John Lewis in trouble

Really sad, you couldn't ask more of a business in terms of decent governance and staff well-being. I shop there more for some things (clothes, because the online guidance is excellent - there's an online 'personal shopper' which is one advantage a big department store can do which Amazon can't) and less for others (big ticket house items, as there's so much choice elsewhere). My overall spend has without doubt fallen. I won't be alone.

The only solution I can see is for all our major retailers to get together to develop an enormous internet offer to rival Amazon.
 


janiep said:
Really sad, you couldn't ask more of a business in terms of decent governance and staff well-being. I shop there more for some things (clothes, because the online guidance is excellent - there's an online 'personal shopper' which is one advantage a big department store can do which Amazon can't) and less for others (big ticket house items, as there's so much choice elsewhere). My overall spend has without doubt fallen. I won't be alone.

The only solution I can see is for all our major retailers to get together to develop an enormous internet offer to rival Amazon.
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All great points. They’re so protective over their own brands that they don’t increase buying / selling / delivery power. I know there’s then issues with that too but economies of scale have to be worth exploring it.

As well as that the personal shopper bit is a great selling point.

Their in-store personal shopper service should be plugged a lot more. Canapés, drink, make an occasion of it and people will come. Just one idea of many.
 
Goat Eyes said:
All great points. They’re so protective over their own brands that they don’t increase buying / selling / delivery power. I know there’s then issues with that too but economies of scale have to be worth exploring it.

As well as that the personal shopper bit is a great selling point.

Their in-store personal shopper service should be plugged a lot more. Canapés, drink, make an occasion of it and people will come. Just one idea of many.
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The online personal shopper is brilliant. You enter all your vital statistics, height, colouring etc, and it puts together outfits for you from across many brands. They’re not just plugging expensive stuff either, they include sale items. I’ve had some really original ideas from it and it’s now my go-to place if I need a new outfit.
 
The Exile said:
I can't afford to buy anything there. And I make a reasonable amount of money.
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Whooosh, you’ll be on six figures.

janiep said:
The online personal shopper is brilliant. You enter all your vital statistics, height, colouring etc, and it puts together outfits for you from across many brands. They’re not just plugging expensive stuff either, they include sale items. I’ve had some really original ideas from it and it’s now my go-to place if I need a new outfit.
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Sounds good then, they should absolutely sell this idea more.
 
Amazon makes most of its revenue from its AWS cloud services to the IT industry. Online sales will become an inconvenient sideshow at some point soon. EVERY company I've worked at or had job interviews for is using AWS.
 
Goat Eyes said:
You see, our industry has been doing for years what Amazon are doing now, and probably better.

You can go online to Eurocarparts for example, add a Reg, select what parts you need and they’re either their click and collect immediately or are delivered within a matter of hours from local, well stocked depots.

Zero quibble returns to a degree.

Always comparable prices.
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Be interesting to see the failure rate
Registration matching parts look up is a big step forward but I'd say you need extra help for a good 50% of it
That help is the brain of someone doing it everyday or tapping into dealer details from chassis numbers
 
lurker said:
The thing is though, once all the shops shut there’ll be nowhere else to go but amazon and then they’ll charge whatever the fuck they want.
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All empires eventually crumble and fall by the wayside.

Just hope the damage is limited before Amazon ultimately fails.
 
lurker said:
All thanks to Brexit, well done Brexit voters.

We all told you this would happen, confidence has been knocked and people don’t spend when confidence is knocked.

Another major factor is amazon, it should be banned in Britain imho.
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Haha you post some shite mate this one is a topper , am not even gonna fuckin start with the facts cos you would just ignore em.
 
Kevsgreat said:
High street stores don't really have a level playing field against online retailers. Look at how much tax Amazon bothers paying. They're trading under a different set of rules. Unless that's levelled out there's no chance they can compete.
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And the overheads for a warehouse with a few staff in the middle of nowhere, are significantly lower than a high street store in a city with numerous staff.
 
Thought I would mention Binns and Joplings stores , despite the fact that some on here might not remember them. There was even Liverpool House too. Binns was always the better store and as such lasted the longest. If there is money around , then "shopping" will still happen, but it will more likely be for luxury goods.

