Currys to go bankrupt this week?

Davesnave

Actually PC World has a 'catalogue' service too in their business arm, which carries far more products than their shops, I've bought via the Internet through PC World Business, because it is convenient to pick the stuff up from their 'shed' half a mile away. The prices are usually competitive, if not exactly the lowest, and there's one big advantage over 'pure' Internet shopping, which is if it goes 'Pft!' two days later, I can take it straight back without the hassle of postage, phoning etc.

I still use the local telly shop as well though. Unlike Currys, they know how to mend things, on the premises, and they'll give a verbal quote in an hour! Trust has a lot to do with it too.

SingleSue

Our local Curry's used to cringe when I walked in....they knew they could not get away with fobbing me off and I always drove a hard bargain.

If anything went wrong, hubby used to threaten to get me involved...it was enough for them to go out of their way to sort something out. :rotfl:

Shame it closed years ago, I used to like our discussions

bubblesmoney

wageslave wrote: »

I worked for DSG for 12 years (left last summer). Currys was not the weak link, in fact nothing could be further from the truth. Currys was the most profitable part of the group, PC World made peanuts compared to it and nothing they tried could make Dixons profitable.
I still have many friends within the company and there is no doubt they are worried.
If (and it's a big if) DSG goes down it definately wont be until late January/ early February at the earliest.
The group traditionally pulls in about 70% of its business from mid October until mid January. It wouldn't make any sense to pull the plug on them any earlier.

but woolies made most of their profits around decenber as well but they still went under now. if their credit lines refuse to extend credit to them or to insure their suppliers any retailer will go bust if they cant fund it themselves. it is immaterial when they make their most profits

olly300

epz wrote: »

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
.

You have missed out small consumerable items like printers, mice and cables that customers want now or are cheaper buying in store than online due to P&P costs.

While with printers they tend to get the price right with cables PCW and others think that need to charge 3 times the price of them on the internet. I've actually brought a £3 network cable on the internet and paid the P&P because it was still cheaper than buying it in a store.

Plasticman

I think that seeing goods before buying is becoming less important to people. Like many, in the past I have looked at goods in the shops and then bought on-line. But more recently I have bought a laptop and a dishwasher without seeing them 'in the flesh'. Many friends seem to be doing the same. I wonder if we will start to see many of these shops close down (Comet, Currys etc) but see the manufacturer's shops start to spread (the Sony shop etc). The purpose of the shop won't be to sell, but to let the potential customers see & feel the product and then go and order from a supplier on-line.

One the subject of DSG, I wonder how well Dixons are doing now that they have moved to on-line only. Their prices seem really competative on a lot of goods,

bubblesmoney

Plasticman wrote: »

I think that seeing goods before buying is becoming less important to people. Like many, in the past I have looked at goods in the shops and then bought on-line. But more recently I have bought a laptop and a dishwasher without seeing them 'in the flesh'. Many friends seem to be doing the same. I wonder if we will start to see many of these shops close down (Comet, Currys etc) but see the manufacturer's shops start to spread (the Sony shop etc). The purpose of the shop won't be to sell, but to let the potential customers see & feel the product and then go and order from a supplier on-line.

One the subject of DSG, I wonder how well Dixons are doing now that they have moved to on-line only. Their prices seem really competative on a lot of goods,

my thoughts similar as well. things i would be prepared to buy without seeing the goods in person are dvds, cds, tv, hifi equipment, washing machines, dishwashers, cameras, printers and most electronic goods, grocery, car seats for kids, airline tickets etc etc etc

guess there will be loads of people with similar thoughts. so all high street stores that sell such goods will be at risk if they dont move with the times.

things that i wont buy without seeing the stuff - undergarments, clothes, desserts (although will order stuff online off tesco etc if have seen them and tried them before), but there is not much i wouldnt think of buying online.

also retailers who dont have an assembly / fitting / delivery facility are a strict no no for me unless i can carry the goods myself and have an idiot proof assembly procedures and not too much hassle assembling. i avoid shops that dont do delivery / assembly like the plague. but did buy some furniture where the retailers didnt assemble it for me only because of the price. didnt have much trouble with a few items but think will avoid the argos / littlewoods furniture crap like the plague because they dont assemble stuff and some of the stuff is !!!! no matter how hard u try to assemble it, have a useless chest of drawers that doesnt sit on the runners properly and another similar one that i never bothered assembling (about 3.5y now and still inside the original packing in my garage) after the hassles with the 1st chest of drawers, might give it a go sometime in the next month or will go bin in at the local recycling yard.

