- Original Poster
- #1
250 stores to close another big name hits the dirt.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15650763
Earl
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-15650763
Earl
R
Rhyl Lightworks
Comet desrve to go under, but the company that has bought them plans to continue as they are for the next 18 months. They only bargains apparently will be slow sellers that they want to get rid of. Unfortuneately, the deterioration in Comet has benefitted Curry's, PC World and Dixons (all owned by the same group). Pity.
Barrie
Barrie
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- Original Poster
- #8
Brother flew to South Africa in one in 1954 It was one of them that did not explode in mid air.
Great shame for the UK air industry was the Comet.
http://www.century-of-flight.net/Aviation history/coming of age/De Havilland Comet.htm
Earl
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9
90DC
On a retail park near me, there's a PC World, Currys, Comet and BestBuy.
BestBuy offer to price match any of the others, are no fuss, they even have trollies with cars on the front for children to sit in, so I much prefer BestBuy than the rest right now.
On a note, I've only been to a Comet once in the last two years, and that was to buy some hair straighteners for my OH, reduced from £69.99 to £7.99.
Bought washing machine from them - Endless problems.
Lost sale on 36in TV for pushing too far with extended warranty.
Faulty £199 iPhone floor speaker purchased from there, tried to take back, problems, got refund, over to Currys.
No wonder they were having trouble.
BestBuy offer to price match any of the others, are no fuss, they even have trollies with cars on the front for children to sit in, so I much prefer BestBuy than the rest right now.
On a note, I've only been to a Comet once in the last two years, and that was to buy some hair straighteners for my OH, reduced from £69.99 to £7.99.
Bought washing machine from them - Endless problems.
Lost sale on 36in TV for pushing too far with extended warranty.
Faulty £199 iPhone floor speaker purchased from there, tried to take back, problems, got refund, over to Currys.
No wonder they were having trouble.
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I
I Love Spreadsheets
I dont think its a case of losing out to Curry's / PC World, there are a number of other factors at play effecting Best Buy (also given up this week) and Currys / PC World.
1. They are losing out to the likes of Amazon, Dabs etc. Why go to a store where you get no technical advice when you can sit at home and read countless reviews.
2. To compete with the internet most electrical stores have been turned in to glorified on-line order collection points. If you go in to the stores to buy a large item (fridge/tv etc) they wont have it in stock and will want to deliver it. You could just as easily do that on-line.
3. They cant get customer service right. When Currys/Dixons/PC World paid their staff commission you couldnt move for sales guys, now they dont pay commission and you cant find staff anywhere.
Currys/Dixons/PC World have been constantly posting profit warnings so I dont think the problem is over yet
1. They are losing out to the likes of Amazon, Dabs etc. Why go to a store where you get no technical advice when you can sit at home and read countless reviews.
2. To compete with the internet most electrical stores have been turned in to glorified on-line order collection points. If you go in to the stores to buy a large item (fridge/tv etc) they wont have it in stock and will want to deliver it. You could just as easily do that on-line.
3. They cant get customer service right. When Currys/Dixons/PC World paid their staff commission you couldnt move for sales guys, now they dont pay commission and you cant find staff anywhere.
Currys/Dixons/PC World have been constantly posting profit warnings so I dont think the problem is over yet
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I was there a month or 2 ago. Ordered online then stood at the customer service desk, was there 10 minutes (I wasn't in a rush and thought I'd just wait) watching staff walk around like zombies before I got bored and said something. Staff training appears to have been an issue but they probably all had in the back of their mind the fear of redundancy.
If I need a new fridge or similar I tend to go to currys or comet to look at them, then go home a read online reviews and order from the cheapest place... If someone with some sales skills approached me I would probably have just bought instore.
If I need a new fridge or similar I tend to go to currys or comet to look at them, then go home a read online reviews and order from the cheapest place... If someone with some sales skills approached me I would probably have just bought instore.
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D
Deleted member 122319
I bought a TV from Comet last year. No problems, although the shop assistant did try a bit of the techno-babble on me over the HDMI cables. I do look more "blue collar" than anything, so they tend to jump to the conclusion they can try it on. Unfortunately, television purchases are deemed to be "aesthetic" decisions in our house, so Mrs.No is the final arbiter. We therefore spent more on cabling for the new TV than I spent on my first car.
I think the ease of cross (sales)channel comparison means that retail outlets find it hard to add value for electronic products - nice customer service is seemngly not "worth" that much to the buying public who are voting with their feet. I mainly agreed to visiting a high street store because I thought it would satisy my need for instant gratification (ie same day take away). Unfortunately, even that wasn't the case.
I think the ease of cross (sales)channel comparison means that retail outlets find it hard to add value for electronic products - nice customer service is seemngly not "worth" that much to the buying public who are voting with their feet. I mainly agreed to visiting a high street store because I thought it would satisy my need for instant gratification (ie same day take away). Unfortunately, even that wasn't the case.
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E
Esk247
if the EU continue to run around like headless chickens then yes..worse is to come..especially for those with outstanding large loans. they're going to find it even harder to pay off their debts.
