QED-uk / Miller Brothers

hander

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/south_yorkshire/5022058.stm

Apologies if people have highlighted this already.

Millers brothers in administration. QED-UK (part of the group, I think) purchased by someone else. All outstanding orders made before this time (unclear) are being dealt with by administrators.

I'd had warnings about QED in the past and stupidly had just ordered a £90 Vacuum cleaner off them. Paid for by Debit card and so that's pretty much that, I reckon. :cool:

What the lord help me saveth, he cruelly taketh a bit later on.

Alan_M_2

Sad, another example of on-line competition destroying another company.

The sad thing about this is it will only last so long, many of the bricks and mortar outlets simply can't compete and will have to close, eventually we'll be left buying on line only, and with no retail competition the prices will gradually increase back to high street level without the overheads.

Not at all good for long term economy stability or for consumers for that matter.

hander

The demise of any company (and loss of jobs etc) is always sad.

But miller supply QED so weren't they cannibalising their own sales already? (If we want to point fingers)

Your point is also flawed in that if the situation resolves itself as you state, then eventually the edge will return to the high street retailer who opens up at this point with the same prices yet the ability to visit a tangible shop and 'feel' the goods.

This is economics, Alan. And a free-market model at that. Online retailers are here to stay and the model of high street retail must change in order to compete. It takes time and there will be casualties along the way. It's not all doom and gloom, though.

Heath_Robinson

Why will there not continue to be competition online? It's fierce at the moment, every highstreet store could close today and that wouldn't change.

It's like people saying "Ooooh all the huge supermarkets are going to put all the corner shops out of buisiness, then they're going to start charging £5 a pint for milk!!" It's rubbish.

Edit: damn someone just said it better than I could

Alan_M_2

Well I've found it's the increase in rents as much as the competiton that is forcing out the high street shops.

Where I am a small high street retail unit (1500 sq/ft) will be leasing at £30,000 to £40,000 a year plus business rates.

Even if you could sell at the same prices as the online retailers, you'd never cover your overheads.

Property is the root cause of this, even warehousing now has become obscenely expensive, with a planning permission change from the govenrment the industrial parks have become targets for the housing developers.

Overnight industrial rents trebled in some areas.

If I want to buy locally a new warehouse for my business, a 4000sq/ft unit will now cost £600,000. or close to £45,000 a year to rent.

In reality, I can store my products in Europe and pay to ship them anywhere in the UK cheaper than I can just store the product in the UK.

The high street is dead, and if the property bubble contnues to expand in this manner it's going to be killing a lot more than a few retail businesses.

The goods never can return to the high street with current property values, it's this combined with the on line selling that puts businesses under.

hander

I sympathise with property prices - after all we all need somewhere to live. However, the same argument applies to commercial property. If everyone starts moving warehouses/retail out of the UK, then supply must exceed demand and price must fall.

So, to take an extreme, all retailers go out of business tomorrow (because of the evil internet -> the property market is flooded -> price of retail space crashes -> retailers start up as people do like to go to shops (rather than shop exclusively online) and the whole cycle starts again...

The future of the high street is much in the hands of the success of out-of-town centres than the net, in my opinion. Internet shopping is not an alternative shopping experience - it complements the high street. However, the high street is a subset of out-of-town centres which offer the same array of shops but with the features that a town might lack, eg convenient, free parking, petrol, close proximity of all shops, cinemas, restaurants, all-weather shopping etc.

Don't get me wrong. I abhor out-of-town centres and the power of supermarkets (which won't necessarily result in £5/pint milk but will/does result in lower revenue for farmers and ultimately, therefore, poorer quality goods in some key areas.

However, rather than blame the net, I would look towards town planners ...

Nice discussion tho' (but anyone got any advice on getting the money for my vacuum cleaner back? I stupidly paid by debit card...)

Alan_M_2

hander wrote:

I sympathise with property prices - after all we all need somewhere to live. However, the same argument applies to commercial property. If everyone starts moving warehouses/retail out of the UK, then supply must exceed demand and price must fall.

So, to take an extreme, all retailers go out of business tomorrow (because of the evil internet -> the property market is flooded -> price of retail space crashes -> retailers start up as people do like to go to shops (rather than shop exclusively online) and the whole cycle starts again...

The future of the high street is much in the hands of the success of out-of-town centres than the net, in my opinion. Internet shopping is not an alternative shopping experience - it complements the high street. However, the high street is a subset of out-of-town centres which offer the same array of shops but with the features that a town might lack, eg convenient, free parking, petrol, close proximity of all shops, cinemas, restaurants, all-weather shopping etc.

Don't get me wrong. I abhor out-of-town centres and the power of supermarkets (which won't necessarily result in £5/pint milk but will/does result in lower revenue for farmers and ultimately, therefore, poorer quality goods in some key areas.

However, rather than blame the net, I would look towards town planners ...

Nice discussion tho' (but anyone got any advice on getting the money for my vacuum cleaner back? I stupidly paid by debit card...)

You misunderstood, the out of town centres are brownfield sites. It's these that have become the target of housing companies. As the industrial sites are being devolped they aren't being replaced, so that negates your idea of supply and demand.

As the price of property increases it forces companies abroad or out of business. Sadly the cycle won't start again, the business will simply be outsourced abroad to the detriment of our economy even further.

hander

Ok. I agree in principal. But this has now extended to a criticism of the governments policy towards new building rather than internet retailing, hasn't it?

You are essentially saying that there is not enough affordable commercial property in the UK, yes? And that is (partially) influenced by high street retailers inability to compete with internet-based businesses (who also need to warehouse goods etc)?

Am I right?

love2save

hander wrote:

I'd had warnings about QED in the past and stupidly had just ordered a £90 Vacuum cleaner off them. Paid for by Debit card and so that's pretty much that, I reckon. :cool:

Urgent!! If you ring QED today and tell them you would like a replacement for the hoover you ordered they will organise it. They cannot refund your money but will honour orders placed previously. The deadline is the end of today though so you must be quick (I know this as I have been phoning them all morning and hopefully will get my similar order resolved) Good Luck

DonnyDave

I've bought quite a few things from Millers over the years and always held them in high regard, above that of the likes of Comet and Dixons, being a family firm and all that. I admit that I am also inclined to shop online for electrical items, at the end of the day I decide which make/model I want and then look for the cheapest supplier.

Barker & Wigfall also have/had a shop in Doncaster and one in Barnsley, and I understand that after 80 years they are to close. With them being in the town centre it is not convenient to park, something that out of town outlets are better at.

There has been a management buyout of the company, see here.