X-Mas sales up 20% on this time last year

HAMISH_MCTAVISH

DaddyBear wrote: »

Wow, another Hamish thread who's title is deliberately misleading. Ramp ramp ramp ramp. What a sad indvidual.

Sadder than a multi-ID hpc troll, who comes over here specifically to taunt me, but has to steal another users name (one that predicts rising prices)to do so?

I think not.....:rolleyes:

You and Bernie showing up together to troll the Hamish threads, what a coincidence. Slow day over on hpc, eh?

fc123

With utmost respect, higher sales don't really mean anything at all. Anyone can chase turnover.


I had direct experiance of 'A Churn Moment' this year (and very good it was for us too) but anyone can sell £5 notes for £4.89 or sell and undercut for a while....to kill off the competition...then the prices go back up to what they need to be.

Hamish...a random internet retailer posting an increase in turnover is not a sign of anything meaningful at all. To be fair, a book shop chain going bust isn't either. Just the peaks and flows of retail.

Snooze

Play.com are !!!!!!, quite simply. They alter their prices on a daily basis if you've ever used their site regularly, meaning that on some very rare occasions their prices will be marginally cheaper than Amazon but overall they are more expensive.

And don't even get me started on getting stuff delivered from them :rolleyes:. Just consider it a bonus if your stuff actually arrives and God help you if it doesn't because they don't give a toss if you contact them to enquire about it. Horribe, horrible company and I rate them worse than British Gas and BT combined. :mad:

Also, the only reason why their sales are up on last year is because last year the vast majority of people hadn't even heard of them. They've only really 'appeared' over this year.

R

SingleSue

I would agree with you there Snooze....I vowed not to use them this year for Christmas shopping after they let me down big time last year.

I have looked as a price comparison sort of thing but I haven't missed out on any bargains so far.

DSM

abaxas wrote: »

Went out in NEwcastle last night.

Sat before xmas, very very quiet. The weather was bad, but still. Never seen it like that.

Leeds was exactly the same.....

Wookster

This is a sign of things to come - high street retailers simply cannot price match the likes of play.com/ amazon/ other online retailers.

I suspect we'll see a number of major high street brands going bust over the next 2-3 years. This won't do good things for employment.

fc123

Wookster wrote: »

This is a sign of things to come - high street retailers simply cannot price match the likes of play.com/ amazon/ other online retailers.

I suspect we'll see a number of major high street brands going bust over the next 2-3 years. This won't do good things for employment.

I feel that the above feeling is a bit of a blanket statement really.

There has been a lot of re-structuring going on (much behind closed doors) at all levels from small indies to multiples.
I was at an event recently and got to catch up with all sorts, some I knew from the markets 23 years ago, another who pocketed a few million from his original business.

I know very few indie retailers who are currently paying the same rents they were 3 years ago...most have had them reduced and are now tackling the business rate valuation.
This article contains a few good observations and , personally, I have learnt a great deal over the past few months from one (quoted in the article) and how they operate..consequently, I have also benefitted hugely from the experience.

While retailers may deliver double-digit sales rises in their January trading updates, last year’s Christmas sales were so poor that their improved performance could be dismissed as a one-off.

Many shops may also be benefiting from customers trying to beat the planned rise in Vat from 15% to 17.5% in January, according to the CBI, the employers’ group. Sir Philip Green, the owner of Topshop and BHS, warned: “If Christmas wasn’t going to be better than last year we would all be jumping off Tower Bridge.
“We have to be realistic about what we are measuring against. Everybody has got better at running their businesses more efficiently and learnt what not to do, but it’s been a tough season and you have to believe the first quarter of next year will be tough as well.”

A lot depends on what product you are selling. If it is an item that can be obtained anywhere, then you are going to have a problem as online can beat you on price every time ...but, if it has a restricted distribution or is not widely available, then the customer will have less choice on the price to pay.

I hate to count chickens (as they usually get a disease and die) but I am just coming out of the most phenonemal season I've had for years and am about to embark on something else next year. The downturn has given us smaller people ....like the toy shop owner in the article...room to breathe.

It was the boom that caused most of our problems (like crazy high rents) , not the downturn.

nickj_2

it will only be good news if people are spending money that they can afford - if they are spending on borrowed money that they can't afford then we've learnt nothing .