Another large German retailer is experiencing turbulence. Peek & Cloppenburg seeks rescue in protective shield proceedings. Shops are not to be closed, but jobs are at risk.
More and more fashion retailers in Germany are fighting for survival. Four months after Germany’s last large department store group, Galeria Karstadt Kaufhof, the fashion retailer Peek & Cloppenburg KG Düsseldorf (P&C) also sought rescue in protective shield proceedings on Friday in view of sluggish business, as he announced. The shoe retailer Görtz had already taken this step in September.
While more than a third of the nearly 130 department stores at Galeria are up for sale, P&C wants to hold on to its 67 stores during the renovation process. According to the current status, there will also be no redundancies there, the company emphasized. The situation is different in administration, including the management levels. P&C emphasized that “a not insignificant job cut” is necessary here. The “Wirtschaftswoche” had previously reported on it. The company Peek & Cloppenburg Hamburg, which is independent of P&C Düsseldorf, is not affected by the protective shield procedure.
This is to speed up the restructuring
With the help of the protective shield procedure, P&C Düsseldorf says it wants to accelerate the restructuring that has already been initiated. In the case of the insolvency variant aimed at restructuring, a court-appointed administrator takes over the supervision of the rescue. Management retains control, but is advised by an external restructuring expert.
P&C emphasized that the step had become necessary due to the economic turbulence of the past few years. In 2020 and 2021, the pandemic led to a slump in sales. “The effects hit us hard and caused a three-digit million loss,” said Steffen Schüller, who has been the company’s managing director since June.
In addition, the consumer behavior of customers is very cautious due to the Ukraine war. Delivery bottlenecks, increased costs, rising interest rates and the slight recession had further clouded the retailer’s economic situation towards the end of last year.
How online trading became a liability
Recently, P&C’s involvement in online trading has obviously also proved to be a burden. In order to take account of the changed purchasing behavior caused by the pandemic, the company had greatly expanded its online activities since 2021 and invested a three-digit million amount.
In this area, too, customers are reluctant to buy, the company emphasized. Therefore, the company’s online strategy must also be reconsidered. “Our focus is now clearly on our core business in stationary retail and thus on our stores. The online area is still an important part of our business model, but we will act more cautiously here than in previous years,” said Managing Director Thomas Freude.
Experts not surprised
Trade expert Gerrit Heinemann from the Niederrhein University of Applied Sciences was not surprised by the development at P&C. “In the past year, the stationary fashion trade was able to benefit from the return of people to the inner cities. But there are only a few fashion retailers who were really able to build on the pre-crisis level again in 2022 and be in the black. P&C Düsseldorf was obviously not one of them.”
P&C did not only suffer from the general economic turbulence. Homemade problems have also been added. “P&C Düsseldorf messed up the topic of online trading right from the start,” judged the industry insider. Instead of the well-known name, the company relied online on the new creation FashionID. That didn’t work. When you changed course, it was too late.
Will the next mistake be made soon?
Now the company is about to make the next mistake. “The fact that P&C Düsseldorf wants to operate online with the handbrake on in the future shows that they still haven’t understood where the development in retail is going,” said Heinemann.
Around 6,800 P&C employees will receive salaries from the Employment Agency over the next three months. An application for a protective shield procedure was also filed for Peek & Cloppenburg Retail Buying GmbH & Co. KG. Other companies of the group in Germany and abroad as well as the sister company Peek & Cloppenburg in Austria are not affected by the protective shield. They continue their business activities without restriction. This also affects the Anson’s fashion houses in Germany.
Source: Stern
