Comet, Jessops, now HMV... Who's next

[Aspman]

Oh dear. We were just going to get our wedding list through john lewis. Wait till i tell the missus about this. Maybe i'll get my wish after all and get my share of the wedding gifts as xbox live vouchers. Dancer.

Was JL in Aberdeen too

[ColinD]

For many of these bricks and motar companies the writing has been on the walls for a number of years. Broadband merle took the writing from garbled graffiti to headline news. It's been happening all around us, how many independent shops do you know of, where you can get the same thing from the mighty likes of amazon or similar. I can order online light bulbs quicker than I can drive 3 mins to my local hardware shop (ceased trading a few months back, grr he had loads of 100w bulbs too).

The first downfall was the department store, then chains of department stores. Next up comes supermarkets, then out of town shopping centres. Good call town planners, all yee who signed off on them face palm stand up now.

Then all this led to the inevitable fact that with mobiles and internet and avoidance of hassle means I can look at something in a shop while ordering if for less on my mobile, to be delivered gift wrapped tomorrow. I never did this, but came pretty close with a rude shop assistant once or twice. Got a problem, I post it back or call my credit card co. Granted both 'sides' have good and horror stories.

Then you get the rise of the giants, who sell almost everything.

I recently worked at a good sized company, big national stores, 30+. I perhaps foolishly asked why the web wasn't really at the forefront of the strategy, more bricks and motar was.... it traded more than any one physical store and the web isn't going away. Sad as it is,the classic big retail co is going to struggle, rates, rent, compare to a massive warehouse, automated picking, no corp tax/ blah blah... sad.

What I do think will come, is boutique an micro niche stores, not threatened by the web, but empowered. If I were a new to retail person today, I would be web first, then find a retail premises, just make it easy. Provide free wifi, a faraday cage and block the competitors sites

Finally blockbuster wasn't a surprise, in fact I thought it had gone once before, not seen one for years.

http://www.worldtvpc.com/blog/blockbuster-bankrupt-due-online-streaming/ < 2010

[Skodaniel]

Yeh Comet were hilarious for selling HDMI cables i had a full blown argument with a guy about them lol.

He didnt get that the cables are digital they either work or dont its on or off no weak signals blah blah

My £10 Twin pack of 1.4a HDMI cables are just as good as those £80 ones he tried to sell me.

Next one down the tubes for me....

Mothercare

Poundland sell hdmi cables, obviously for a pound, but i wonder if they are as good as the £100 ones?

[gadgetman]

All this about online taking over isn't always true as those offering click and collect services are reporting a surge as people don't like going to stores to find no stock, or chasing delivery firms and waiting.

[moley]

VAT needs to be reduced to 15% to stimulate the retail market, penny wise pound foolish government.

The massive increase in the amount people are paying for Gas, Electric and fuel far outway the last 2.5% increase in VAT.

[CFB]

Next one down the tubes for me....

Mothercare

I heard the same last night.

If they do go, I would say the cause is the hand me down, pass it on culture.

I have several friends, who all know each other, with youngsters, ranging in age from 6 months to 8 yrs.

Those with older kids regularly pass on clothes, toys etc to the parents of the next youngest, who in turn pass them to others.

Out of those friends, only the family with the oldest is buying some new stuff but they are getting stuff from others.

It must have an impact on the retail sellers.

[Grizzle]

Poundland sell hdmi cables, obviously for a pound, but i wonder if they are as good as the £100 ones?

I could bet my house and car on it being the same cable under all that glitzy packaging.

I heard the same last night.

If they do go, I would say the cause is the hand me down, pass it on culture.

I have several friends, who all know each other, with youngsters, ranging in age from 6 months to 8 yrs.

Those with older kids regularly pass on clothes, toys etc to the parents of the next youngest, who in turn pass them to others.

Out of those friends, only the family with the oldest is buying some new stuff but they are getting stuff from others.

It must have an impact on the retail sellers.

