Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
I have had to basically re-equip my kitchen this week with new utensils, pots/pans and so on plus get a new tumble dryer.
I looked at the Argos catelogue and identified what I needed and went in with the list early. Checked items on the machine and found a lot not in stocks having to select other things. By the time I finished there was a long que. Now I really dont like their system at all, I dont like using the store much and so faced with that que decided to call it a day and not hang around.
I sat on the pc and looked in on Amazon - found everything there I needed often at better quality and lower prices (even those marketplace items I need to pay carraige for...).
So yesterday I ordered, lo and behold, by noon today 9 out of 10 items had been delivered all on or ahead of the scheduled dates. The other item, the tumble dryer, I expected to take longer and isnt scheduled for delivery until the middle of next week, except I had an email last night telling me its despatched so that will arrive in the next day or two well ahead of when expected.
I call that an excellent, indeed outstanding, service.
How on earth can shops survive faced with that kind of competition?
OK I suppose if I had the time I might have wandered around the high street finding bits here and here but it would be so time consuming.
Yes, some people do prefer to spend time going around shops, treating it as a leisure activity, something I simply dont understand at all. But even so with internet services and delivery systems being so good these days how can high streets expect to survive long term. The great thing about Amazon are the user reviews, something that more than makes up not seeing what yoi are buying 'in the flesh' first.
Guest 657- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 3,037
I use Amazon for items quite a lot. You do have to beware of occasional scams (usually larger Marketplace items coming from abroad) but I have never had any major problems. A large framed print which I didn't receive was quickly replaced. The reviews are extremely helpful. I like wandering around the shops to choose certain items of furniture, but if I know what make and model I want then I usually go online and search a few well known sites to compare prices and have it delivered to my door - no lugging heavy boxes or having to take the car. I must admit I lose the will to live in Argos sometimes!
As you said "How on earth can shops survive faced with that kind of competition"?
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
trouble with ordering on the internet, is waiting in all day for delivery.
if get caught short, you end up with a "sorry i missed you" card on the doormat.
when i have ordered big items from argos, they gave a delivery window of 10-12 hours.
always delivery was right at the end of the window.
I hate argos like I hate Tesco. It is shopping Hell: long queues, screaming kids, sweaty bodies, sloooooooooooooow "service" delivered by pre-pubescent ASBO-fishing waifs. Not their fault, they clearly have on ly been trained in how to grin inanely and look shifty.....
Guest 644- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 1,214
Bern, you meanie! I very rarely shop at Argos but when I have, I've always found the staff to be most friendly and helpful! I bought a new telly in there last weekend and the young chap behind the counter was absolutely first class and knowledgeable.
I must admit though I do prefer to see what I'm buying first, but given the paucity of shops in Dover in some aspects, using Argos is unavoidable. I practically always buy CDs and DVDs online as there are some amazing deals out there - before any one moans just think the only shop we have with a selection of them is Smiths, and their stock is extremely limited. I could barely shop for them locally even if I wanted to.
Clothes are a different kettle of fish entirely. One has to have the confidence that it will fit - I can't imagine risking buying them via online shopping.
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
Phil - whats more there is no-where in Dover you can by Blu-ray's except for a very small selection at Blockbuster that are much more expensive than on-line. Agreed about clothes but then I wear things until they wear out (and beyond...) then just replace them.
Only yesterday bought two pairs of casual, two pairs of 'office' trousers, three office shirts and a casual one in M&S - all just replacements for what I have worn out to the point of having little to wear without holes in the crutch or frayed collars! Having bought a new suit 6 months ago I suspect I wont have to buy any more clothes for a couple of years or three, well maybe I might be forced to replace my comfy old and tatty casual jacket before then....oh well....
Perhaps I was a little harsh.......
Online clothes: I am with you, Barry! Comfort and good value are my watchwords, and I have to be presentable for meetings and for business , so I shop online with Lands End. Try them out Barry, I love them: tailored and comfortable clothes, good sizing, good returns and refund policy, excellent customer service (charming and helpful) and the clothes really are smart and attractive. No, I am not on commission, I just like them!! Even their shoes are great! Just google Lands End clothes.
