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

[Hades]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-43121649

Maplin is struggling and is being sold. I don't think this is a surprise to anyone. What would you change to make it a viable business?

Personally I'd probably turn it into something more akin to Argos where you order online and can collect the same day from the store. They definitely need to reduce costs and maybe that would be a way?

 

[Techen]

For stuff to be cheaper than online? That's the only way and I don't see that being possible with 6 staff members in a tiny shop with two people in at a time. I was gonna grab a headset from maplins 110 quid and anywhere else it was 85 quid. Thats just silly...

Plus the pressure selling me BATTERIES STAWP

 

[ColdAsIce]

I would only go to them out of desperation if I didn't want to wait 1 day for Amazon delivery. Amazon are just eating the market alive with what they offer and the service delivered.

 

[Mujja]

With most items Maplin sell being available on cheaper on Amazon Prime or even cheaper on eBay I don't see how they will be able to survive. The same could be said for most high street stores though.

 

[Rilot]

The main issue is that they are selling value products at premium prices. They are always the most expensive place to buy something and that includes other retail stores.

 

[Skillmister]

I would only go to them out of desperation if I didn't want to wait 1 day for Amazon delivery. Amazon are just eating the market alive with what they offer and the service delivered.

This. I hate myself every time I order something from Amazon that I could get on the high street, but the fact of the matter is I work in a town with almost no shops and to go to the places to buy most of these things I'd have to go 10 miles out of my way on the way home from work and who wants to trawl the high street after work.

I ordered 6 items last night on Amazon all of which will be waiting for me when I get home. I'd have had to go to a minimum of 4 different shops in 2 towns to get them all...

 

[FoxEye]

Yeah they sell one CMOS battery for £4, or I could pop over the road to Toolstation and buy one for 80p. Let me think about that for a second...

Both are brick and mortar retail shops, so Maplin doesn't really have an excuse.

 

[Glanza]

Over price most of your stock and this was always going to be inevitable.

 

[Techen]

Yeah they sell one CMOS battery for £4, or I could pop over the road to Toolstation and buy one for 80p. Let me think about that for a second...

Yes but did you know we have a great offer on our maplin batteries!

 

[Marky]

They always seemed to be overly expensive - And with the likes of Amazon delivering the same items cheaper and faster - I'm surprised they've lasted as long as they have done...

 

[kinobestew123]

Maybe get more involved in home automation products?

Actually become a specialist in home automation, able to offer advice in store on what works best and with what products. Offer an installation service. And advertise all of this new approach mainstream.

This is pretty much what Currys PC World have done with Knowhow and Halfords with their fitting service.

 

[valve90210]

Just a very quick search I did on Maplins website:

Maplin Right Angle HDMI 90° Adapter
£12.99

And the same item on Amazon

90 degree right angle hdmi adapter female to male
Price: £1.78 & FREE UK delivery

Yes you could expect some slight difference to cover overheads etc but that's just a ridiculous, until they sort things like this out I really don't see how they can be saved

 

[checjb]

Frankly, I won't mourn them. IMO, they've failed to keep up with the changing market in a digital age and this is what happens. At my work we needed some A/V equipment in a hurry. I could've popped down to Maplin in my car (probably a 40 min excursion - even after ordering online) and paid their ridiculous prices or I could order from Prime Now at a far better price point. I went with Amazon and had the products within 90 minutes at nearly half the price. That's why Maplin are being sold.

 

[jpaul]

Maplins like John Lewis, do provide a human face if something goes wrong, and could offer a price match, like halfords (against bricks&mortar)
I'm surprised they did not get into PC support, seems scope for a friendly face on the high street, for many people that are otherwise regarding hardware as disposable,
but would you be able to guarantee PC support involving windows 10 ?

But even for John Lewis and Argos, if Amazon get their head in gear with respect to AV equipment guarantees/warranty then they could have their market taken away.

 

[CircleFaust]

i was only ever in maplin once and the prices were huge, i never considered them again

 

[MrRockliffe]

For stuff to be cheaper than online? That's the only way and I don't see that being possible with 6 staff members in a tiny shop with two people in at a time. I was gonna grab a headset from maplins 110 quid and anywhere else it was 85 quid. Thats just silly...

Plus the pressure selling me BATTERIES STAWP

They price match online shops as long as they have a store in the UK

 

[adam cool dude]

I went in there once to get a Google chrome because it was on offer during black Friday. They do have quite a lot of wiring and connectors but as said you would only buy from there if you needed it on the day.

 

[paradigm]

I miss Maplin of old, whereby you could walk in, go to the parts counter with a list and walk out with your components. These days, they never have any of that stuff in stock, they'd rather sell you a monsterously prices HDMI cable or plastic "drone". I'm forced to use RS or Farnell.

They became far too much like Tandy... and where are they now?

 

[ttaskmaster]

Meh.
I've been into Maplins quite a lot. I rarely end up buying anything, though as they never seem to stock what I'm after.... half the time they have everything but the one version I need. The other half of the time I just won't pay such ridiculous prices.

IMO, they've failed to keep up with the changing market in a digital age and this is what happens.

They managed to keep up with price increases easy enough... No excuse!

Maplins like John Lewis, do provide a human face if something goes wrong

Human face?
What's that for, punching?
I've spoken with one of these human faces before, and asked for an item that the Face insists they don't sell... The item was behind and slightly to the Face's left. Again, I ask, again the Face promises me that he's been working there for several years and they've never sold such things.
I point directly at the item and exclaim quite loudly that it's right there. Face loses face.

There's only one local Maplins employee who seems to know anything about electronic stuff, but he's close to retiring and is rarely in-store now.

 

[glenimp617]

Their business model relied on selling cheap tat at top dollar prices, and got sales out of desperation. Now you can order something from Amazon late Saturday night and have it on a Sunday, that desperation has gone.

Hence it's being sold.