AnthonyRail
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- 11 Jan 2015
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Surprised Weston super mare is the only closure in the SouthWest
The whole place, or a specific store? I went there once, so could understand it if it was the formerSurprised Weston super mare is the only closure in the SouthWest
I was surprised to read this as last time I was in Dover I am sure there was a notice on the closed store on the corner of Pencester Road referring me to a new store. I've now found out that its only a food hall with facilities to order clothes, home wear, flowers, cakes, etc. I struggle to see how this will be a great success - they are too far behind in the game.Locally the one closing in Deal is a surprise. After the main Dover store closed, the Deal superiority about having an M&S didn't last long!
Ha sorry I meant M+SThe whole place, or a specific store? I went there once, so could understand it if it was the former
Falmouth ( a very small store) closes at the beginning of February, but its closure was announced a few months ago. I heard years back that Falmouth was kept for nostalgic reasons, being their first store in Cornwall and also because a longstanding member of the M&S board was a keen yachtsman and came down there every summer. Falmouth Bay can be seen from the back window!Ha sorry I meant M+S
I was surprised to read this as last time I was in Dover I am sure there was a notice on the closed store on the corner of Pencester Road referring me to a new store. I've now found out that its only a food hall with facilities to order clothes, home wear, flowers, cakes, etc. I struggle to see how this will be a great success - they are too far behind in the game.
I just looked online and it appears that Budgens is owned by Tesco these days. I never realised that.
On the subject of M&S, my local M&S Food hall in Lichfield closes this Saturday which has surprised me as I've been in at all times of the day and it's always been full of customers and queues at the tills!
On the subject of M&S, my local M&S Food hall in Lichfield closes this Saturday which has surprised me as I've been in at all times of the day and it's always been full of customers and queues at the tills!
Having your stock in several hundred locations and hoping somebody who wants to buy an item happens to come across it is an incredibly inefficient way of doing business when you think about it.
Yes, indeed, it's all part of the business plan. But there are also the consequences of not having stock in stores, i.e. lost sales/customers where it's hard to quantify the true cost to the business. Also, as more and more online retailers are realising and struggling to manage, the costs of postage (many offer free postage), and then costs of returns, both freepost return, then staff to process the refunds and staff to re-pack the items, and in some cases, loss on having to sell off the returned stock through discounters - the costs can be huge. It's always the unforeseen consequences that the "bright young things" with MBAs never think about. I can understand smaller stores not having the full range, but if a store has a particular range in stock, then it's a reasonable expectation for them to have the "common" sizes in stock. It makes no sense to have gaps on the rails when the warehouses have hundreds in them. If the store can do next day delivery if you order online, then surely their stock control systems should ensure next day delivery to replenish their rails if they sell out of a size 36 in a particular style/colour of trousers!
Indeed. A good retailer will also know exactly what is on the rails in each branch and enable their potential customers check stock and reserve online. If I want to buy a particular style of trousers in a 38 Long from Marks and Spencer I'd be happy to go to Newport, Cwmbran, Cardiff or Cribbs Causeway as long as I know it'll be waiting for me.
Go into M&S or Clarks and they can't even tell you whether nearby stores have it in stock - that's ridiculously poor they don't have access to their own internal stock systems! In fact, Clarks are so bad, sometimes they don't even know they have it in their own stock room (had it twice when we've asked for a particular range only to be told no and directed to online ordering, when someone else at the till has interupted and said that yes, in fact they do have that range in stock!).
We're supposed to be in the high-tech digital age, but some shops are still in the dark ages with their stock control systems.
On the subject of shops not having stock, I recently had to buy a new oven, so went to a big retail park, tried B&Q and Currys, neither had anything other than the most expensive ovens in stock in store despite what their websites claimed, so I went to Costa, sat down with a coffee, got my phone out and ordered one from AO.com so again, £200+ that a bricks and mortar shop could have easily picked up, went to an online retailer...
