Currys PC World/ Black

[w.fei]

Currys PC World is one of the leading specialist retailers in UK. But I've visit their store at Birmingham new street and there seems always sooo few consumers. And I can't tell the differences between the normal Currys PC World and Currys PC World Black, especially they also have Currys mega stores and PC World mega stores. I mean, their branding system are sooo complicated and so inconsistency.

Is this a type of strategy??

 

[british steve]

We have a PC World just a couple of hundred yards from a large two floor Curry's store. I cant understand how the hell the PC World store stays open when 75% of the available floor space is empty. You could drive a truck between the shelves isles they are so far apart - such a waste of space!

 

[JoyDivision]

I used to work for them, and I am amazed they are still in business. When did they last even make a profit? I sometimes use them for big ticket items such as my camera but for accessories and other things they are beyond a joke. When I worked there my catch phrase was "it will be half the price in Maplin".

 

[w.fei]

exactly!!
not sure if they actually own that property cause if that's the case, that arrangement could be reasonable since they might plan on a real estate business. They might earn something by selling that property and the organisation as a whole is profitable from that...

I read some of their company documents, saying that they combined the Currys (which sells the consumer electronics) and the PC World (which sells the IT equipments) and created a new store called Currys PC World to more reasonably and wisely use their spaces. but still, that floor plan is such a waste when no customers are inside.

by the way....why they use the name 'Currys'?? it sounds like an Indian restaurant (no offense, just it does not sounds like a consumer electronics retailer....)

 

[TheEngineer]

I used to work for them, and I am amazed they are still in business. When did they last even make a profit?

In their last reported year they made £70.8m profit

http://www.dixonsretail.com/dixons/en/investors/financialnews/pressreleases?id=540

 

[Barnie]

we had a huge pc world and a huge curry's side by side in Cardiff, they just knocked them into one massive store. not sure i like it.

the customer service is dire though, i reserved a printer online for store collection but on collecting the price had gone up £10, this took a little arguing to get the price that was confirmed online and emailed to me, i was asked if i wanted warranty i declined as it was only a £50 printer, they informed me then if it broke after 7 days i would have to send it to the manufacture myself. this got a bit heated then tbh.

 

[toystoyou]

i tried to buy a fridge freezer in my local Curry's last night and had to actually ask if someone could come and sell me a freezer cos none of the staff seemed to want to do any work. And it wasn't in stock. They had 14 people waiting on more stock coming in. I might get it by the end of August but I would still have to pay to have it delivered to me. I was also told if I didn't buy it there and then I might miss out on the price cut.
Told them to forget it.
Came out, got on my phone found the same product at the same price (their normal price for it, not a Curry's reduced price) with an online appliance shop. Checked their 'shop' reviews, bought it and it's being delivered free on Monday!

Currys - that is how to run a business, keep your customers happy and make a profit

 

[Posilan]

The markup PC World/Currys puts on accessories is reduculous - especially things like USB cables etc. The sales advice is also often dubious (yes, there are some genuine technical enthusiats that work there but in the main, they are just box shifters that read the shelf edge label specs.)

Maplin *used* to be a really good "niche" shop with excellent pricing when they only had a handful of stores in the late 80's and early 90's when Tandy was thier main competitor for the "geek" market. Sadly they too seem to have largely lost the plot with pricing etc.

Steve

 

[Equinox]

The markup PC World/Currys puts on accessories is reduculous - especially things like USB cables etc. The sales advice is also often dubious (yes, there are some genuine technical enthusiats that work there but in the main, they are just box shifters that read the shelf edge label specs.)

Steve

Do you run a business? Just wondering as it should be obvious as to WHY they sell accessories over priced.

I used to work there. There average margin 5 years ago on a laptop was 10%. I am sure margins have been squeezed further since then. Sometimes as low as even 0 margin in sale. They HAVE to sell accessories because people want CHEAP electronics. All their profit comes from the accessories.

 

[Posilan]

Do you run a business? Just wondering as it should be obvious as to WHY they sell accessories over priced.

I used to work there. There average margin 5 years ago on a laptop was 10%. I am sure margins have been squeezed further since then. Sometimes as low as even 0 margin in sale. They HAVE to sell accessories because people want CHEAP electronics. All their profit comes from the accessories.

A 10% markup is not unusual when reselling PC's and Laptops.

It's still no excuse to charge threee or four times more for an accessory than it should be - such as a "premium packaged" USB cable for £29.99 and I'd assume their "what ever happens" care packages (read "Extended warranty") which costs almost as much as the PC or laptop itself is rather lucrative for them also.

Steve

 

[SuffolkDesigns]

Just take a look at printer prices and then the cost of genuine ink cartridges after that. I doubt anyone is making money on the printers.

The "extended warranty" is a joke, on a laptop I bought recently they tried harder to sell the warranty than they did the laptop (without success), it was about 50% of the price of the laptop.

 

[Talay]

Do you run a business? Just wondering as it should be obvious as to WHY they sell accessories over priced.

I used to work there. There average margin 5 years ago on a laptop was 10%. I am sure margins have been squeezed further since then. Sometimes as low as even 0 margin in sale. They HAVE to sell accessories because people want CHEAP electronics. All their profit comes from the accessories.

Perhaps the huge bonuses handed over at company level for shifting X thousand of Brand Y laptop is what you missed ? It wouldn't be obvious or even known about at branch level perhaps but it is the profit on the big picture which is important, not individual lines.

The massive overpricing of accessories is simply to rob the gullible and the "warranty" scandals have been going on for years.

 

[mit74]

PC World is dire and they make their profits from support and business sales so I hear. Have to admit sometimes they have good special deals on laptops but 10% profit on electrical stuff is the norm these days. I went in there once last year for an emergency as I couldn't wait for a heatsink and they had an incredible choice of... ONE heatsink for the latest intel 1155 i5/i7 processors and it was one of the massive big round in your face top of the range ones.
But yeh I can't understand how they cope with such massive show rooms.