Maplin to be sold (surprise surprise) - What would you change to make it survive?

[Haze]

I think over the coming years more and more high Street shops will die off, as the younger generations are doing their shopping online, it's more the older generation that still like to go out and shop

 

[andicole0]

Would have been nice if Caseking bought them, then I might have a local Overclockers shop to frequent

Andi.

 

[Schizo]

I think over the coming years more and more high Street shops will die off, as the younger generations are doing their shopping online, it's more the older generation that still like to go out and shop

I'm old and shop on-line,hate going to shops to be honest.

 

[andicole0]

I'm old and shop on-line,hate going to shops to be honest.

Me too.
Andi.

 

[Logsi]

The only things i will watch for is cheap cctv kits

Not been keeping up to date with the news about this and work purchased a CCTV system from them this morning before his news hit...

Now I’m not sure whether to cancel it. Paid on PayPal so should be able to get a refund easily.

 

[413x]

Amazon is truely scary. But they have literally everything. Their review system is one of the things I love vs eBay.
But yep they are swallowing everything. It really won't be too long before it's just amazon and ebay!

 

[Delvis]

I still like to do clothes shopping in store, anything else in not too fussed about

 

[Scania]

The 14 day cooling off period was a major blow to the high street imho. It transformed customer service and gave the internet shopper much needed confidence.

To be fair, Argos for example offered initially a 16day money back guarantee decades back which is now 30days, whilst Argos have / had issues themselves, it’s unfair to say the internet retailers got this offer in first, they didn’t.

https://www.argos.co.uk/help/returns-and-refunds/

 

[C-Roy]

I'm old and shop on-line,hate going to shops to be honest.

I'm exactly the same

 

[Nitefly]

We're all to "blame" really - gotta get the best deals and the cheapest price...

I won't name names but some really heavyweight household name retailers are rumoured to be in serious trouble atm.

 

[Sasahara]

Half the problem is greedy landlords asking way too much for rent.

They won't lower the rent because it would lower the asset value of the property on their books.

 

[Rroff]

Half the problem is greedy landlords asking way too much for rent.

They won't lower the rent because it would lower the asset value of the property on their books.

Gonna be an interesting one as Amazon and the likes are gutting the traditional high street and some types of shops won't be able to survive regardless of rent and the types of business that won't be touched by Amazon likely won't have the turn over to pay the kind of rents the likes of Maplin would have been.

A lot of the others in the long run will probably move to the edge of towns even places like Argos will probably move out of the high street in a lot of places.

I suspect landlords will probably push rent up higher and higher to try and offset the decrease as places move out by squeezing the ones that remain which won't end well and in the long run be forced to put rents down to where the kind of businesses left on or will emerge on the high street are prepared to pay/can afford.

 

[DJMK4]

Lower the prices and be abit more competitive perhaps! Especially for tech

Iv seen too many stores go OTT on their pricing .

 

[Nitefly]

Gonna be an interesting one as Amazon and the likes are gutting the traditional high street and some types of shops won't be able to survive regardless of rent and the types of business that won't be touched by Amazon likely won't have the turn over to pay the kind of rents the likes of Maplin would have been.

A lot of the others in the long run will probably move to the edge of towns even places like Argos will probably move out of the high street in a lot of places.

I suspect landlords will probably push rent up higher and higher to try and offset the decrease as places move out by squeezing the ones that remain which won't end well and in the long run be forced to put rents down to where the kind of businesses left on or will emerge on the high street are prepared to pay/can afford.

It's interesting you say Argos, not that I disagree, but I can't think of any household name business that has adapted so well to the internet age as Argos. They are doing pretty well from what I assume.

 

[dessimpson]

Wasn't Argos bought out by Sainsbury's? The big Argos in Gloucester shut down last year and is now located in the Sainsbury's store.
Not that I've bought anything from them in about 10 years. Their day has come.
I get most of my stuff from Amazon (except clothes) as it's just so convenient (and it justifies my Prime account )

 

[Rroff]

It's interesting you say Argos, not that I disagree, but I can't think of any household name business that has adapted so well to the internet age as Argos. They are doing pretty well from what I assume.

Not saying they are disappearing/going under but they are moving a lot of their smaller/high street stores into Sainsbury premises as concession stores. Its a model that Maplin would need really to survive long term.

It is the only way IMO some of these places survive the changes going forward against the likes of Amazon.

 

[Blackjack Davy]

it's more the older generation that still like to go out and shop

Speak for yourself.

I still like to do clothes shopping in store, anything else in not too fussed about

Food too, I like to see exactly what I'm buying. Well fresh produce anyway.

 

[FortuitousFluke]

To be fair, Argos for example offered initially a 16day money back guarantee decades back which is now 30days, whilst Argos have / had issues themselves, it’s unfair to say the internet retailers got this offer in first, they didn’t.

https://www.argos.co.uk/help/returns-and-refunds/

Not to mention that the cooling off period is statutory where as many physical retailers offer similar returns policies when they have no legal requirement to do so. In many cases they're also 30 days instead of 14.

 

[Caracus2k]

Half the problem is greedy landlords asking way too much for rent.

They won't lower the rent because it would lower the asset value of the property on their books.

I would suspect UK commercial rent costs have less to do with 'greedy' landlords and more to do with high land prices generally in a lot of places in the UK.

 

[sgavan]

I would say that the best way for high street shops to survive is to provide a sort of consultancy service with specialists who know about the stuff they are selling and to advise the buyer on the best solution not just sell them items. OCUK and Richer sounds are great examples of this.