Currys to go bankrupt this week?

Max_Headroom_3

fc123 wrote: »

The knock on effects of this type of shopping behaviour are the next Big Thing to play out over the coming decade.

Enjoy for now the best of both worlds.......it won't last for ever.

Precisely.

Oblivion

Max_Headroom wrote: »

But that is exactly the point!!

It's people like you who expect to take advantage of the convenience and stock of High Street stores and then save yourself a few quid by buying on line who will ultimately kill off these shops.

Then where are you going to go and fondle the goods?

You're killing the service that you yourself wish to use!

No, it's not 'exactly the point'. The point I am making is that the separate practices of 'eye shopping' and 'wallet shopping' have been going on for decades ... I know, I've witnessed it and participated in it when the conditions were right for me. This is not something new.

This hasn't stopped efficiently run shops who provide a REAL service to customers from surviving in the High Street because there will always be those who prefer to deal with a knowledgeable salesman where one exists, and a physical entity that they can take a faulty product or a query back to.

It is the inefficient stores who have failed to address the needs of those customers who are now paying the ultimate price.

Dave.

caveman38

This hasn't stopped efficiently run shops who provide a REAL service to customers from surviving in the High Street because there will always be those who prefer to deal with a knowledgeable salesman where one exists, and a physical entity that they can take a faulty product or a query back to.

ie. John Lewis

Oblivion

caveman38 wrote: »

ie. John Lewis

A perfect example IMHO.

Dave.

Max_Headroom_3

Oblivion wrote: »

No, it's not 'exactly the point'. The point I am making is that the separate practices of 'eye shopping' and 'wallet shopping' have been going on for decades ... I know, I've witnessed it and participated in it when the conditions were right for me. This is not something new.
.

Oh come on! You can't equate the odd geek viewing in a shop and then buying out of a specialist magazine with the widespread and easy access of the Internet.

Nowadays my mother could choose a telly in Comet and Google and buy it over the net with a credit card.

It may be a practice that's been going on for years, but it's only comparitively recently that it's gone mainstream.

Oblivion

Max_Headroom wrote: »

It may be a practice that's been going on for years, but it's only comparitively recently that it's gone mainstream.

Mail Order has been 'mainstream' for as long as I've been around. Just ask the many families who have traditionally bought from discount catalogues. The internet is just a different way of communicating your order.

Dave.

blue1159

Manty wrote: »

They opened a temporary-looking clearance outlet in Manchester recently, opposite the closed Ilva store on Great Ancoats Street, presumably to try and scape some money back. I'll be nipping in later to see what it's all about...

was there anything good in there?

dopester

Max_Headroom wrote: »

Oh come on! You can't equate the odd geek viewing in a shop and then buying out of a specialist magazine with the widespread and easy access of the Internet.

Nowadays my mother could choose a telly in Comet and Google and buy it over the net with a credit card.

It may be a practice that's been going on for years, but it's only comparitively recently that it's gone mainstream.

To answer an earlier point - yes I would and do happily make informed purchases via the net, without going to a real-world shop to see the product first. I trust reviews of others, especially specialists, over just seeing it and hearing was a salesman has to say.

Amongst other things like family computers:

Washing machine (ciao / dooyoo / Washerforums and confidence in the brand).
Dishwasher (similar)

LCD TV in 2005 (yes.. we've got one and not via MEW) on strength of brand and reviews and the website where you can review the spec and turn it this way and that via viewing controls to see it all perfectly... + when I realised we didn't need the £80 bracket as the stand would suffice, and rang to check on how to return via 7 day distance-selling thingy... they said we could keep it whilst also refunding the £80 to my credit card, which was pretty good of them, but again.. confidence in the brand and service and online company.

SingleSue

I remember when I was looking for my first PC, I did my research first and worked out which processor etc I wanted and then we jumped in the car and headed for PC World.

On arrival we stated what we was looking for (well actually I did) and asked if they had it...the lovely (but very unknowledgeable/silly man) then proceeded to speak only to my husband and show him low end processors, of which I had no interest in.

I then stuck my nose in and was surprisingly assertive about my wants and thinking the man knew what he was talking about, tried to discuss the various merits of each system....he didn't have a blooming clue.

And he still continued to direct his 'talk' to my husband (worse thing you can do with me).

I walked out of the store with hubby dutifully following behind and made my purchase at an independent store with the exact specification I was looking for....and haggled them down on price into the bargain (although we then had a saga about paying in cash).

epz_2

i do think the technology has killed a lot of their business model, as i see it they have 5 key profit areas with distinct shoppers.

1) big electrical goods like fridges and washing machines
2) computers and accessories
3) consoles, games and portable audio
4) tellies and hifis
5) extended warranties

now 5 is dependant on the others so we can ignore that.

1) few people have the ability to take a fridge home with them and to be honest most are just big white boxes so there is no real advantage wandering round shops to look at them when a few clicks of a mouse will give you all the info you want including user reviews and find the best price so as people get more familiar with online shopping the in store business will dry up (though there is still money to be made online)

2) you can buy a new laptop for £165 now and it will drop to under £100 very soon as SSD capacitys grow as intel migrates more and more into the chip. Anyone who wants a pc now has one (probably several) and at the new price points there is no way they can make a margin that covers overheads without being much more than a direct sales competitor.

3) an xbox is an xbox, who cares where you buy it same goes for the games and 32gb mobile phones will kill any demand for ipods fast.

4) there will always be hifi and av geeks willing to pay premium, hell i have seen people pay £125 for a gold wire busbar but these guys go to specialist shops with custom listening rooms and proper AV feeds rather than a length of coax, feeding 20 lcds. the average consumers may still buy here but they will be fighting with the supermarkets and online sites more and more with dropping prices will have to add extra value, snotty teenagers trying to punt you a warranty isnt going to do that.

frankly i think the futures grim for them unless they invest REALLY big online and use their local shops infrastucture as pickup and customer service centers.