Renaissance Corporation will refit its Magnum Mac stores and introduce new products, as the company seeks to reinvigorate the underperforming retail chain.
CEO Richard Webb says the flagship Magnum Mac store in Newmarket, Auckland will be the first to be revamped between October and December, with the addition of products focused on the converged home network, home automation and home theatre.
It will also introduce a cafe for store visitors, he says.
“[The store is] still Apple [focused] at the centre, but [it] will include a whole range of products around the Apple ecosystem.”
Other stores will be refreshed next year, once the performance of the Newmarket store has been assessed.
Webb says the fitout is in response to an underperforming retail business. In 2009 the Magnum Mac chain lost $1.6 million from trading and another $700,000 from stock adjustments and other one-off costs.
“We have looked at a number of [retail] concepts that were working in other parts of the world and would make sense in the New Zealand market.”
He says Renaissance wants to add three Magnum Mac stores, which will use the new format to be trialled in Auckland.
“We will have three [existing] large concept stores in Auckland, Wellington and Christchurch and look at smaller stores for provincial centres.”
Webb could not say which provinces will get Magnum Mac outlets, as Renaissance is still negotiating with landlords.
He has also shed more light on other changes taking place at the company, saying it hopes in the second half of the year to introduce products it has developed in house.
“We have three major [product] initiatives that include an agnostic communication platform to share calendars. We are also working on a CRM email marketing platform to allow corporations to engage the client and mobility applications.”
Webb says Renaissance will do away with the capital R which features in its current logo.