I don't really buy online, although my wife does, including stuff for both of us. I went to my local M&S last weekend in order to buy some food, but had to go up to the first floor to use the loo and went through the menswear department in order to reach it. Being totally unfashionable, I tend to buy M&S trousers when I need some more, and I passed a series of large sale rails featuring trousers varying in waist size from 28 to 46. There were only a couple of the smallest and largest size, but all the other sizes were well represented with perhaps five to fifteen pairs, with the sole exception of 38 inch waist, of which there were none, and, guess what my waist measures? Since I recognised reality and sized up from 36 a couple of years ago, I've found it much harder to get trousers in both this size and medium length (31). They're always 29 or 33, at least when they're in the sale. So I end up buying some in Asda, again when I'm looking for the loo, even though I know (and they probably do too!) they'll fall apart within the month. Message to M&S -keep what is obviously a popular, standard size in stock!Yes, indeed, it's all part of the business plan. But there are also the consequences of not having stock in stores, i.e. lost sales/customers where it's hard to quantify the true cost to the business. Also, as more and more online retailers are realising and struggling to manage, the costs of postage (many offer free postage), and then costs of returns, both freepost return, then staff to process the refunds and staff to re-pack the items, and in some cases, loss on having to sell off the returned stock through discounters - the costs can be huge. It's always the unforeseen consequences that the "bright young things" with MBAs never think about. I can understand smaller stores not having the full range, but if a store has a particular range in stock, then it's a reasonable expectation for them to have the "common" sizes in stock. It makes no sense to have gaps on the rails when the warehouses have hundreds in them. If the store can do next day delivery if you order online, then surely their stock control systems should ensure next day delivery to replenish their rails if they sell out of a size 36 in a particular style/colour of trousers!
Sorry - it was the facility to order fashion and home wear etc I was doubting. I can't see why anyone would go into Dover to order goods. Pick up from an on-line order - yes (hopefully they have sufficient storage space). I would be interested to see how much use is made of it.I think food is an area where M&S still do well - the losses tend to come on the clothes side.
It came when they bought Booker (of cash and carry fame). How it got through the competition and marketing hoops I'll never know, though I'm sure the threat from Aldi and Lidl factoredI just looked online and it appears that Budgens is owned by Tesco these days. I never realised that.
The high street is finished in my opinion,
When I was a lad we had corner shops and I had to go each day for the household groceries. The along came the small self service shops great I did not have stand in a queue, great more football time. then came the supermarkets and then the hypo markets, shopping centres, retail parks and now groceries can be delivered to my door. Admittedly we did not have refrigerators and food was dispensed and wrapped in grease proof paper. Then we got cars so we could get around and visit the retail parks etc.
We spent precious time shopping around for the best value/quality, paying to park our cars walking around looking for particular shops.
I can now sit at home and buy online and have it delivered or click and collect, at my local pickup point.
Now, the post office parcel delivery will be at risk soon, here's why. Husband and wife are at work, a parcel needs to be delivered they are not in, so a card is left telling them to collect at a local office at hours which they are at work. Does the post office not realise that if they deliver at 10 am and no body is at home they will also not be able collect before 12 noon.
I always get click and collect even though i'm retired.
Now, the post office parcel delivery will be at risk soon, here's why. Husband and wife are at work, a parcel needs to be delivered they are not in, so a card is left telling them to collect at a local office at hours which they are at work. Does the post office not realise that if they deliver at 10 am and no body is at home they will also not be able collect before 12 noon.
I always get click and collect even though i'm retired.
I also concur that they are awful. Recently I bought a TV; unlike other deliverers they never told me they were coming and they didn't even leave the parcel at the local office, but in the next town and despite the card saying we will try again, they didn't. Their website is clunky and the phone goes unanswered. In future I will try very hard to avoid buying from anyone who uses them.The couriers (particularly DPD which is actually quite reasonable) will kill off the awful Parcelforce, and letter delivery is dead.
A couple of years ago I gave Royal Mail 10 years...I reckon we're down to 8.