high-street to online retailing...

[tifosi]

Interesting decision by Argos for their future on the high-street. Going will be the clunky catalogues (the trees will be pleased). In with in-store wifi / logistics. And a reduction in store count.

See this happening a lot more where ordering is more online with in-store collection. Halfords do it a lot as well.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20054168

Some long-term potential there for careful affiliate product marketing.

 

[boxerdog]

Oh I love sitting on the throne flicking through the Argos catalogue

 

[boxfish]

Theatre for the poor

 

[tifosi]

Oh I love sitting on the throne flicking through the Argos catalogue

Download it on your smartphone and flick through that instead!

 

[Blossom]

I've always wondered why they didn't put touch screen computers in store (they seem to have a few for actually paying). It makes a lot more sense than flicking through page after page wondering why it doesn't correspond to what you expect or why the pages/contents are different.

But then it seems weird to have any kind of physical store doing what is literally now just an online thing. Just need collection points really.

 

[tifosi]

Just need collection points really.

Sounds like what they're doing. And I think more of the multi-product chains will do that and end up with fewer larger window-shop stores which act as in-store collection points... nothing more than finding the post-office delivery slip on the doormat. Better to order online and know where &when to pick it up.

 

[Retired_member41]

This move will be the end of Argos.

It will signify a domino effect of store closures and take them a decade to recover.

maybe a good move for a high quality, high price retailer, but for Argos, worse decision they could make.

Within 2 years they will end up like woolworths and only start to grow again under a new owner and a smaller base.

You only have to listen to the guy in charge to see they haven't a clue.

Adopting A Tesco express bsuiness plan that doesn't work, is classic failure practice.

 

[tifosi]

Don't know about that. They're talking about a 10% attrition rate in the no. of stores no more. There's plenty of pokey argos stores out there.

There's more than one retail chain pushing shop & collect.

 

[monaghan]

Makes sense to pull out of the difficult to reach high st areas and put a small warehouse in a cheaper easy to reach by car location.

Who owns Argos? Perhaps we'll see a tie up with another brand for collection point locations?

 

[tifosi]

Makes sense to pull out of the difficult to reach high st areas and put a small warehouse in a cheaper easy to reach by car location.

Who owns Argos? Perhaps we'll see a tie up with another brand for collection point locations?

Got to agree. Councils putting up in-town parking charges, extortionate NCP charges - when there is one. Free out-of-town complex parking. Many live within 30min drive of a retail park with an argos (or halfords / homebase / M&S etc).

Logistics of major/minor hub distribution make this sensible. I'f you've ever tracked a parcel you see it often goes through 2-3 distribution centres even within 2 days!

 

[Retired_member41]

People made Argos a success because of its access and because it had products in stock.

The company has been managed wrongly this last 12 months.

Complaints to trading standards about their web site and catalogue offers have spiralled. Not only are the offers not available, Argos now has many products requiring several days before its delivered to your home or in-store. People bought there as it was accessible and availability was good.

It hung on for years with strong toy, tv and garden equipment sales. Well the other big businesses have got better and Argos have not.

Argos's loyal customers will go elsewhere. Fact.

Customers not loyal to Argos will in no way be attracted to the brand. It's lack of scale with direct from manufacturer deliveries will see its prices higher.

It even lost customers by forcing people to use its mobile site, which for a couple of years was an atrocious experience.

So lets see.

 

[tifosi]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20164228

And as Comet slide towards Administration we see yet another famous high-street brand fail in understanding the way modern commerce is going. Their site like Wooolies always seemed more of an afterthought than a primary revenue channel.

And another 80's High-Street staple that has gone is Dixons, though that was eventually absorbed on the whole by PCWorld.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-13977255. Interesting that a few of these ended up in administration after buying other brands to 'expand'. Maybe they'd still have been in business if they had consolidated and expanded internally instead.

 

[monaghan]

Unfortunately places like comet & currys have become just a shop window, when I go out for a new washing machine or dishwasher, I want to put it in the car and take it home to replace the broken one, not wait a few days and take a day off work for a delivery, I can get that on-line so don't need to visit a shop to get the same service.

 

[retired_member32]

Personally feel that the retail rents in town centres are to blame,they have increased so much in recent years so the markup on goods in town centres has increased and thus...less competative versus online sales, it's nothing to do with footfall....

 

[monaghan]

Interesting, most of our local towns seem full of discount shops, so I'd have thought the rent would have to be quite cheap for a pound shop to be able to function.

 

[tifosi]

Interesting, most of our local towns seem full of discount shops, so I'd have thought the rent would have to be quite cheap for a pound shop to be able to function.

That and mobile phone shops and bakery chains. Tend to be the fast-turnover / high-margin shops that are surviving. Certainly the shop demographics in the NW town centres is radically different to 10-20 yrs ago. The number of empty shops is higher, and the in-town parking charges are an abomination - just councils trying to screw the public.

 

[retired_member32]

well yeah i suppose but then again at least there is no competiiton from online stores, footfall is steady and buying shampoo for a quid shop x 500 people a day is better than selling a television for £500 x 1...due to the fact the evil pound shops use physiological mind games in making you purchase many things you never even knew you wanted before going into the shop including dog toys for a dog you no longer own and kids toys that are never likely to last the journey home........there is strange going's on in those pound shops

 

[tifosi]

well yeah i suppose but then again at least there is no competiiton from online stores, footfall is steady and buying shampoo for a quid shop x 500 people a day is better than selling a television for £500 x 1...due to the fact the evil pound shops use physiological mind games in making you purchase many things you never even knew you wanted before going into the shop including dog toys for a dog you no longer own and kids toys that are never likely to last the journey home........there is strange going's on in those pound shops

They are weird & wondeful places. A bit like Woolies on crack... with cuddly toys, next to lamps, next to cheap sweets.