By Claire Reilly

While WOW Sight & Sound has gone into administration and Dick Smith is closing stores across the country, JB Hi-Fi is planning to capitalise on this “industry consolidation” by expanding its market share, according to an announcement made by the company today.

In its Trading Update issued to the Australian Securities Exchange today, the retailer outlined its sales results and earnings expectations, and foregrounded areas for potential expansion into the future.

“FY12 year to date has been a challenging year for the company with the softer consumer environment resulting in challenging comparable store sales,” said JB Hi-Fi CEO, Terry Smart. “However, as a testament to our model, our stores remain highly profitable.

“We are seeing some competitors exiting the market or reducing their store numbers,” he added. “While this has put additional short-term pressure on both sales and gross margin we believe that it will lead to a good opportunity for JB Hi-Fi to expand and increase its market share in FY13 and beyond.”

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JB Hi-Fi is currently negotiating leases on two former WOW sites, claiming that the closure of the 15-store network (with reported sales of approximately $250 million) “represents a good opportunity for the company to capture this market share in Queensland and Northern Territory markets”.

JB is also keeping an eye on Dick Smith, which pulls in roughly $1.5 billion in annual sales and is set to close 100 stores by February 2014.

“This consolidation, whilst impacting on gross margin in the short term, is yet to be reflected in the company’s sales to a positive degree, but presents the company with a good opportunity to continue to grow its market share in the medium to longer term.”

In terms of its own footprint, the company is expecting to open 2 new stores in May and 4 in June, in order to reach its target of 16 new stores in the 2012 financial year. JB Hi-Fi has also closed two Clive Anthonys Queensland stores in Capalaba and Kedron.