Maplin has just 48 hours left to avoid administration

What Saracen and Peterb said basically. If it’s a few quid I’m happy to buy locally. That being said, I’ve found screwfix way more competitive than maplin for stuff like cables and conveters, and they tend to have stock.

I think this is going to be a continuing problem on the high street to be honest. In order for firms to differentiate they need to offer something which is broadly the same price as online and/or fantastic customer service - either that or shops will morph into customer demo centres, for example a Samsung store which carries one of all the TVs/phones etc so you can have a play before dropshipping your order to you.

I wouldn’t buy a bike or a wetsuit online for example, I want advice from someone who knows the products inside out, but the level of kit I’m buying is not a Halfords special.

Similarly I’d prefer to buy stuff at John Lewis or Waitrose or a local butcher etc.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by b0redom

What Saracen and Peterb said basically. If it’s a few quid I’m happy to buy locally. That being said, I’ve found screwfix way more competitive than maplin for stuff like cables and conveters, and they tend to have stock.

I think this is going to be a continuing problem on the high street to be honest. In order for firms to differentiate they need to offer something which is broadly the same price as online and/or fantastic customer service - either that or shops will morph into customer demo centres, for example a Samsung store which carries one of all the TVs/phones etc so you can have a play before dropshipping your order to you.

I wouldn’t buy a bike or a wetsuit online for example, I want advice from someone who knows the products inside out, but the level of kit I’m buying is not a Halfords special.

Similarly I’d prefer to buy stuff at John Lewis or Waitrose or a local butcher etc.

---

Agreed, and this is where Maplin went wrong.

20+ years ago Maplin were the experts. Somewhere you could take a broken power supply & they'd match you a replacement or figure out which diode you needed to finish a project. They also did some non-mainstream A/V stuff too with the advice to match.

Then they decided to try to compete with the gadget stores and PC World, buying in cheap tat, dumbing down their sales people and hiding their USP (the component counter etc.) at the back of the store.

Now if you went in you'd never know they sold components as the front of the shop is full of USB mug warmers and poor quality mini drones.

Imagine they'd stuck to what they did well and only expanded into markets their expertise could help in (smart home stuff for example,) backed by knowledgeable staff. They'd be a much smaller chain but they'd have a better chance of survival.

Quote:

---

Originally Posted by DanceswithUnix

.... But here's the kicker, most of it is Internet order only, you can't just go to the store and grab some.

---

And I think that that nicely illustrates the problem. Maplin are neither one thing, nor t'other.

I think every, and I meanevery retailer has to be alert to the fact that retailing has changed. You have to have a strategy to cope with that. For some, it might be service levels, or unique stock lines, or exceptionally skilled staff. For others, volume and low price.

Maplin's problem seems to me thaf they have a good collection of very useful stuff that's hard to get elsewhere, artfully concealed by a massive range of cheap tat I'd expect from a market stall. Though, these days, many market stalls offer goid quality at decent prices, achieved by cutting overheads to the maximim they can.

I'll miss Maplin.

For a last minute source of small components or uncommon cables/adapters they were great. I didn't mind paying a premium for the convenience.