It's a depressing old world at the moment.
The combination of a global recession, swine flu, impending climate Armageddon and the continuing existence of OK Magazine are enough to make anyone feel down.
But if you fancy cheering yourself up a bit then we have the answer: pop along to your nearest high street (or more likely, retail park) electrical retailer.
Twenty minutes later you'll come out knowing two things: you'll never set foot in one of those shops again, and no matter how much your life sucks, you'll never be as depressed as the gurning faces behind the counter.
What the hell happened? The internet happened. In one fell swoop the retailers' margins were destroyed by the online merchants. Instead of customers, the big chains began to cater for people doing homework.
They don't go in to buy, they go into double-check that the Sony Bravia doesn't look crappy before ordering it online for 27% less.
We were in a couple of big chains' branches this week. The buildings, giant cathedrals of consumerism, were empty. The staff didn't pounce when we walked through the door; we had to chase them round the aisles and catch them in a giant net before they'd even speak to us.
Instead of tying us to a chair, shining a spotlight in our eyes and threatening to kill our entire family if we didn't take an extended warranty and every accessory going, they let us pay for our single purchase without even a murmur. And the stock…
Oh God, the stock.
It felt like East Germany in 1954, albeit with better lighting and daytime TV.
Tired displays, half-arsed product information sheets - in one of the branches, every single TV had the same dimensions listed, whether it was a 26" LCD, a 52" plasma or a cordless blender that had been stuck on the wrong shelf - and special offers that only a lunatic could think of as special, such as £699 for a TV that the manufacturer has already replaced with six newer versions and which smelled as if somebody had died inside it.
Don't get us wrong, we feel sorry for the staff, but the superstores' days are numbered.
With a few exceptions - John Lewis, say, or Marks and Spencer - technology isn't something you buy from the high street. It's something you look at in the high street while whipping out your mobile phone and finding the same thing for a fraction of the price, with free delivery.
It's a shame for the staff, a shame for the shareholders and in the long term, we suspect, it's a shame for us: for all their flaws the retailers could only hold so much stock, so choosing a hi-fi, TV or food processor was nice and simple.
Online, though, the range is limitless, the prices are all over the place and you can never be entirely sure whether you're looking at a really good deal or a website that's run by the Russian Mafia.
We might save 27% on a DVD player, but deciding what to buy and where to buy it takes six weeks and £700 of electricity. To paraphrase The Jam: that's home entertainment.
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Liked this? Then read more opinions by Gary Marshall
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Your comments (8) Click to add a new comment
kasino72
May 12th
8. Avi, that's really interesting.
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avi
May 8th
7. We're a specialist hi fi manufacturer and we've recently opened an online shop that sells our stuff at exactly the same price as our dealers yet it is outselling any of them in very large numbers. Before we did this, we had to put up with referring leads to shops that were rarely converted and we often received complaints about the way potential customers were treated, so we've kept the dealers the customers like and trust and got rid of the others.
We're tiny and usually customers prefer to hear things before they buy, yet we're able to sell by the lorry load online. Draw your own conclusions
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reload
May 8th
6. To highlight thepoint of this article. Compare prices at Currys and Dixons, both are part of the same retail group, both utilse the same logistics network and stock. Dixons is significantly cheaper as it is an online only offering.
If bricks and mortar retailers want to retain customers, their best hope is to focus on customer service.
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kasino72
May 8th
5. ydnab40 - haha, you're absolutely right :)
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kasino72
May 8th
4. Deakodude, I think that's a very good question. And I suspect the answer might be a lot like Argos, although hopefully a less dismal, crowded and loud version, with a dash of big supermarket thrown in.
I think there are three things happening. First, online is getting much better: zoomable photography, 3D images and video are becoming pretty common now, and I think you'll see even more of that - especially when there's very little to differentiate retailers on price if they're selling big brands.
Secondly, I think you'll see more of the boutique model, which to an extent you have in M&S, John Lewis etc: a small selection of cool stuff, with a lot more on the website. The costs of high street space mean that big electronics shops can't make the numbers work - their costs are so much higher than online merchants that they can't possibly compete if all they do is put a bunch of electronics/appliances into a big room and hope people will buy them.
You're seeing the same in other areas of retail. Take HMV for example: it stopped being a pure record shop a long time ago. Now it's a record/game/book/ipod/t-shirt/everything else shop, and the last time I looked even that wasn't doing particularly well. Maybe it needs to become a coffee shop that just happens to sell stuff too.
Third, I think manufacturers will start doing their own selling. Maybe not to the extent of the Apple Store (which is a brilliant bit of branding), but in recent months I've seen manufacturers flog their kit by setting up stands in shopping malls - the same sort of stands you'd see at an electronics show. Last one I saw was by Panasonic, showing off its sparkliest HD tellies.
I could be wrong about all of these things - isn't Best Buy planning to launch in the UK soon? - but to me at least it looks like the big tellies, cookers and phone chains as we know them won't be around for much longer. Online versions sure, but big sheds? Don't see it, unless they make some massive changes to the way they do things.
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ydnab40
May 7th
3. The trouble with buying from a high street retailer is that whatever model you buy has never existed according to the manufacturer's website. Eg, you have the "224/bs" and according the manufacturers site they made a "224/br" or a "224/bt" but NEVER a 224/bs!!
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