomers are only prepared to pay in a certain price point\u201d.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s been up to us to create a way of making that process affordable and effective enough that the circular economy actually stacks up at the end.<\/p>\n \u201cCustomers will tell you that they will buy sustainable products, they\u2019ll tell you that they buy organic products, and they\u2019re prepared to pay the difference. But the reality is there\u2019s a price point.\u201d<\/p>\n There\u2019s also the cost-of-living crisis to grapple with as stubbornly high inflation piles pressure on many household budgets \u2013 and even, retailers\u2019 supply chains.<\/p>\n To reduce the impact, Currys has introduced slight price rises across its services like delivery, installation and repairs over the past year.<\/p>\n Haselhurst is quick to add that the retailer is keen to strike the right balance between turning a profitable sale \u2013 the repairs and refurb side of its business is profitable, it must be pointed out \u2013 and<\/span>\u00a0fitting within customers\u2019 increasingly squeezed budgets.<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cA key part of [the repairs lab] is creating that point of sale for the right price for customers and right profit for us.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n \u201cYou can only do that if you\u2019re driving that profitability, and that affordability really hard,\u201d she explains, <\/span>adding that the retailer has improved the quality of its services through further staff training to justify the increase.<\/span><\/p>\n However, there\u2019s still a long way to go and the first step is to promote the repair services more widely instead of it being buried in the depths of its website.<\/p>\n \u201c[We need to] make it much clearer to customers that even if they don\u2019t have a care repair programme, we can repair their product for them.<\/p>\n \u201cVery few of our customers know that we do this and actually, I\u2019m not sure that all of our colleagues know either so there\u2019s a definitely a big piece about getting that message out there,\u201d she adds.<\/p>\n Currys has certainly built a sustainable service worth shouting about, and as the division grows, is proving that doing good can be good for business.<\/p>\nThe after sale opportunity<\/b><\/h3>\n
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Repairs, refurbishment, and recycling<\/b><\/h3>\n
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<\/p>\nHow much is it worth?<\/strong><\/h3>\n