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Flat sales and and a £10.7 million loss in the UK last half-year as the retailer talks up the positives.
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Flat sales and and a £10.7 million loss in the UK last half-year as the retailer talks up the positives.
About the one piece of good news retailers can rely on for Christmas is that VAT is going up in the New Year. The bad news for them is that, in the New Year, VAT is going up.
Make hay while the sun shines guys, however dimly it might be shining, because serious cloud cover is on the way.
To be honest DSGi is another shop brand destined to die, mainly because they are too expensive on purpose some things have massive margin mark ups (okay not everything but somethings are really marked up)
Pretty much 90% of the customers i served while there were only there because they didnt shop online, so Old people, people wanting to pay cash etc... now how long can this generation last? The only time the average person came in was when something dropped in price massively i.e. £1000 40inch 3d tv... and what happened... 80% of them sold with nothing attached which got all the staff in trouble and made bugger all money.... this is the point the brand lives on attachments people dont actually want.
Long live internet e-commerce.
Well it isn't suprising that they are making a loss. PC "so called" World does not keep up with the market and only seems to sell old crap at a very inflated price. I thought it was just their web site which was behind, but it isn't the whole store is way behind and quite often you can go next door to Currys and get the same thing cheaper. If a proper PC warehouse style store opened it would cripple PC World within a year.
Exactly, the only reason I go into shops like PC World or Currys is just to see how much of a rip off they are or to get a closer look at something before going online for it.
+1. They are pretty much the easiest place to take a look at a wide range before going onlineQuote:
Originally Posted by ilh
Be interesting to see how much the b0rked up £15m giveaway costs them too!
:mrgreen:
I agree - I think it is their range rather than anything else. You can't get the latest stuff from them.
I dont think this is 100% true, they do seem to be on the ball on releases lately... price and price alone is what loses them 80% of people... the other main thing is people are sick of being sold to by a salesman.Quote:
Originally Posted by usxhe190
It might be longer than you think, actually.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cozwin
The funny thing about Time is that it, well, affects everyone at the same rate. So, while old people make it even older and die out, middle-aged people become old, and while it may seem impossible to teenagers, they'll end up middle-aged and then old. ;)
Flippancy aside, one aspect of getting older is that you tend to get more affluent. And, as you do, your priorities change. One thing in PC World's favour is that there are lots of branches, and most people have got one local to them. While PC World's prices may often not be the lowest, price isn't always the only or even prime consideration. It may be that convenience is. One aspect of convenience is being able to decide that you need something, and go down to the local shop, buy it, and go home with it. And if it costs a bit more to do it, it may well be a premium of pain.
Quite seriously, it's entirely possible that as today's youth grow up, they'll end up behaving and acting much more like the older generation of today than they would think possible.
Agreed on price vs convenience except: you go to PC World for a DVI to VGA adapter at 7pm because of the convenience and because your non-PC-literate old friend has bought a £5 LCD from the cattle market that has DVI out only, with his system having VGA out only and find the price for an adapter is £24.99 -10% discount because it has been opened... well even if it is convenient they can sod off! :rockon:
Woah... sentence fail. Oops.
True, but if I need a packet of DVDs and need them now, I need them now, not in a day or three's time when the courier gets here. Also, I can do without the hassle of waiting for couriers, or going to the depot when they phantom-card me.
All I'm getting sat is that it's a mistake to write off high street stores, even PC World, too easily because people use them for different reasons, and it isn't always, as often portrayed on here, because people don't know any better on prices. Sometimes, they do know better, but just don't care.
Meh, I don't agree here - I think if you're a online shopper (hell I am) then it's just something you'll stick with for the rest of your days. Brick and mortar stores have been eroded (pun intended) in all sorts of sectors and the only real exception to that is for goods you'd just prefer to touch and see (and try on for example). There are exceptions (I quite agree there's the 'wannit now' aspect) but it certain industries (media for example) digital delivery nixes this (and is obviously more instantaneous). Convenience is big factor - click, turns up next day is just so... appealing to me versus a trudge around overpriced shops.Quote:
Originally Posted by Saracen
There's room for both, but I think it's only really the older, more wordy :mrgreen: generation that simply *won't* use online shopping. You're all a dying breed. Sorry mate!
Sales people that know less than the a three year old. If they didn't pay minimum wage, then maybe they could actually get people who have knowledge.Quote:
Originally Posted by Cozwin
I do use online shopping, though. The difference is, I do it when it suits me and only when it suits me. But, to name just a couple, I have and use, on occasion, both eBay and Amazon.Quote:
Originally Posted by dangel
It's not that I *won't* shop online, it's that for me, the convenience is in avoiding couriers. I have to use them a fair bit for work, and it's not something I put myself through without good reason.
You might be getting confused with my stance on online purchase of some digital materials, like CDs and games. But on both subjects, I would purchase online, if necessary, and what is *won't* do is buy, in the case of games, DRM-protected versions where the DRM is such as to be unacceptable to me, or digital downloads of music. I will buy boxed versions of games or CDs, if necessary. But, the convenience for me is better served by buying in the local high street and not having hassles with couriers.
Buying online does have it's advantages, though, nor least of which is the DSR. And I think it's patently obvious that online has grow a lot, and that that has taken a chunk out of traditional stores. But then, it inevitably would, wouldn't it. A few years go, there was no such thing as online shopping, and with the growing penetration of home internet and especially home broadband, it was inevitable it was going to capture a chunk of the market, and inevitable it was going to be a good-sized chunk. and it's certainly not all extra sales, therefore it's inevitable that it's going to hit conventional retailers.
None of that changes the fact that a major motivation is getting a lower price, and as that changes (and it does) with affluence, the drive to shop online reduces.
Are today's younger generation always going to be more likely to shop online than the older generation? Probably. And you're right, some of the older generation simply won't shop online, or indeed, even have a computer in the house.
But don't make the mistake of thinking that old = not able or willing to go online. A friend of mine got into computers in his 60's, and that was >20 years ago. And despite now being in his 80's, he buys and sells online a lot more than I do. Another old lady I knew (until she passed away) was hard to get away from her computer. You name it, she was at it, everything from social networking to eBay to online poker.
I'm not really, I was responding to the quote (re: younger gen will turn out like the current old) and then branched into a wider discussion about the shape of the respective markets. No worries tho and interesting to hear your own preferences. Which couriers cause you the most grief? HDN are my personal Satan.Quote:
Originally Posted by Saracen