Claes Retail Group (CRG) is the family behind JBC, CKS and Mayerline. With some 200 stores in Flanders, Wallonia and Luxembourg, the group has been using RetailSonar for nine years to underpin its location decisions.
Insight into cannibalisation and recapture
Daniel Van Hasselt started in 2018 in the marketing department of JBC. Since late 2025, he has been head of the Data & Analytics team of parent company CRG. "From the very beginning, I have always been the main user of the platform and its internal advocate."
Especially in Flanders, CRG's network is very dense. Before CRG used the RetailSonar platform, it could only estimate the turnover of new stores manually, based on the information available from surrounding postcodes.
“We have a dense network, but had no way at all to estimate cannibalisation and recapture”
"A bit of guesswork. Sometimes it was very close and sometimes way off
In Flanders in particular, you can hardly drive 20 minutes without passing a JBC. Some locations have many alternatives, others very few. We could never really quantify the impact of location decisions on the other stores in our network beforehand. We didn't know how much we could recapture if we closed a store, or how much we would cannibalise from neighbouring locations if we opened one. That was what we missed most."
Simulating each brand and department separately
In the beginning, the platform only ran for JBC, a brand for the whole family, with women's, men's and kids' collections. After a few years, departments were added: CKS and Mayerline.
“Each brand and department can be simulated separately in the platform”
"It is very interesting and important that we can simulate each brand and department separately in the tool, because of their different target audiences."
In the case of acquisitions, it is also convenient that everything can be included in the same platform. "Adding new dimensions has always gone very smoothly at RetailSonar."
Three brands under one roof
CRG is also experimenting with store premises where several of its brands sit side by side as neighbours. "When the three brands are next to each other, we call those CRG concepts. There are already three of them, with numerous other locations where two of the three are together." The goal: to see whether that combination generates extra turnover, partly through cross-pollination between the brands. It can also be financially attractive. "It is sometimes cheaper to set up an entire building for the three brands at once."
That is where RetailSonar helps. "They are of course stand-alone brands, but they have similarities. You want to be able to separate them in a platform like this." Calculating each brand separately, and at the same time seeing what a shared building delivers”, a major added value of the tool according to Daniel.
Speed and data-driven arguments alongside gut feeling
Before CRG worked with RetailSonar, forecasting store turnover was “long, slow, manual work, with an inaccurate result." Now the company can quantify and simulate the impact of every location decision. "A key added value of the tool is above all the speed and the impact."
“We sometimes push decisions in a different direction than our gut feeling would suggest”
RetailSonar's Location Performance module also gives CRG a valuable quantitative perspective on its stores. "This way, we can quickly and reliably understand why a store performs worse or better than expected." Daniel sees significant growth potential there: CRG wants to start using the module more widely to monitor the entire network at store level and spot opportunities.
More than a tool
Daniel has experienced the collaboration with RetailSonar as very positive from the start. "I have seen the tool evolve. It was already very good at the outset, but for a few years now it has been very smooth and intuitive to use." The platform improves every year, with new modules. "As I would expect from a partner like you."
“They always think along with us very proactively, something we cannot say of every external supplier."
Daniel is also positive about the support from the RetailSonar consultants: "I have always received very professional support from various staff members. The RetailSonar consultants know the tool inside out, so in terms of support and follow-up I have always been very satisfied over all these years. "They always think along with us very proactively and with an open mind, which we cannot say of all other external suppliers."