This is the thing babies grow so quickly if family are prepared to hand clothes that have been worn a matter of months down to other then happy days.

[gadgetman]

I heard the same last night.

If they do go, I would say the cause is the hand me down, pass it on culture.

I have several friends, who all know each other, with youngsters, ranging in age from 6 months to 8 yrs.

Those with older kids regularly pass on clothes, toys etc to the parents of the next youngest, who in turn pass them to others.

Out of those friends, only the family with the oldest is buying some new stuff but they are getting stuff from others.

It must have an impact on the retail sellers.

They sell on quality, however we've bought some great kids cloths from Tesco and Asda costing much less than Mothercare for something pretty similar.

I'd say this is their biggest threat given how small that part of the store is now and how much is always a 'sales rack'. What people do flock to our nearest one for are maternity clothing, prams, feeding supplies and nursery furniture. Whilst recently they're prices are more in line with Kiddicare and Toys R us, they can still be over priced on some things. I can see stores closing, or maybe going down a similar business model to Kiddicare, but I think they'll be (just about) OK.

[Aspman]

Poundland sell hdmi cables, obviously for a pound, but i wonder if they are as good as the £100 ones?

HDMI is digital so it'll work or it wont. There is also error correction built into the standard. So yup the £1 cable will give you the same picture as the £100 but it might fall apart after you've pulled it in an out a couple of times or the wires might break if it gets moved.

[Jockdooshbag]

HDMI is digital so it'll work or it wont. There is also error correction built into the standard. So yup the £1 cable will give you the same picture as the £100 but it might fall apart after you've pulled it in an out a couple of times or the wires might break if it gets moved.

Actually different HDMI cables have different data transfer rates. You need to get the right speed for what your doing hence why HD 3D needs the very best cables as more data is being transfered over the same length of time so a cheap cable wont support the same speeds as a good cable. It actually telss you on a BLU RAY disc or the player what speeds the cable needs to be capable of.

[LukeRs]

As much it's sad to se these going, like what has been said its our fault they gone as we buy stuff online and admit I do it myself but when these companies charge so much it's expected. I understand they have to cover overheads, wages and so on but I guess it's the way we are going.

[RainbowFire]

Damn! Sometimes these appear as videos, sometimes as links!

[@Lee]

HDMI is digital so it'll work or it wont. There is also error correction built into the standard. So yup the £1 cable will give you the same picture as the £100 but it might fall apart after you've pulled it in an out a couple of times or the wires might break if it gets moved.

+1, I got my HDMI leads from Tesco Home, £4.99 and work fine. If you are wary then get a Monster HDMI lead

http://forums.digitalspy.co.uk/showthread.php?t=690931

[fabdavrav]

What I do think will come, is boutique an micro niche stores, not threatened by the web, but empowered.

Have to agree with most of your post apart from the above statement...............................which is a total non-starter in my trade!!!!!

I have run my very specialised climbing/walking shop for the past 12yrs.....and will be closing the door at the end of this March!

Various reasons.......too many to list.....but here are a few of the major "problems"

1. People like to come into my store and try on the clothes/look at the goods then buy them cheaper on the web.......or demand that I knock 25% of the price to match the online price! (My prices are never higher than the SRP from the manufacturers and usually cheaper than the big stores in Inverness.) Where are they going to try on the goods now then eh smart arsess??????

2. Most (95%) of the Clothing in my trade is now on a 10 month pre-season order twice a year. So I would be ordering in January for delivery of the following winters stock in end of September......and then ordering in July for delivery of next summers stock in end of March..........There is no "sale or return".......so you have to buy the stock...you don't sell it your problem! Also now there are minimum amounts that you have to order...usually £3,000 (trade cost ex vat) each order.

