Save Store settles in Spain to expand the circular economy of technological devices in Europe

Oct. 9 (Portaltic/EP) –

Save Store has moved his headquarters from Paris to Madridfrom where he will direct his international growth strategy to expand the circular economy in the technological devices sector to more countries in Europein addition to continuing to grow in Spain with the opening of 30 new stores.

The French multinational company, focused on repair and reconditioning of mobile devices, such as smartphones, tablets, laptops and video game consoles, It began operating in Spain in 2016 through the company Phone Service Center. Later, after an image renewal process, Phone Service Center became known as Save Store and currently has nearly forty stores located in the main Spanish cities.

Now, in its growth process, Save Store has installed in Madrid, its central headquarters, from where he aspires to become “an active agent of the circular economy throughout Europe”, as the company highlighted in a meeting with the press held this Wednesday, which Europa Press attended.

Specifically, its objective is to offer its services, both to individuals as well as companies, for Extend the life of your technological devicesoffering device repair and reconditioning services in its network of stores.

To do this, Save Store has agreements of the main manufacturers of devices, as is the case of Apple, Samsung, Oppo, Huawei and Xiaomi. In this way, it guarantees that its repair and reconditioning services are carried out with original quality materials and under the standards of technological brands.

Likewise, these agreements with manufacturers allow them to have the necessary ‘stock’ to make mid- and high-range technology available to users “at very affordable prices“. This is because, in addition to repairing devices, they also sell reconditioned second-hand technological products, with prices ranging between 100 and 300 euros in 63 percent of cases.

PROMOTE THE CIRCULAR ECONOMY

Specifically in Spainduring the past year They repaired more than 27,800 devices through their storesfacilitating time and money savings, while users have a nearby store in most cases, which offers a average repair time of 40 minutesfor an affordable price.

In addition, through this service, the company also promotes a reduction of CO2 emissions and carbon footprintsince, on the one hand, it avoids the transportation necessary to repair devices by sending them to distant repair centers and, on the other, increases the life of the device, avoiding the unnecessary purchase of a new product.

In addition to repair, another of the pillars of Save Store is reconditioning of technological products. In this case, caring for the environment and reducing CO2 emissions also stands out.

As the company has exemplified, manufacturing a new smartphone, CO2 emissions can reach 57 kgHowever, the emissions of the reconditioned mobile phone does not exceed 7 kg. The same happens with the waste produced by these devices, since a new cell phone generates 187 kg of CO2, while a reconditioned cell phone represents 23 Kg of emissions.

In addition to reducing emissions, it is also achieved reduce the use of natural resources. This is seen, for example, in the consumption of water, which, for manufacturing a new mobile requires 55 cubic meters of watercompared to the 14 used by reconditioning.

This is why Save Store emphasizes the circular economy, because, as stated by the founder and president of the Save Group, Jean-Marie Guian, This is the essence of the company, which seeks a business model in which they can “do something more” both for the environment and for society.

In fact, as Guian has highlighted, Save Store seeks to position itself as “the “necessary strategic partner” not only for users, but also for companies small, medium and large, since their services allow them save up to 50 percent on costwhile reduce their CO2 emissions by 90 percent. For example, repairing and reconditioning your office equipment, repurchasing fleets or leasing refurbished devices.

EXPANSION STRATEGY

At a global level, Save Store has a total of 240 stores distributed in France, Poland and Spain. Furthermore, among its main corporate clients, the CEO of Save Store Iberia, Rodrigo Leantro Balassi, has pointed out some like, FCC, Mapfre, Back Market and Assurant, in the case of Spain. Likewise, they also have clients such as Orange and BNP in France or MediaMarkt in Poland.

In this framework, the company intends continue expanding this philosophy of circular economy, both in Spain and internationally. To this end, Balassi has advanced that 30 new stores will open in Spain throughout this year, which will be added to the nearly 40 that are already available.

These new stores will open in cities of Extremadura, Castilla-La Mancha and Castilla y León. Thus, Save Store aims to have an establishment in each provincial capital, in order to get closer to users and facilitate its services.

In addition to all this, Save Store is also the official repairman of El Corte Inglés, and it is present in ten Carrefour hypermarketsso it will use these supports to extend its services. However, for this store expansion, the company is betting mainly on franchise stores (60%).

On the other hand, for the international expansionthey are working on the opening of market in ten other European countries, starting with Portugal and Belgiumand continuing with Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.

The reason for this expansion, as Balassi explained, is that the sector “is clearly on the rise.” This is reflected in sales of new smartphones in 2023 that fell 3.5 percent, while the second-hand market grew nearly 10 percent, as the manager has pointed out.

Balassi has shared that for him By 2027, they expect second-hand devices to reach 431.1 million unitswith a compound annual growth rate of 8.8 percent. All of this is driven by issues such as the new European Right to Repair law and “the social demand for increasingly sustainable devices,” he stated.

MADRID AS EPICENTER

To carry out this expansion, Save Store has opted to establish itself in Madrid as a central point for its operations, moving its headquarters from Paris, to take advantage of the advantages that the Spanish capital offers for the development of its services.

Firstly, both Balassi and Guian have referred to the lower tax pressure in Spain compared to Francewhich is currently 38.6 percent below the community average. They have also pointed out the ease offered by the extensive transport networkensuring the availability of parts at any time.

On the other hand, the CEO of Save Store Iberia has highlighted the high qualification of Spaniardswith technicians who offer “high experience”. And, finally, both managers have mentioned the multiculturalism of Madrid for an international business environment.