2020 Retailers in trouble thread

[snuffy]

Thankyou4calling said:

survivalist said:

Not sure how old your son is, but I’ve long since given up on high street retail for this. We just order a ton of stuff in 3 sizes and try them all on at home. Send all the stuff that does fit back.

Seems odd? I’d keep the stuff that fits.

He waits until he grows into it ! (Just need to make sure you always order on the large side).

[souper]

Old people shopping, in a sense they are keeping other people in employment, they want to go to the Bank the Baker the Weatherspoon Maker.

Surley the young want to get out and meet each other as well instead of cooped up in their bedroom or basement at the parents.

[monkfish1]

eldar said:

The Spruce Goose said:

you understand it the government guidance they are following adhering to yet you are blaming retail who are following the rules, set by the government. See the problem there with your statement.

There are ways of applying rules. Adopting the peaked cap approach isn’t unifying.

Customer service doesn’t cease because of lockdown.

But seemingly it has!

I had the misfortune of having to take stuff back to wickes. They seem to be going out of their way to be difficult and obstructive, whilst creating a total shambles out in the car park. All of which was avoidable with the application of a bit of thought.

Its my one "retail" trip since this started. Will be the last for a while, that i can be sure of.

[dmahon]

anonymous said:

[redacted]

We are seeing a huge industry collapsing in front of our eyes. It was dying in large parts already, but the current state is flat out non viable. Even if the restrictions ended today, we would have a long road to recovery before getting back to previous levels of foot traffic. All the time, Amazon and ecommerce are building a bigger moat.

RIP Retail. So sad.

Edited by dmahon on Monday 6th July 22:35

[monkfish1]

survivalist said:

dmahon said:

Just to add to the other anecdotal shopping stories.

Today I ventured out for the first time with the kids to attempt a bit of normality.

We went to the Everyman cinema at a cost of £50+ including snacks.

Only 3 groups were there in a room which could accomodate 20. As it was so empty we moved to the back row. Cue the manager coming over and addressing us in the tone you would speak to a naughty 3 year old for not asking permission to move, because they needed to keep people apart (!)

After that we went to McDonalds. A spotty muzzled 15 year old meets you at the door, shepherds you to the self serve tills, then shepherds you to the circle where you must wait to collect your food. Then you are scooted out around the one way system unceremounsly into the street to eat.

All in all, getting on for £100 including parking and petrol for an experience less fun than the dentist. It literally would be more fun to watch a movie at home and order a takeaway or put a pizza in the oven.

This type of stuff is more dangerous than the virus, and it's "retail" digging it's own grave. Surely they should be working twice as hard to be welcoming considering how rubbish it all is?

This will be a huge problem. I always felt a tinge of Disappointment when going to the cinema anyway. When I grew up a 24” screen was considered insanely big, so the cinema had a point. Now i can get a 70” screen for peanuts, so as long as you have the space at home the wow factor of the cinema has gone. Throw in Covid and more stuff being released to download and steam and the challenge is huge.

That said a place local to me is doing a drive in cinema. The kids might love it, but how can you see the screen from that back seat?

Long since stopped going to the cinema. People really have no idea how to behave any more. Just an excercise in frustration.

[FN2TypeR]

dmahon said:

We are seeing a huge industry collapsing in front of our eyes. It was dying in large parts already, but the current state is flat out non viable. Even if the restrictions ended today, we would have a long road to recovery before getting back to previous levels of foot traffic. All the time, Amazon and ecommerce are building a bigger moat.

RIP Retail.

So sad

Internet retail tax required immediately. Mike Ashley, despite being a bit of a tool, touted it to a Select Committee years ago, clearly they did nothing.

[monkfish1]

FN2TypeR said:

dmahon said:

We are seeing a huge industry collapsing in front of our eyes. It was dying in large parts already, but the current state is flat out non viable. Even if the restrictions ended today, we would have a long road to recovery before getting back to previous levels of foot traffic. All the time, Amazon and ecommerce are building a bigger moat.

RIP Retail.

So sad

Internet retail tax required immediately. Mike Ashley, despite being a bit of a tool, touted it to a Select Committee years ago, clearly they did nothing.

Too late now. And how would you stop people ordering from abroad?

[sim72]

FN2TypeR said:

Internet retail tax required immediately. Mike Ashley, despite being a bit of a tool, touted it to a Select Committee years ago, clearly they did nothing.

Unless it was a whopping great amount it'd only raise money for the treasury, not save retail, purely because so many things are cheaper on-line anyway. I bought a new pressure washer a few weeks ago; you could have raised the online price by 20% and it would still have been cheaper than going out and buying it in a store.

[Welshbeef]

monkfish1 said:

Too late now. And how would you stop people ordering from abroad?

Trade tariffs

[jammy-git]

monkfish1 said:

survivalist said:

dmahon said:

Just to add to the other anecdotal shopping stories.