3. There are items/brands that I can not get due to me not being a "big" player, and partly the above reason.

4. Some of the distributers who are not on the pre-season minimum order route are now changing their minds and send letters out stating that your account is now closed as you do not order more that the new rule of £5,000 (trade ex vat) per year!!..But done £14,000 with them over 8yrs!! .....Casio Uk has just employed a new CEO (ex Coke-Cola) whose frist statement to the reps was "get rid of all the accounts that order less then £4,000 (trade cost ex vat) per year".......my rep said that out of the 24 total accounts for Scotland he has had to get rid of 14!!!!..............that includes me!

5. One of the main suppliers/ distributers for industrial climbing products (one of my speciallities) likes to make small shops jump through lots of hoops to get an account......they then promise as written in their contract that they will past on all enquires in your area to you! Big lie!!!!!.........almost took them to court for breach of contract as I found out that they were passing on the small £500 equiries to me......BUT a much bigger £10,000 order from someone in my "back garden" they took for themselves and made a cick and bull story up about why they didn't pass it on. Basically they where sending people around to my shop to look at the goods and they sell them the goods direct and offer almost the same trade price as I pay!!!! FFS.....

6. When I lost my Patagonia clothing account due to not pre-ordering enough......(I had ordered over £7,000 per year "in-season".).....they said that 80% of the total number of shops (accounts) that they dealt with in the UK accounted for less than 20% of their total UK turnover! ........So basically the Manufacturers/distributers just want to shift as much stock for as little effort...so just deal with the big chain stores!!!

7. Where I am based is an IV postcode so I get "special" treatment...........I have to order almost double for the distributers to even send stuff out!!!!..........God knows how bad that will get if Salmond gets his way and Scotland goes independant!!!!!

8. People ask if it is bad economically..........not for us compared to when foot and mouth closed the outdoors down!!!......Us small shops can "batten down the hatches" and ride the storms out.....BUT the distributers don't want to do the same so we suffer!!! In fact there are as many small independants in our trade closing down now as when we had foot and mouth!!!! Mostly for the reasons that I am listing!

So in our trade you will just have the "choice" off...........(up here and most of the UK)

1. Blacks/Millets (part of JD Sports now) = 290 stores approx

2. Cotswold = 70 stores

3. Go Outdoors = 42 stores

4. Ellis Brigham = 24 stores

5. Snow and Rock = 23 stores

6. Field and Trek (part of Sports Direct now) = 12 stand alone shops......but many more as "consessions" within a Sports Direct

7. Tiso = 11

8. Craigdon Mountain sports = 4

Thing is they all tend to stock the same jackets/stuff as each other (ie only order about 1/2 or 1/3 of the product range) and try to copy/match the competion!.......And if you see something on the manufacturers site that you like and these shops don't stock........forget it as most will not order an item because if it ain't on the pre-season they won't get it!

So thats the furture of our shopping..............that item on the shelf in black only and just having 8 different chain stores coping each others stock.........YAY.......NO Choice and Henry Ford's old quip "you can have it in any colour so long as it's black"..

Sorry for long post..........and the rant......................just still p1$$ed off and angry about the situation......after spending the last 14yrs of my life on my business.......... .............. ........ ............... :'( :'(

[Grizzle]

Actually different HDMI cables have different data transfer rates. You need to get the right speed for what your doing hence why HD 3D needs the very best cables as more data is being transfered over the same length of time so a cheap cable wont support the same speeds as a good cable. It actually telss you on a BLU RAY disc or the player what speeds the cable needs to be capable of.

Not quite aslong as its a minimum 1.4 spec cable its fine its could be a £2 cable or a £1000 cable if both are 1.4 they are the same, the new 2.0 cables have been approved and will be out in the next few months for the 4k spec TV's.

[MartynVRS]

Have to agree with most of your post apart from the above statement...............................which is a total non-starter in my trade!!!!!

I have run my very specialised climbing/walking shop for the past 12yrs.....and will be closing the door at the end of this March!

Various reasons.......too many to list.....but here are a few of the major "problems"

1. People like to come into my store and try on the clothes/look at the goods then buy them cheaper on the web.......or demand that I knock 25% of the price to match the online price! (My prices are never higher than the SRP from the manufacturers and usually cheaper than the big stores in Inverness.) Where are they going to try on the goods now then eh smart arsess??????