Mike Ashley was telling the govt all about it yesterday, like how much rent they pay to councils.
Don't forget that the dept stores then charge rent to the brands or concessions that are inside.
So no wonder they can't compete , they are using a pre internet model .
 
Goat Eyes said:
It’s interesting as there was a report by JD Sports on the BBC the other day where they’ve gone the opposite way, profits up and bucking this trend.

They said they’ve worked hard on their mix and believe there is still huge value in customers seeing / touching / trying physical product.

And this from Morissons: Morrisons sales soar as revival continues Morrisons sales soar as revival continues

I think it’s the retailers themselves to blame for the poor performance and not lack of consumer spend, market share, BREXIT, shift to online.

Poorly located, shite brand placement, poor online ability, no incentives such as free parking / extended opening etc.


Someone price matching wouldn’t make me think, I must buy that from them. That probably goes for most of us.
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Apologies for replying to a post from September but I agree about not being tempted to go somewhere that price matches. In fact I try to deliberately avoid such places, always sounds sneaky to me. It's like "we're going to try and charge a lot more than other shops, if you don't shop around we'll happily take your money but if somewhere is actually trying to offer good value and you notice it then why not fuck them over and come to us and we'll accept a little bit less profit this time". Be different if they actually changed the price in the shop once someone points out you can get it cheaper elsewhere but no, once you've been served and they've denied the other shop the revenue from that sale they'll keep hoping others don't check so they can make more profit again.

I know making profit is sort of the aim of a shop like, but still doesn't seem right. I'd only be tempted if they said they'd price match and take an extra 20% or something off (if it's a price match against another physical shop), otherwise I'd rather go to the place that is selling for a lower price to everyone
 
janiep said:
The only solution I can see is for all our major retailers to get together to develop an enormous internet offer to rival Amazon.
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Selling what?

This is the problem with concession based department stores - they have no place in the world or online....why would I go to JohnLewis.com to buy a pair of Levis, for example? I could go to Levis.com for that!

Amazon has stolen the march on being the world's reseller or concession based online portal.

It's sad, but you can say goodbye to all these kinds of shops in the next 10 years.
 
Guinness Guzzler said:
Apologies for replying to a post from September but I agree about not being tempted to go somewhere that price matches. In fact I try to deliberately avoid such places, always sounds sneaky to me. It's like "we're going to try and charge a lot more than other shops, if you don't shop around we'll happily take your money but if somewhere is actually trying to offer good value and you notice it then why not fuck them over and come to us and we'll accept a little bit less profit this time". Be different if they actually changed the price in the shop once someone points out you can get it cheaper elsewhere but no, once you've been served and they've denied the other shop the revenue from that sale they'll keep hoping others don't check so they can make more profit again.

I know making profit is sort of the aim of a shop like, but still doesn't seem right. I'd only be tempted if they said they'd price match and take an extra 20% or something off (if it's a price match against another physical shop), otherwise I'd rather go to the place that is selling for a lower price to everyone
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IIRC, John Lewis actively check competitor prices and then reduce them to at least match and often better them anyway. They then do change the in store price going forward. There was a TV show about them a few years back.
 
MackemBob said:
IIRC, John Lewis actively check competitor prices and then reduce them to at least match and often better them anyway. They then do change the in store price going forward. There was a TV show about them a few years back.
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Ah fair enough that's canny then, plenty other shops that price match don't though. Always feel sorry for small shops when they sell something at a decent price and then someone like Game price matches and takes their business even though the consumer doesn't even benefit from it!
 
Wearson said:
Thought I would mention Binns and Joplings stores , despite the fact that some on here might not remember them. There was even Liverpool House too. Binns was always the better store and as such lasted the longest. If there is money around , then "shopping" will still happen, but it will more likely be for luxury goods.

Mike Ashley was telling the govt all about it yesterday, like how much rent they pay to councils.
Don't forget that the dept stores then charge rent to the brands or concessions that are inside.
So no wonder they can't compete , they are using a pre internet model .
Click to expand...

Most shops are owned by pension funds and private landlords. Who'd have thunk Ashley would utter talk shit?
 

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