Today I ventured out for the first time with the kids to attempt a bit of normality.

We went to the Everyman cinema at a cost of £50+ including snacks.

Only 3 groups were there in a room which could accomodate 20. As it was so empty we moved to the back row. Cue the manager coming over and addressing us in the tone you would speak to a naughty 3 year old for not asking permission to move, because they needed to keep people apart (!)

After that we went to McDonalds. A spotty muzzled 15 year old meets you at the door, shepherds you to the self serve tills, then shepherds you to the circle where you must wait to collect your food. Then you are scooted out around the one way system unceremounsly into the street to eat.

All in all, getting on for £100 including parking and petrol for an experience less fun than the dentist. It literally would be more fun to watch a movie at home and order a takeaway or put a pizza in the oven.

This type of stuff is more dangerous than the virus, and it's "retail" digging it's own grave. Surely they should be working twice as hard to be welcoming considering how rubbish it all is?

This will be a huge problem. I always felt a tinge of Disappointment when going to the cinema anyway. When I grew up a 24” screen was considered insanely big, so the cinema had a point. Now i can get a 70” screen for peanuts, so as long as you have the space at home the wow factor of the cinema has gone. Throw in Covid and more stuff being released to download and steam and the challenge is huge.

That said a place local to me is doing a drive in cinema. The kids might love it, but how can you see the screen from that back seat?

Long since stopped going to the cinema. People really have no idea how to behave any more. Just an excercise in frustration.

Cinema was one of those things very much in decline pre-pandemic and COVID will just be the final nail in the coffin.

Having said that, I really, really enjoy going to my local Curzon. I can have a whisky and enjoy some decent snacks. Sure, the screens aren't the absolute biggest, but the seats are nice and you get plenty of room. It might not be the cheapest, but it's a nice experience once a month or so.

[FN2TypeR]

sim72 said:

FN2TypeR said:

Internet retail tax required immediately. Mike Ashley, despite being a bit of a tool, touted it to a Select Committee years ago, clearly they did nothing.

Unless it was a whopping great amount it'd only raise money for the treasury, not save retail, purely because so many things are cheaper on-line anyway. I bought a new pressure washer a few weeks ago; you could have raised the online price by 20% and it would still have been cheaper than going out and buying it in a store.

His proposal related to retailers being subjected to additional taxes if a certain percentage of their sales were made online, alongside other proposals. So a "retail tax" was probably a bit of a simplistic way of wording it on my part.

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=wn3p7by5F0I&t=20...

Twenty minutes onwards for that specific part. Worth a watch IMO.

[Gecko1978]

sim72 said:

FN2TypeR said:

Internet retail tax required immediately. Mike Ashley, despite being a bit of a tool, touted it to a Select Committee years ago, clearly they did nothing.

Unless it was a whopping great amount it'd only raise money for the treasury, not save retail, purely because so many things are cheaper on-line anyway. I bought a new pressure washer a few weeks ago; you could have raised the online price by 20% and it would still have been cheaper than going out and buying it in a store.

SO your answer to save the high st is to make all goods more expensive....does not seem well thought out or a good deal for retail or consumers

[Red 4]

FN2TypeR said:

Mike Ashley, despite being a bit of a tool ...

To be fair to Mike Ashley and despite the bad rep he has concerning the treatment of his staff he was very good to NHS staff when Sports Direct opened again.

He offered whopping 50% off everything in store and he didn't need to do that.

Just thought I'd share.

[sim72]

Gecko1978 said:

sim72 said:

FN2TypeR said:

Internet retail tax required immediately. Mike Ashley, despite being a bit of a tool, touted it to a Select Committee years ago, clearly they did nothing.

Unless it was a whopping great amount it'd only raise money for the treasury, not save retail, purely because so many things are cheaper on-line anyway. I bought a new pressure washer a few weeks ago; you could have raised the online price by 20% and it would still have been cheaper than going out and buying it in a store.

SO your answer to save the high st is to make all goods more expensive....does not seem well thought out or a good deal for retail or consumers

Eh? Where did I say that?

[gregs656]

jammy-git said:

Cinema was one of those things very much in decline pre-pandemic and COVID will just be the final nail in the coffin.

That's not true. Footfall at cinemas was high. 2018 and 2019 were very good years for Cineworld.

I had a day out at an outlet mall (in Toronto) and it wasn't too bad, but the stock levels were very patchy and I didn't manage to buy a pair of running shoes.

As of tomorrow (the 7th) it is mandatory to wear face masks in doors. Today was fine but I wouldn't have bothered if I had to wear a face mask all day, it's just not pleasant.

[PF62]

FN2TypeR said:

dmahon said:

We are seeing a huge industry collapsing in front of our eyes. It was dying in large parts already, but the current state is flat out non viable. Even if the restrictions ended today, we would have a long road to recovery before getting back to previous levels of foot traffic. All the time, Amazon and ecommerce are building a bigger moat.