2. Most (95%) of the Clothing in my trade is now on a 10 month pre-season order twice a year. So I would be ordering in January for delivery of the following winters stock in end of September......and then ordering in July for delivery of next summers stock in end of March..........There is no "sale or return".......so you have to buy the stock...you don't sell it your problem! Also now there are minimum amounts that you have to order...usually £3,000 (trade cost ex vat) each order.

3. There are items/brands that I can not get due to me not being a "big" player, and partly the above reason.

4. Some of the distributers who are not on the pre-season minimum order route are now changing their minds and send letters out stating that your account is now closed as you do not order more that the new rule of £5,000 (trade ex vat) per year!!..But done £14,000 with them over 8yrs!! .....Casio Uk has just employed a new CEO (ex Coke-Cola) whose frist statement to the reps was "get rid of all the accounts that order less then £4,000 (trade cost ex vat) per year".......my rep said that out of the 24 total accounts for Scotland he has had to get rid of 14!!!!..............that includes me!

5. One of the main suppliers/ distributers for industrial climbing products (one of my speciallities) likes to make small shops jump through lots of hoops to get an account......they then promise as written in their contract that they will past on all enquires in your area to you! Big lie!!!!!.........almost took them to court for breach of contract as I found out that they were passing on the small £500 equiries to me......BUT a much bigger £10,000 order from someone in my "back garden" they took for themselves and made a cick and bull story up about why they didn't pass it on. Basically they where sending people around to my shop to look at the goods and they sell them the goods direct and offer almost the same trade price as I pay!!!! FFS.....

6. When I lost my Patagonia clothing account due to not pre-ordering enough......(I had ordered over £7,000 per year "in-season".).....they said that 80% of the total number of shops (accounts) that they dealt with in the UK accounted for less than 20% of their total UK turnover! ........So basically the Manufacturers/distributers just want to shift as much stock for as little effort...so just deal with the big chain stores!!!

7. Where I am based is an IV postcode so I get "special" treatment...........I have to order almost double for the distributers to even send stuff out!!!!..........God knows how bad that will get if Salmond gets his way and Scotland goes independant!!!!!

8. People ask if it is bad economically..........not for us compared to when foot and mouth closed the outdoors down!!!......Us small shops can "batten down the hatches" and ride the storms out.....BUT the distributers don't want to do the same so we suffer!!! In fact there are as many small independants in our trade closing down now as when we had foot and mouth!!!! Mostly for the reasons that I am listing!

So in our trade you will just have the "choice" off...........(up here and most of the UK)

1. Blacks/Millets (part of JD Sports now) = 290 stores approx

2. Cotswold = 70 stores

3. Go Outdoors = 42 stores

4. Ellis Brigham = 24 stores

5. Snow and Rock = 23 stores

6. Field and Trek (part of Sports Direct now) = 12 stand alone shops......but many more as "consessions" within a Sports Direct

7. Tiso = 11

8. Craigdon Mountain sports = 4

Thing is they all tend to stock the same jackets/stuff as each other (ie only order about 1/2 or 1/3 of the product range) and try to copy/match the competion!.......And if you see something on the manufacturers site that you like and these shops don't stock........forget it as most will not order an item because if it ain't on the pre-season they won't get it!

So thats the furture of our shopping..............that item on the shelf in black only and just having 8 different chain stores coping each others stock.........YAY.......NO Choice and Henry Ford's old quip "you can have it in any colour so long as it's black"..

Sorry for long post..........and the rant......................just still p1$$ed off and angry about the situation......after spending the last 14yrs of my life on my business.......... .............. ........ ............... :'( :'(

This sounds very similar to the rugby shop I work in and we run into exactly the same problems. It's a pi$$take when you order some rugby jerseys in and they retail at £49.99. You then have Sports direct selling them for £34.99 just to undercut us. I'm sure they sell a lot of things at a loss just to get people in. For a big shop they can absorb it. We can't afford to do it. I've had customers demand up to 30% off things and it can't be done. What we are starting to do is look at different things other than rugby to sell online. It's a shame but if we stay as we are we won't last long. New site is going up in the next week that's much better to look at and easier to use.

