Author Topic: Is This The End Of Retail?  (Read 64767 times)

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #300 on: 19 October, 2019, 02:29:50 pm »
I think we have to admit that the days of popping to the shops are over, the internet has made it too easy to order up what we want and need. I was surprised that Jessop's still exists in the era of modern phones and their umpteen megapixel cameras. Many retailers have been bought up for cheap and debt-loaded, which is effectively a slow poison. You can order clothes from the internet, try them on at home, and send them back hassle-free etc. There's not an awful lot of reasons to go to the shops. I used to do my once-a-year wardrobe refresh in person because I like the occasional serendipity, but as a skinny, short person clothes shop never have my size these days (short-legged trousers in a 28-30 inch waist are near impossibolium anyway). Shops have less incentive to hold lots of stock when they point to the internet and have you order from a big warehouse.

Survival really is through doing something other than selling the same stuff as is available online. So, shopping as a leisure activity (I know, it seems abhorrent), which relies on making for suitable environment (not a car-stuffed high street), with cafes and restaurants. Offering services that can't be got with a mouse-click.

Limited opportunities - bike servicing and haircuts spring to mind.

Rob

Nail bars.
Forest Hill has three of them in sight of one another.
Two of them adjacent to each other.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #301 on: 19 October, 2019, 04:25:38 pm »
Coffee
It is simpler than it looks.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #302 on: 19 October, 2019, 04:49:10 pm »
It seems to be falafel round here!

Sorry to hear this Rob. On the bright side you'll have lots of riding time!
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #303 on: 19 October, 2019, 06:34:22 pm »
Nail bars.
Forest Hill has three of them in sight of one another.
Two of them adjacent to each other.

That works for as long as enough of their target demographic have the disposable income to pay for it.
When continued austerity has everyone scraping the slightest saving...

robgul

  • Cycle:End-to-End webmaster
  • cyclist, Cytech accredited mechanic & woodworker
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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #304 on: 19 October, 2019, 09:06:28 pm »
It seems to be falafel round here!

Sorry to hear this Rob. On the bright side you'll have lots of riding time!

True - I have a new bike I bought in August that has yet to be ridden!

Rob

TheLurker

  • Goes well with magnolia.
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #305 on: 20 October, 2019, 08:42:42 am »
Quote from: Jurek
Quote from: robgul
Quote from: ian
...Offering services that can't be got with a mouse-click.
Limited opportunities - bike servicing and haircuts spring to mind.
Rob
Nail bars.

Undertakers.

It struck me the other day that now is probably not a great time to be a young(ish) car mechanic.  The dash (aye, right) to electric vehicles is going to remove a great deal of the need for spanner work.  Still think H2 fuel cells are a much better idea than the awful Li-ion batteries, but that's a completely different discussion .
Τα πιο όμορφα ταξίδια γίνονται με τις δικές μας δυνάμεις - Φίλοι του Ποδήλατου

Kim

  • Timelord
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Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #306 on: 20 October, 2019, 11:39:20 pm »
It struck me the other day that now is probably not a great time to be a young(ish) car mechanic.  The dash (aye, right) to electric vehicles is going to remove a great deal of the need for spanner work.  Still think H2 fuel cells are a much better idea than the awful Li-ion batteries, but that's a completely different discussion .

I reckon there's going to be a surprisingly decent market in retrofitting cars with electrickery, for the medium term.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #307 on: 20 October, 2019, 11:49:26 pm »
Sort of related to retail: what with email having reduced the amount of ordinary mail I send, I notice that I now buy most things on the internet and that in turn has provided courier companies (sometimes Royal Mail) with additional work, so in a way it is swings and roundabouts.

It is most definitely swings and roundabouts.
The question for society is what the effects on the fairground are, which companies or corporation do the changes benefit, what effects there on community and society.

I fear that the retail changes we see (and many embrace - I can get cheaper, easier, blah blah - it’s all about ME!) are visible effects of pure capitalism. Reduce costs, excise people, extract your business from the horrors of tax paying.