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Wow, talk about coincidences - having worked for Comet in my late teens / early 20's I thought I'd have a read of this - imagine my surprise when I clicked on the BBC site and saw this:
"Anglo-French electrical goods retailer Kesa ... "
"Kesa said it would invest £50m itself..."
I had to do a double-take (check out my username and you'll see why lol) - I swear I have nothing to do with this lol (although I wouldn't mind having £50m spare!)
"Anglo-French electrical goods retailer Kesa ... "
"Kesa said it would invest £50m itself..."
I had to do a double-take (check out my username and you'll see why lol) - I swear I have nothing to do with this lol (although I wouldn't mind having £50m spare!)
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Very true,it is a specialist turnaround company going in there, so if they can't make it work then its is really is going to crash and burn big time taken the level of inward investment.
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E
Esk247
they are closing dozens of stores though, more will go after the Christmas bonanza has ended and February kicks in..thats when retail starts to drop off from my experience.
Wouldn't be surprised if they get streamlined, rebranded and sold on as a package in 6 months time.
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R
Rhyl Lightworks
My critisms of Comet (and to a large extent Curry's and others too) would be:
1. Appaling customer service - the staff just don't know what they are selling.
2. Assumption that you are going to buy the poor value extended warranty, because this is what they make their money on. They certainly don't make any money on selling goods. They also don't tell you when you have to pay to get no interest on their 'buy now pay later' schemes, and charge extornionate rates of interest if you go one day over.
3. Returned goods, in my experience, are just put on the top of the pile, to be sold to the next unsuspecting customer, until someone buys one that they can't be bothered to return.
4. Advertising the cheapest prices - people believe them but it is simply not true. However if they say this, people do not bother to price compare. It is peculiar that Comet, Curry's and others always charge the same prices. The best piece of publicity we had several years ago was when Comet put up our phone no. outside their shop in Rhyl, so that people could phone us for our prices - talk about shooting themselves in the foot. It really put us on the map.
Barrie
1. Appaling customer service - the staff just don't know what they are selling.
2. Assumption that you are going to buy the poor value extended warranty, because this is what they make their money on. They certainly don't make any money on selling goods. They also don't tell you when you have to pay to get no interest on their 'buy now pay later' schemes, and charge extornionate rates of interest if you go one day over.
3. Returned goods, in my experience, are just put on the top of the pile, to be sold to the next unsuspecting customer, until someone buys one that they can't be bothered to return.
4. Advertising the cheapest prices - people believe them but it is simply not true. However if they say this, people do not bother to price compare. It is peculiar that Comet, Curry's and others always charge the same prices. The best piece of publicity we had several years ago was when Comet put up our phone no. outside their shop in Rhyl, so that people could phone us for our prices - talk about shooting themselves in the foot. It really put us on the map.
Barrie
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Hi Barrie
As you said in your first sentence mate all of them. (or words to that effect.)
They are all selling at such low margins it is ridiculous, hence the prices all being so close.
The only people who win are the manufacturers themselves.
Their price isn't degraded by people screwing one another over for a few quid.
regards
Jon
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Even whilst I was part time when I was studying at Currys it was obviously not a good model to survive the bust.
£800 laptops sold for £5 margin, excluding the 10-30 minutes at £4.35/hr it'd take to sell one. Margin is on the accessories and the Extra Warrantee and the Credit/PPI. Yup - a lot of missold PPI was through places like Comet and Currys. Sales people used to just add it on without telling the customer as it got them a crap load of commission.
Argos have it set to ride out the bad times though - significantly lower overheads and complete Lean Sales philosophy really is keeping them more than afloat, they're actually doing well, relatively for retail anyway.
£800 laptops sold for £5 margin, excluding the 10-30 minutes at £4.35/hr it'd take to sell one. Margin is on the accessories and the Extra Warrantee and the Credit/PPI. Yup - a lot of missold PPI was through places like Comet and Currys. Sales people used to just add it on without telling the customer as it got them a crap load of commission.
Argos have it set to ride out the bad times though - significantly lower overheads and complete Lean Sales philosophy really is keeping them more than afloat, they're actually doing well, relatively for retail anyway.
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We were doing some work last year (manafacturing shopfittings) for the Dixons group.
We lost that work cos they are all in serious doo-doos, the high street retail tech-selling lot.
As has been said, the staff knew nothing about the products they were selling, other than what was written on the box. Very poor.
As has also been said, when it comes to electricals, why not sit back and read countless reviews from people who actually HAVE this stuff, and then simply shop around online for the best deal (usually from someone with no overheads)?
Bah
Simon
We lost that work cos they are all in serious doo-doos, the high street retail tech-selling lot.
As has been said, the staff knew nothing about the products they were selling, other than what was written on the box. Very poor.
As has also been said, when it comes to electricals, why not sit back and read countless reviews from people who actually HAVE this stuff, and then simply shop around online for the best deal (usually from someone with no overheads)?
Bah
Simon
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Internet shops are real, they're just the virtual evolution in the progression.
simon field said:
That's the big step which even Google hasn't quite solved yet, although they are close - Social Shopping. Sites do it individually but I haven't seen a single platform or network which does the user reviews AND referral purchasing combined. Kinda like retailler meets CNET meets comparethemarket.com
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But it doesnt require people to be employed in the numbers that other methods do. What do we do with all these people?
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