With 62 stores, 22 of which opened in the past 3 years, furniture chain Prominent is in full expansion mode. This year, the retailer hopes to reach the milestone of 70 stores. Thanks to RetailSonar, Prominent knows exactly how much room is still available in the market for new stores, and where.

We interview Emiel Broekhuizen (Head of Finance, Control & ICT) and Jelle ten Have (Business Controller).

Emiel Broekhuizen

Head of Finance, Control & ICT

Jelle ten Have

Business Controller

From 16 to 70 stores

Emiel: “When I started at Prominent, we had 16 stores. In the early days, there were so many white spots that within a 1 to 1.5-hour radius you wouldn’t find another Prominent store. So, every new store was more or less a success back then. But gradually it became more challenging. It was harder to identify locations that were still profitable enough.

To some extent, store growth was driven by the gut feeling of our owners. But we also had a few locations that we exited quickly because the results were disappointing.

“We realized we wanted to professionalize our location decisions”

You’re obviously looking for premises of a certain size, in interesting locations, but we’re not the only ones looking for these type of locations. On top of that, our competitors were growing rapidly too. That’s when we realized we wanted to make more professional location decisions, and we partnered with RetailSonar.”

Differences in target audience, customer behavior & locations

Although Velderhof, Prominent’s second label, also sells furniture, the target audiences are different. Velderhof focuses on lift chairs for a 65+ demographic. Prominent targets 50+ but is increasingly appealing to younger audiences thanks to its broader “general seating” product range.

Due to a more limited product range, Velderhof stores are smaller, averaging 300 to 500 m², compared to Prominent’s. Prime locations for Prominent include high-traffic areas with strong visibility, such as furniture boulevards or busy roadsides.

“We now know that there are still plenty of locations in the Netherlands where we can open stores.”

Top 100 locations

Emiel continues: “We now assess the optimal number of stores for Prominent and Velderhof. How much space in the market remains for both labels? That determines the additional revenue potential. RetailSonar shows us exactly how many and where stores can still be opened. But also: where stores must be opened to prevent competitors from capturing part of the market.

There’s still plenty of market potential for new stores. RetailSonar also provided us with a top 100 list of the most profitable locations for Prominent and Velderhof.”

 “Thanks to RetailSonar, we now have a perfect view of our internal cannibalization”

We used to stick to a max travel time of 20 to 22 minutes, but we’re more flexible now. If a location looks good, even if it’s just 10 minutes from another store, it can still be worthwhile. RetailSonar helps us map out potential cannibalization precisely.

Jelle: “Last year, I compared the 10 most recently opened stores. I compared RetailSonar’s predicted revenue with actual revenue. 80% of the stores performed even better than predicted!

We also identified strong potential for combined stores (Prominent and Velderhof side-by-side, editor’s note) using RetailSonar.”

Lagging revenue

The platform also gives us clear insight into the potential of every existing store. Sometimes we found that we weren’t getting the most out of a location. And when a store performs below expectations, the key question is always: why? It really depends on the specific branch. Is it due to insufficient foot traffic? Or is it something internal, like the performance of the sales staff? That’s exactly what we keep a close eye on, so we can step in and adjust where necessary. By launching targeted actions in specific regions to boost average order values or improve conversion rates, we’ve managed to significantly lift the performance of many stores, ultimately leading to better results across the board.

Gut feeling vs. data

Prominent’s management opened stores for years based mostly on gut feeling, Emiel explains. “That sometimes sparked debates, especially in the early days of using the RetailSonar platform. Our management often comes up with a lot of location ideas, and that’s where a tool like RetailSonar really helps. It gives us an initial overview of a location’s potential. If the predicted turnover is very low, we don’t waste time visiting the site or launching campaigns. We can now tackle things much earlier in the decision-making process.”

“We can now immediately assess whether a location is even worth checking out.”

“Of course, it’s still important that our director leaves room for his own intuition,” Jelle adds. “At the same time, in the past we sometimes shut the door too quickly on a location just because we didn’t have a good feeling about it. We’re now able to approach those decisions with more nuance. There will always be a balance between data on one hand and gut feeling on the other.”

Vision for the future

What is Prominent’s outlook for 2030? Jelle shares, “Our budget for this year includes a total of 10 new stores across both labels. That is our target, but the number could end up being higher if attractive locations become available due to bankruptcies. Looking toward 2030, we will continue to open new locations as long as there is still room in the market and the sites contribute sufficiently in terms of revenue and profit. So our focus will remain on opening new stores or relocating existing ones to better spots. Our expansion is far from over for now.”

“We can now quickly and easily assess whether available premises are interesting for us.”

Thinking along with us

What do they think about the collaboration with RetailSonar? “Very pleasant! They proactively offer advice, respond quickly to questions, and are always willing to brainstorm with us.”