When retail has died, who pays for the things that local retailer tax paid for. Who pays for the employment that used to be there when we paid a reasonable price for goods. Who deals with the effects of loneliness that the lack of human contact creates.

Amazon don’t give a shit. They make money.
It is simpler than it looks.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #308 on: 21 October, 2019, 09:17:39 am »
Sort of related to retail: what with email having reduced the amount of ordinary mail I send, I notice that I now buy most things on the internet and that in turn has provided courier companies (sometimes Royal Mail) with additional work, so in a way it is swings and roundabouts.
I don't know what Slovenská pošta are like but I find Royal Mail, for all people like to complain about them, more reliable than courier companies. Also far easier to retrieve a parcel from if it wasn't delivered because you were out.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #309 on: 21 October, 2019, 10:27:26 am »
Quote from: Jurek
Quote from: robgul
Quote from: ian
...Offering services that can't be got with a mouse-click.
Limited opportunities - bike servicing and haircuts spring to mind.
Rob
Nail bars.

Undertakers.

It struck me the other day that now is probably not a great time to be a young(ish) car mechanic.  The dash (aye, right) to electric vehicles is going to remove a great deal of the need for spanner work.  Still think H2 fuel cells are a much better idea than the awful Li-ion batteries, but that's a completely different discussion .

A significant portion of the mechanicals of a car will remain though, and new mechanicals will be introduced.
You still need steering, hubs, CV joints, brakes etc.
New stuff might be in wheel motors (= more complex hubs)

The training's a bit more in depth too, you can't just dive into a vehicle with HVDC and HVAC circuits in the same way you could with 6v and 12v electrics.
You can't just jump pack a Toyota Hybrid, the 12V system only does the lights; one of my mates is for ever at Toyotas training centre in southern englandshire.

Now's not a great time to be a mechanic at a small garage that can't afford that sort of training...

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #310 on: 21 October, 2019, 10:40:46 am »
Regardless of whether it's the same mechanic as last year, vehicle servicing is not quite retail. It's one of those services which needs to be done where the customers are. Although in the very early days of motoring, motorists had to send wheels back to the factory to have new tyres fitted – just as the very early Kodak users sent their entire cameras back to have the film removed and developed (I think it was Kodak anyway). So perhaps, as vehicles become more complex, we'll reach a stage where you have your car collected and sent back to a hyper-service centre covering the whole country.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

FifeingEejit

  • Not Small
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #311 on: 21 October, 2019, 12:46:24 pm »
Regardless of whether it's the same mechanic as last year, vehicle servicing is not quite retail. It's one of those services which needs to be done where the customers are. Although in the very early days of motoring, motorists had to send wheels back to the factory to have new tyres fitted – just as the very early Kodak users sent their entire cameras back to have the film removed and developed (I think it was Kodak anyway). So perhaps, as vehicles become more complex, we'll reach a stage where you have your car collected and sent back to a hyper-service centre covering the whole country.

Yes it's not retail at all, it's very definitely a service that needs to be provided close to the customer.

Early pneumatic tyres were nailed on IIRC, the ride on mechanic you needed was more interested in keeping fuel going into the cylinders.
Though chances were at that time, the factory was near you as well.

It was the early Kodak Box Brownies that needed to be sent back for processing.
That wasn't a limitation of cameras of the time in general; just a business decision by Kodak to make things easy for the consumer.
It was (to become) standard paper backed roll film in the box.

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #312 on: 21 October, 2019, 05:58:34 pm »
Change the lease / rental model so that you take the car into the garage, drive away another one. They refurb your car, and pass it on to the next customer who brings their car in for a service / repair.
So you never own a car, just rent a mobility machine, and can up or downgrade as the need arises.
(I think that Geely (?) the Chinese car giant might already have proposed this)

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Too many angry people - breathe & relax.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #313 on: 23 October, 2019, 01:37:22 pm »
That graph of online sales as % of total sales shows an interesting annual spike just about Christmas. This could suggest people are especially likely to shop online when their purchases are not everyday items but are also not entirely out of choice.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #314 on: 29 October, 2019, 09:11:37 am »
That's a standard retail spike, which is frighteningly seasonal in many areas.