[fabdavrav]

This sounds very similar to the rugby shop I work in and we run into exactly the same problems. It's a pi$$take when you order some rugby jerseys in and they retail at £49.99. You then have Sports direct selling them for £34.99 just to undercut us. I'm sure they sell a lot of things at a loss just to get people in. For a big shop they can absorb it. We can't afford to do it. I've had customers demand up to 30% off things and it can't be done. What we are starting to do is look at different things other than rugby to sell online. It's a shame but if we stay as we are we won't last long. New site is going up in the next week that's much better to look at and easier to use.

Actually you reminded me of another Problem which answers yours.....

Back in Sept 2011 Blacks was in the hands of the administrators.........The North Face decided to NOT to supply Blacks with it's pre-season order................TNF UK had about £1million to £3million of stock for Blacks sitting in its holland distribution centre..............so sold the lot to Coswold.....................who then cancelled alot of it's other winter orders with other clothing manufactureres. ................

Cotswold sold all the North Face stuff off at 1/2 price andstill made the same % profit as I would.......reason being that I know the discount structure.............the TNF pricelist had the printed % discounts for quantity.................

So pre-season order up to £5,999........no discount so prices as per list (usually a £100 jkt SRP is cost ex vat £50)...........order over £6,000 get extra 5%.........list stopped at £50,000.....10%.......so you can bet your bottom dollar that £1million order will be getting those same jkts at about £25!!!.............

Even people like Go Outdoors complained to North Face about what Cotswold were doing (selling brand new this seasons stock at 1/2 price).........North Face just shrugged it's shoulders at Go Outdoors!!

Edited as found the actual discount structure price list

Edited 19 January, 2013 by fabdavrav

[Chris]

Bricks n Mortar are not dead quite yet...for example Kiddicare is opening actual stores in buildings previously occupied by Best Buy. That might well do some harm to Mothercare/ELC.

[gadgetman]

Trouble is these firms don't understand is smaller shops might be plentiful and big chains quite a commute just to find they don't have what you want.

So for specialist sectors they are actually damaging their brand presence which will have an effect on future sales....

[RapidRonnie]

More people would shop in these places if

a. The staff weren't disinterested in the products they sold.

b. The staff had some real knowledge about what they were selling (see a.)

My local Sainsburys don't appear to have staff yet they seem to be doing ok...

As far as high streets go, they could still be viable if

- rent and rates were charged at a realistic level

- councils were not allowed to charge more for parking than the costs incurred in running council owned car parks

[fabdavrav]

Trouble is these firms don't understand is smaller shops might be plentiful and big chains quite a commute just to find they don't have what you want.

So for specialist sectors they are actually damaging their brand presence which will have an effect on future sales....

They arn't damaging thier brands "availablity"...................all those big chain stores I listed in my post cover the whole UK geographically!..............Plus they all have big websites........and they make up 80% of the buying power of the stock from the manufactureres!

Like I said Cotswold can take a £1,000,000.00 order no problem for just TNF stuff for one winter..........I could take a Max £10,000..............so TNF would have to sell to 100 stores like mine to sell the same amount!......thats 99 more delivery drops, 99 more paperwork......etc......etc....................(plus I'm a bigger small store with a 82sqm floor area)

Like I said everyone is just trying to shift as much stock with as little effort as possiable!!!

[Jockdooshbag]

Not quite aslong as its a minimum 1.4 spec cable its fine its could be a £2 cable or a £1000 cable if both are 1.4 they are the same, the new 2.0 cables have been approved and will be out in the next few months for the 4k spec TV's.

Thats kinda what i was meaning. Good gold connectors and insulated cabling also helps by reducing interference and distortiuon etc but yea a 1.4 is a 1.4. There are better 1.4's than others though but its not night and day but certainly all HDMI's are not the same.

