C&A revamps Clockhouse brand to win back youth market share

Dutch retail giant C&A is rebranding its Clockhouse brand, which is aimed at the 12-25 age group, in an effort to recapture its share of the youth fashion sector.

New concepts are undergoing trials in Austria. They will be tested for at least six months, before a decision is made on whether to roll them out across C&A’s 13 European markets.

The group’s Austrian in-house design team has developed the designs, for both the interiors and exteriors.

C&A Austria board member and national spokesman Herbert Asamer says: “We don’t yet have any definite ideas about the roll out. There could possibly be a third test store in addition to the first two in Salzburg and Voecklabruck.”

Asamer adds that the flexibility of the new stores provides another dimension for Clockhouse. “It allows us to go into all locations over Europe that we couldn’t do with regular C&A stores,” he says.

Existing Clockhouse stores in the UK include Liverpool, Milton Keynes, Brent Cross, Bluewater and Lakeside Thurrock. C&A’s UK head of corporate communications Chris Williams says: “The new design won’t be rolled out until we can assess the success of the trial.”