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #315 on: 29 October, 2019, 09:14:50 am »
It's not volume, it's online as percentage of total retail. This one:
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #316 on: 29 October, 2019, 09:38:30 am »
True, but doesn't that just mean online are eating high street's breakfast?

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #317 on: 29 October, 2019, 10:02:59 am »
It's not what they're eating, it's the way they're eating it! Clearly there is some seasonal situation that makes online particularly attractive. What and why? Looking at the graph again, it might be something as simple as "cyber Friday" (or is it Monday? Whatever day it is), which would probably be both bad for physical shops – pretty hard to combat – and good, in that it's artificial. Not that online shops aren't also physical shops for the most part anyway...
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #318 on: 29 October, 2019, 11:45:56 am »
Any analysis on the changes in retail should also look at catalogue sales*. Yes, online is growing, but bricks and mortar never had a monopoly.

*Littlewoods, Grattan, Next etc.
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #319 on: 29 October, 2019, 11:46:44 am »
It's not what they're eating, it's the way they're eating it! Clearly there is some seasonal situation that makes online particularly attractive. What and why? Looking at the graph again, it might be something as simple as "cyber Friday" (or is it Monday? Whatever day it is), which would probably be both bad for physical shops – pretty hard to combat – and good, in that it's artificial. Not that online shops aren't also physical shops for the most part anyway...

Meh. It's a shit graph, you can't really tell when stuff is happening. Best you can make out is that the peaks are December (count months in 2019 - you arrive at 8 and you are well to the left of the number).

Cudzoziemiec

  • Ride adventurously and stop for a brew.
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #320 on: 29 October, 2019, 12:25:35 pm »
It could do with some more detail on the x axis for sure.
Riding a concrete path through the nebulous and chaotic future.

ElyDave

  • Royal and Ancient Polar Bear Society member 263583
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #321 on: 30 October, 2019, 08:44:48 pm »
Meanwhile, when I go to the tracking section of porcelfarce, with the tracking number of something dispatched on Monday on a 48 hour delivery, their website does the equivalent of a Gallic shrug.

But monsoor, we know nothing of zis item!
“Procrastination is the thief of time, collar him.” –Charles Dickens

Jaded

  • The Codfather
  • Formerly known as Jaded
Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #322 on: 31 October, 2019, 12:03:14 am »
Mrs. road-runner has a three day half-term and so today we went shopping together:
- cream wall tiles: out of stock
- matching decorative wall tiles: out of stock
- a sink: out of stock
- taps
- mirror
- triple light: out of stock
- single bed sheets (which were out of stock the last time we went): out of stock

On our way home with just taps and a mirror I did say we might be more successful if we ordered online.

And yet, apparently there are 28k different varieties of taps*

No entity anywhere, bricks and mortar or otherwise, is likely to have the tap you desire in stock.

It’s not about what’s available, it’s about creating a dream in which you think that what you want is available. The internet does this.

In reality, you choose, then you wait. Bricks and mortar and the internet are no different in this regard.

*some advert I saw on the back page of a printed magazine
It is simpler than it looks.

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #323 on: 04 November, 2019, 08:55:12 am »
Another high street stalwart bites the dust.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-50287153

We are making a New World (Paul Nash, 1918)

Re: Is This The End Of Retail?
« Reply #324 on: 04 November, 2019, 09:03:57 am »
https://twitter.com/skynewsbreak/status/1191269134279024642?s=21  Mothercare are going into administration.


A lot of comments screaming it’s nothing to do with Brexit, before anyone’s mentioned it. Defensive much?
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