Regarding the 4k teles......We still dont have HD being broadcast on the majority of channels yet so surely 4k wont be available realistically any time soon?? Is anyone other than the makers of the Hobbit even using 4k cameras or does it even need different cameras????

They have already been speaking about 8k tv's but can the human eye even tell the difference between 1080p, 4k and 8k on a 47 inch LED in your living room? I doubt it. Saying that Full HD is notably better than SD but there must come a point for a certain TV size that any more resolution is pointless.

Could this be any more off topic? I doubt it.

[ckyliu]

Regarding the 4k teles......We still dont have HD being broadcast on the majority of channels yet so surely 4k wont be available realistically any time soon?? Is anyone other than the makers of the Hobbit even using 4k cameras or does it even need different cameras????

All digital cinema stuff is at least 2k, ideally 4k (and I believe some of it is 8k). You can convert 35 mm film to 4k, that's generally how most digital cinema projection works, rather than being filmed natively in 4k

Edited 21 January, 2013 by ckyliu

[cheezemonkhai]

Thats kinda what i was meaning. Good gold connectors and insulated cabling also helps by reducing interference and distortiuon etc but yea a 1.4 is a 1.4. There are better 1.4's than others though but its not night and day but certainly all HDMI's are not the same.

Regarding the 4k teles......We still dont have HD being broadcast on the majority of channels yet so surely 4k wont be available realistically any time soon?? Is anyone other than the makers of the Hobbit even using 4k cameras or does it even need different cameras????

They have already been speaking about 8k tv's but can the human eye even tell the difference between 1080p, 4k and 8k on a 47 inch LED in your living room? I doubt it. Saying that Full HD is notably better than SD but there must come a point for a certain TV size that any more resolution is pointless.

Could this be any more off topic? I doubt it.

Below 37" (and certainly 32" and below) you'll often find that you'll get a better picture from a 720p TV than a 1080p TV.

This is mainly due to the pixel boundaries making up too much of the picture.

Case in point 8k is going to be pointless unless you've a mega screen. To be honest 4k on anything that's not approaching a 7' screen is a bit questionable IMHO too.

All digital cinema stuff is at least 2k, ideally 4k (and I believe some of it is 8k). You can convert 35 mm film to 4k, that's generally how most digital cinema projection works, rather than being filmed natively in 4k

You can convert 35mm film to whatever you like, it's just that 4k approximates the resolution you get from 35mm film once you've taken into account the grain on the film.

Edited 21 January, 2013 by cheezemonkhai

[Grizzle]

Actually you reminded me of another Problem which answers yours.....

Back in Sept 2011 Blacks was in the hands of the administrators.........The North Face decided to NOT to supply Blacks with it's pre-season order................TNF UK had about £1million to £3million of stock for Blacks sitting in its holland distribution centre..............so sold the lot to Coswold.....................who then cancelled alot of it's other winter orders with other clothing manufactureres. ................

Cotswold sold all the North Face stuff off at 1/2 price andstill made the same % profit as I would.......reason being that I know the discount structure.............the TNF pricelist had the printed % discounts for quantity.................

So pre-season order up to £5,999........no discount so prices as per list (usually a £100 jkt SRP is cost ex vat £50)...........order over £6,000 get extra 5%.........list stopped at £50,000.....10%.......so you can bet your bottom dollar that £1million order will be getting those same jkts at about £25!!!.............

Even people like Go Outdoors complained to North Face about what Cotswold were doing (selling brand new this seasons stock at 1/2 price).........North Face just shrugged it's shoulders at Go Outdoors!!

Edited as found the actual discount structure price list

Can i just add as a ex lover of TNF's products there customer service is appauling!!! i bought a jacket which was faulty even Blacks at the time said oh no worries its deffo a fault refused to repair or swap for another, never bought another TNF product since.

They aren't all that great of a brand to be fair, more a Berghaus fan.