Casino bets on UK, takes on DSGi

News

Ben Furfie Sep 12 2008, 12:00pm

Online arm Cdiscount preparing to launch assault on Tesco, Comet and others

French retail giant Casino is set to launch a major assault on the UK, with the firm setting its sights on stealing market share from DSGi, Comet, Tesco and Amazon amongst others.

The firm will be launching its online arm, Cdiscount into the UK before the end of this year, according to Retail Week. The retailer, which sells over 90,000 branded non-food items, is understood to be headed by Andy Jones, who has worked for both DSGi and Tesco.

It stocks a range of PCs and consumer electronics, video games and toys, as well as DVDs, music and household furnishings.

While UK consumers are unlikely to have heard of the retailer, it claims to be 2.5 larger than DSGi-owned Pixmania and Amazon France in terms of revenue, and growing.

However, analysts have warned that the venture has its work set out for it, with Planet Retail's Isabel Cavill telling Retail Week that it will have a tough time competing with Amazon in the UK, "unless it does a significant amount of marketing".