Retailers 'facing critical financial issues'

MacMickster

ukcarper wrote: »

I'm prepared to pay more rather than buy online if the service is good. I recently bought a new lens for my camera in the shop I was able to try both the lens I was interested in the retailer was very good so I paid the extra. I wonder how much longer I will be able to do that.

Sadly, I fear that this kind of service will soon be a thing of the past.

Mrs MacMickster likes to see goods before she buys them, and ask questions of a knowledgeable salesman, however she then leaves the shop without buying and finds the cheapest price for what she has chosen online.

I don't seem to be able to get through to her that she will soon be unable to do this because of the actions of others just like her.

GeorgeHowell

A._Badger wrote: »

I did exactly the same with a TV hard drive recorder in the Summer. The pain of arguing with a box shifter if it went wrong wasn't worth the £20 I'd have saved.

That said, many high st retailers still haven't worked out that service is what will keep them in business. Who ever got decent service out of Comet? Who cares if WH Smith's (literally) Victorian business model fails? What we will miss is the reliable, knowledgeable, butcher, fishmonger and baker, not the zombies like Comet, Clintons cards and Dorothy Perkins.

Zombies I'm afraid is the right word in many cases. It is a well known feature of the retail trade that the old axiom "Pay peanuts and get monkeys" holds true. John Lewis and to some extent M&S for example prove that if staff are better selected, better rewarded, better trained, and better motivated they deliver better customer service. If some other retailers put more resource into their own people and prioritised customer service, and less into advertising and sales promotion they might actually find that they did better.

ukcarper

MacMickster wrote: »

Sadly, I fear that this kind of service will soon be a thing of the past.

Mrs MacMickster likes to see goods before she buys them, and ask questions of a knowledgeable salesman, however she then leaves the shop without buying and finds the cheapest price for what she has chosen online.

I don't seem to be able to get through to her that she will soon be unable to do this because of the actions of others just like her.

I'm afraid your wife is not unusual and I am sorry to say I think you are right.

grizzly1911

I will use local retailers where possible if the price is in the ball park.

I do find that shops often don't have what you want these days, perhaps because their are fewer of them and fewer options within them. yeas back you could try several shops on the high street for similar products. A bit like when we get fuel shortages, with less outlets, they become more noticeable.

I do tend to buy stuff on the internet that I probably wouldn't have brought or wouldn't have known where to get it in the past. So in a way I guess that benefits retailers that are switched on. I often buy repeat walking gear for instance that I can't easily source locally but I can use a couple of retailers at opposite ends of the country.

RevolvingDoor

I can't remember if I have ever asked for advice from a shop assistant, I always assume that they are clueless.:o

I wonder if there were crowds out today, some people seem to like shopping :eek: but the queues and the screaming kids put me off.:D

ukcarper

RevolvingDoor wrote: »

I can't remember if I have ever asked for advice from a shop assistant, I always assume that they are clueless.:o

I wonder if there were crowds out today, some people seem to like shopping :eek: but the queues and the screaming kids put me off.:D

It's not all about advice, it's the opportunity of holding something in your hand with the case of lens I bought putting it on camera seeing what it feels like and how it focuses etc.

RevolvingDoor

ukcarper wrote: »

It's not all about advice, it's the opportunity of holding something in your hand with the case of lens I bought putting it on camera seeing what it feels like and how it focuses etc.

That's true with specific goods like a camera, but I don't often buy things I need to see before I buy them.:)

grizzly1911

RevolvingDoor wrote: »

That's true with specific goods like a camera, but I don't often buy things I need to see before I buy them.:)

Not even clothes?

Whilst I am not really any bigger than 5 years ago (honest) I do find that sizes don't seem as well proportioned as years gone past.:(

RevolvingDoor

grizzly1911 wrote: »

Not even clothes?
Whilst I am not really any bigger than 5 years ago (honest) I do find that sizes don't seem as well proportioned as years gone past.:(

:rotfl:It probably explains why I have quite a few dresses that don't fit me in my wardrobe.:o

worried_jim

I haven't been "high st" shopping since 2005. I have a 24hr Tesco superstore and an M&S on an out of town site half a mile away with free parking. If they don't sell it, I don't buy it. For everything else there is Amazon and ebay. Why would anyone go any where where they have to pay to get to (bus etc), pay to park and be surrounded by shell suit wearing, shoplifting alkie scallies (Brighton city centre).