ikea is a no no for the likes of me because i realised i can just pay some money at a local bed shop and they deliver the full product and assemble it for me, while if i wanted the same stuff at ikea i would have to run around the store breaking my head on which frame fits which slats amd which centre support and then get someone to deliver it and assemble it at 20% cost or something like that when the local shop will deliver the same or superior product and fit them for me for just 20£ extra. half the crap at ikea is cheap junk anyway, atleast thats the impression i got and a bloody pain trying to choose what bloody slat goes on what bed. i wont be surprised if the chain next wants u to buy the bl00dy scr3ws separately too for their furniture. too much hassle. i would rather just go see something or order online if they deliver everything needed and assemble it for me.

another reason to buy direct from manufacturer etc is u can get stuff made to order. my wife and i couldnt agree on the type of mattress we liked. i liked the firmer othro type ones while she liked the slighty softer ones. unless we got two different beds it didnt look like we'd both be happy with the choice of mattress. but the solution was at hand when i visited the local 'yorkshire bed company' in pontefract near leeds (they dont have a website) where i got good deals on beds plus had quick delivery plus they had a display mattress made to order that had one half ortho-firm and the other half what my wife wanted and the finishing was great too and price was ok too. so armtwisted them to get them to sell me the display (new) made to order matress and also got them to make a similar (firm1/2 - softer half) mattress for the guest bedroom too to give my guests that choice as well incase they have different tastes in mattress as well like us.:p . got great customer service and good prices too and a great product as well to boot. just thought would mention this as i wouldnt like to see this shop close down (i dont know them or have any financial interest with the company incase people question why i am plugging this company:p ). so do hope people buy from such local shops if they are competetive and have good customer service too. for others who like such made to order mattresses with different firmness on each half of the bed and dont live near pontefract i guess u have to ask ur local latress manufacturers whether they can do such 1/2-1/2 matresses for u too incase u r interested and have different likes where it comes to mattresses from ur otherhalf.

only bad point for me is that now my wife likes my side (ortho-firm) of the mattress better, she changed her mind after the delivery and trying it at home and i am stuck with sleeping on the softer side of the mattress. sometimes u just cant win with otherhalves when they change their mind often:p . sorry for blabbering and mentioning stuff unrelated to the thread

olly300

bubblesmoney Ikea's products are a mixed bag. Some of the stuff is good and lasts whether it's self assembly or not. Other stuff is just plain crap.

Unfortunately they rely on the fact they only have a few stores in the UK so unless you live near one (for some reason I have always lived a max of 30 miles easy drive away from a store) they become this mythical shop that you have to take a visit to.

bubblesmoney

olly300 wrote: »

bubblesmoney Ikea's products are a mixed bag. Some of the stuff is good and lasts whether it's self assembly or not. Other stuff is just plain crap.

Unfortunately they rely on the fact they only have a few stores in the UK so unless you live near one (for some reason I have always lived a max of 30 miles easy drive away from a store) they become this mythical shop that you have to take a visit to.

they serve good meatballs though in the restaurant. one of the few things that i liked there. that apart from the chefs knives section which i liked but my wife would have used them on me if i cluttered the house with more such stuff. but think will still buy them one day when she isnt paying attention and hope she doesnt use it on me later when she finds out:p

friar

skippy081 wrote: »

Reason for the title was because I was sat on a plane to Poland a week ago with someone that works for Currys and he said around 19th Dec they are due to go bankrupt/administration, as they cannot repay their suppliers (Sony, Panasonic, Brosch, etc)... as well as a couple websites (eg ukwhitegoods) mentioning Currys being in trouble.

Perhaps it's next month?

Spark

Last time I tried to buy something in a shop, it was a couple of years ago. I was looking for a new printer. Would have ordered on the internet but there were some sales going on in the shops, so had to have a look at them. Tried currys, didn't have the ones I wanted (out of stock), but they checked on the internet and saw that there still were some left in PC world, a couple of yards away. Gone to PC world, none of the ones I wanted was on the shelves, ask someone who looked like some kind of manager, ask her if they had any in stock, I was told no they hadn't, were waiting for stock to arrive (never checked, and never made me believe she cared about anything, looked like she was just motivated enough to have a nap).
That was my last attempt to buy anything else than clothes, shoes or groceries in a shop. And don't intend to try again.
At the end, ordered what I wanted from the internet, had it delivered without problems and the printer is still going strong.
It's not the internet that is killing the shops, it's the kind of service you get from them. It's not the first time I chose the internet over the shop, you want someone to interact with, but most of the time you realise that there is no one there, just robots who are not at all knowledgeable in their field, and rather be somewhere else.
Or maybe the organisations which owns those shops are not motivating and taking care of their staff enough for them to make you want to go back to the shop again.