Comet Group Plc

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Comet

Type	Part of KESA Eletricals Plc
Founded	1933
Headquarters	Hull, England
Key people	Hugh Harvey (Group Managing Director), since March 2006, Ian Edwards (Deputy Managing Director - Business Support), Bob Darke (Deputy Managing Director - Commercial), Tom Barry (Deputy Managing Director - Operations)
Industry	Retail
Products	White Goods, Telecommunications, Information technology
Slogan	We live Eletricals
Website	http://www.comet.co.uk/

Founded in 1933 by George Hollingberry in Hull as Comet Battery Stores Limited, Comet is now a wholly owned subsidiary of KESA Electricals Plc specialising in Electrical retailing. In 2003 Comet demerged from Kingfisher Plc to form a new group under the KESA umbrella. Comet has recently undergone a £20 million rebranding campaign (since September 2005) to differentiate itself from other players in the market, mainly Currys, as both company logos were in white print against a red background and the company names being 'similar'. It was often the case that customers would buy an item from Currys and attempt to return them to Comet, either believing the two companies were part of the same brand or simply mistaking the two.

The retailer has around 250 stores in the UK in three different layouts. The 'high street' style store, a sort of large display case, stocking mainly smaller items such as some SDA (small domestic appliances) grey and brown goods in a warehouse and few items self select. The 'Core' store, larger than the previous, stocks a larger range of goods to include white goods. Some items are self select; other larger items are kept in a warehouse. The 'Destination' store, stocking nearly the whole range that Comet sells, many items are self select except for very large and delivery only items. These stores will also stock many of what Comet calls the 'Premier Range'. These are the best (and most expensive) products that Comet has to offer, including brands such as, SMEG, Pioneer, Apple, Sony, AEG and MIELE.

Like many large electrical retailers, Comet offers a Price Promise scheme that would suggest they will match or beat the price of an item sold elsewhere more cheaply. This price matching includes many UK retailers. Additionally they offer to match prices against local stores within a 10 mile radius, within fourteen days. This includes certain items which are available on Comet's Website. They won't match most other web retailers.

1 Slogan
2 Footnote
3 Financial Results
4 External links
- 4.1 Competitors

[edit] Slogan

Comet's slogan is "We live electricals", the "live" part of the slogan being a wordplay between live and Live, referring to a live current of electricity. Its mascot is a small man wearing a helmet with a Comet on it and riding a scooter. The slogan is also seen on the side of Comet's delivery vans.