RIP Retail.

So sad

Internet retail tax required immediately. Mike Ashley, despite being a bit of a tool, touted it to a Select Committee years ago, clearly they did nothing.

High Street retailers are not failing because online is cheaper.

High Street retailers are failing because their offering is generally crap.

Whenever I think - Oh I need to buy that - then whatever 'that' is then the chance of one of the local High Street shops actually stocking it, let alone being open when I can get there to buy it, is pretty much zero. Whether the price is 10% cheaper on the internet is irrelevant if I can buy it NOW, but I can't.

The opening of non-essential retail after COVID-19 was a good example. I popped down to the local High Street at 5.15pm on the Monday after the lockdown ended to try to buy a few items. All the damn shops were closed as they had decided to reduce their opening hours. FFS you have been closed for months and now you can actually re-open you decide to operate reduced hours. Back to the internet.

[dmahon]

PF62 said:

FN2TypeR said:

dmahon said:

We are seeing a huge industry collapsing in front of our eyes. It was dying in large parts already, but the current state is flat out non viable. Even if the restrictions ended today, we would have a long road to recovery before getting back to previous levels of foot traffic. All the time, Amazon and ecommerce are building a bigger moat.

RIP Retail.

So sad

Internet retail tax required immediately. Mike Ashley, despite being a bit of a tool, touted it to a Select Committee years ago, clearly they did nothing.

High Street retailers are not failing because online is cheaper.

High Street retailers are failing because their offering is generally crap.

Whenever I think - Oh I need to buy that - then whatever 'that' is then the chance of one of the local High Street shops actually stocking it, let alone being open when I can get there to buy it, is pretty much zero. Whether the price is 10% cheaper on the internet is irrelevant if I can buy it NOW, but I can't.

The opening of non-essential retail after COVID-19 was a good example. I popped down to the local High Street at 5.15pm on the Monday after the lockdown ended to try to buy a few items. All the damn shops were closed as they had decided to reduce their opening hours. FFS you have been closed for months and now you can actually re-open you decide to operate reduced hours. Back to the internet.

For me it’s more the customer service. I would happily pay more for knowledgeable and helpful staff, fast service, good returns policy etc in addition to stock and opening hours.

It’s why John Lewis will likely be one of the last men standing. Even they though have outsourced their call centre to Capita and like to leave you waiting for 30 minutes to pick up a laptop in the customer service area so they aren’t immune.

Even today I think a company could pick a retail sector and follow a Richer Sounds model of reasonable prices and good customer service and probably make a viable business. Local shops that sell for instance running shoes and bicycles seem to compete in this way and do OK. It just doesn’t scale and support private equity indebted chain stores.

I do think and hope we will see a swing back to local retail as they’ve been much better throughout the virus than the big boys.

Edited by dmahon on Tuesday 7th July 06:04

Edited by dmahon on Tuesday 7th July 06:06

[egor110]

dmahon said:

For me it’s more the customer service. I would happily pay more for knowledgeable and helpful staff, fast service, good returns policy etc in addition to stock and opening hours.

It’s why John Lewis will likely be one of the last men standing. Even they though have outsourced their call centre to Capita and like to leave you waiting for 30 minutes to pick up a laptop in the customer service area so they aren’t immune.

Even today I think a company could pick a retail sector and follow a Richer Sounds model of reasonable prices and good customer service and probably make a viable business. Local shops that sell for instance running shoes and bicycles seem to compete in this way and do OK. It just doesn’t scale and support private equity indebted chain stores.

I do think and hope we will see a swing back to local retail as they’ve been much better throughout the virus than the big boys.

Edited by dmahon on Tuesday 7th July 06:04

Edited by dmahon on Tuesday 7th July 06:06

Not so sure about the running/bike shops ?

The public generally go in for advice and fitting then go on line and order it cheaper , i think those sort of shops need to go more high end boutique and charge people for personal treatment plus having a cafe and making it a localrunning/cycling hub/venue rather than just a shop

[Carrot]

monkfish1 said:

Long since stopped going to the cinema. People really have no idea how to behave any more. Just an excercise in frustration.

Indeed, chavs simply treat it like an extension of their living room. Haven't been in years because of this.

[hyphen]

dmahon said:

For me it’s more the customer service. I would happily pay more for knowledgeable and helpful staff, fast service, good returns policy etc in addition to stock and opening hours.

A lot of people just don't get the above, especially the first bit.

When people buy an expensive telly, many don't want to go and research the different screen types, hdmi specs and so on.

I went to Currys the other day, and the car park was half full during daytime weekday, as people want to ask questions and get recommendations from a human.

It's how many people are. And why bricks and mortar will continue fine, if the government level the playing field.