Ultimate Products unveils new European showroom in Paris

Simon Showman (left), Chief Executive of Ultimate Products, is pictured with retail tycoon Theo Paphitis at the Paris launch event

Oldham-headquartered Ultimate Products, the owner of a number of leading homeware brands including Salter and Beldray, has opened a new European showroom in Paris.

A launch event was held on Thursday (September 21), where the ribbon was cut by retail tycoon Theo Paphitis and Hajir Hajji, the 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, who join 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 that today represents approximately 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 its revenues from European countries (population: c.477 million), where it has a much lower penetration than the UK (population: c.67 million).

The Group sells £1.72 of product per capita in the UK and around 80% of British households own at least one of the Group's products.

Simon Showman, Chief Executive of Ultimate Products, said: “I am massively excited to have opened a European showroom in Paris, which I am confident will help us grow our presence in the sizable 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.”

Founded in 1997, Ultimate Products employs over 370 staff, a significant number of whom have joined via the Group's graduate development scheme, and is headquartered in Oldham, where it has design, sales, marketing, buying, quality assurance, support functions and warehouse facilities across two sites.

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