Play.com to Cease Retail Trading

[TW]Fox;23523449 said:
The interesting thing here is that not many of these online discount retailers are actually THAT profitable.

So we have high street retailers going to the wall because they can't compete with the ultra low pricing offered by internet retailers that can't turn a decent profit and eventually end up going to the wall or giving up.

Leaving us with what exactly? An empty highstreet and nowhere to buy online either?

Excellent.
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Gross oversimplification of the issue tbh.

High Street retailers are going down the pan because they either sell rubbish few people want (Woolworths) or because they sell stuff people want at an inflated price (Comet).

Internet retailers like Play are in a dying market - HMV are going down the tubes just like Zavvi before them (Virgin Megastores were smart enough to get out early enough). Why pay over the odds for a CD, DVD or game when digital distribution (iTunes, Steam, Google Play, Audible, etc) is often cheaper and means you don't have the hassle of ripping or installing from a CD/DVD?

If you have something somebody wants and can sell it for a price they're willing to pay, it's irrelevant whether you're on the high street or the intarwebz. That's basic economics. Most of those who have gone under have failed to meet this simple criteria and that is why they go into liquidation.
 
Theophany said:
If you have something somebody wants and can sell it for a price they're willing to pay, it's irrelevant whether you're on the high street or the intarwebz. That's basic economics. Most of those who have gone under have failed to meet this simple criteria and that is why they go into liquidation.
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Agreed !
 
Came as quite a shock to me but havent ordered anything from them since late 2011...

Never tried any of these auction sites so depending on whether i have to sign up with them or not i may check this out.

As far as online retailers go recently, the rainforest has been the place i go to.
 
I was actually thinking the other day that I used to be on play all the time but have not bought anything from there for years now. I look every now and then but they just do not seem as competitive any more.
 
Judgeneo said:
Not good for online competition at all. Who is left to compete against amazon?
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Does it really matter? Taking this thread as a sample (hugely inaccurate, I know) nobody has used Play.com for years as Amazon is often cheaper.

It's like when hordes of people rued the passing of Woolworths, yet few of them had actually shopped there for anything more than a bag of pick n mix since the early 2000s.
 
Jono said:
Nor I. Though I have had some good prices on things from them over the years.
Will Amazon be affected? I don't even know where Amazon are based, if I'm honest.
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grumpysculler said:
Luxembourg
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They are based in Luxembourg as Grumpysculler says, which is obviously why there has been the whole uproar about their taxes. If you look closely at receipts from Amazon, you can see that is where your money really goes.

Amazon though however used IndigoStarFish for sending Films and Music who were based in Jersey. I'm not 100% sure of the details, but I believe Amazon owned the company or had the majority stake. It was their way of using the loophole I believe. Such items from Amazon no longer seem to come from them anymore, so likely they already cut their ties in anticipation of this happening.

I would think that either way, Amazon is too large to suffer the consequences.
 
For the people worried about competition and Amazon, won't e-tailers be competing against other e-tailers on there?

E.g

I'm after e keyboard and Seller A has it at £50 while seller B has it at £45 so essentially Amazon is just exposure for them?
 
Theophany said:
Does it really matter? Taking this thread as a sample (hugely inaccurate, I know) nobody has used Play.com for years as Amazon is often cheaper.

It's like when hordes of people rued the passing of Woolworths, yet few of them had actually shopped there for anything more than a bag of pick n mix since the early 2000s.
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I used play.com more often than amazon I think.

It matters because competition helps keep prices low.
 
King Damager said:
Hmm, with this and HMV, I'm slightly worried about the competition in the market...

Steam will always provide a solid competition against Amazon, but there can't be many people left.

For PC games especially that is... (supermarkets don't tend to cater to them)

kd
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PC Gaming from the high-street died a while ago. For online from memory;

Physical
The Hut Group (The Hut + Zavvi)
ShopTo
Gamestop
Game

Digital
Gamersgate
Green Man Gaming
Gamefly

I'm sure there are some more.

For me I dislike these 'marketplace' stores, the reason for going to Play/Amazon for me is to buy from someone reputable and that I can deal with issues/returns with. No different to randoms on ebay otherwise.
 
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I went to buy some stuff from there before Christmas just some music and a few DVDs and I was very much like :confused:
 
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