Just a quick PS - I get so attached to my clothes I was distraught when my favourite trousers finally disintegrated!!
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
i have to go tocanterbury or ashford for my clobber.
dover is not very good for the male clothes shopper.
the shop opposite the eight bells is excellent for formal wear, but i do not attend that many lodge meetings to warrant puchasing there.
Seriously - try Lands End. Something for eveyone!
I think we've touched this subject in the past. I am a firm believer that the high street is dead, and the current state of the shopping experience as a "going out" experience is only a matter of a few generations away from vanishing forever. Well, maybe it won't vanish, but it will certainly change beyond recognition as it learns to keep up with online trends.
As a shopping location, Dover is lame and hopeless in the extreme. There is nothing, except the odd magazine, that I can buy in this town. The shop I used most was Woolworths, now gone, but I loved looking through the DVD stands. Then there was Blockbuster for all my movie rentals, but even this has been beaten senseless by lovefilm.com.
The internet is the future of shopping, plain and simple. Big supermarkets and clothes shops will always survive because of the nature of what they are, but everything else needs to look ahead and get with the program!
And it's no use crying about what a shame it all is. As I always say, the high street is in a poor state for one reason alone - WE choose where WE want to shop!
Ross Miller
- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,698
I refuse to buy vegetables, fruit and dairy products and any other fresh produce on line, as I want to see how fresh it is and pick the items I want.
I will however buy pasta (I order it 30kg at a time from De Cecco in Italy), coffee (in bulk), rice (10 - 20kg at a time) on-line.
Clothes, I prefer to try on before I buy, though once I have found an item that I like and if it is better priced on-line then that is how I replace it (e.g. figleaves for underwear); as for shoes, given I only wear DMs, I tend to buy these at the place next to the nice LRDF mural as they are the same price as everywhere else.
Electronic equipment and camera kit is always bought on-line, unless there is a clearance sale, though I do pop into and sometimes purchase from specialist camera dealers.
Books is a mixture of on-line (Abe Books are great, or Amazon) or locally.
Music is now exclusively on line (Amazon or Soundike for downloads, loads of places for CDs)
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
I agree that was good service Barry and I must agree with Phil that when I've shopped in Argos, I've never had a problem.
Howard, Allan Hughes (opposite the 8 Bells) sells a lot of quality "casual" clothes, very little "Lodge" items; there's also Burtons, although this seems to be more for young blokes and don't forget Phillips and Drew and of course M & S.
Most High Streets are made up of independant businesses, who have put their money, time and life into running their own businesses.
High Street, National chains will close a branch if it isn't selling enough.
Every one moans about the (metaphorical) holes appearing in our High Streets, but you can't wonder at it, if no one shops in them.
I agree that maybe the face of the High Street has to change, but that won't be done if they all think "what's the point ?", if they have a death sentence anyway.
There needs to be a support body NOW instead of leaving all the businesses on their own to flounder in this recession and in good times too of course.
Many things can be done to make our Town look better, but if increasing numbers of people aren't going to come into Town, there won't even be coffee shops to sit and chat in.
I know it sounds like an old record, but shop local if you want to keep your High Street - it can work, but it needs you there.
Roger
For lots of stuff, Roger, and I am a great believer in Local Shopping. But I hate clothes shopping (almost uniquely, I think, for a female!) and once I have found my "favourite" skirts and trousers I just replace them as it's easier, and Lands end do such a good range and are so reliable, I don't need to go to many other places. But food should be local - so local you can see it before it gets picked!
Guest 674- Registered: 25 Jun 2008
- Posts: 3,391
I'm with Roger on this one, yep its easier probably on the internet, but that will be to watch the town centre go even further into more shops closing, and a town centre with little in it.
Do we realy want to encourage boarded up shops throughout the town because thats where we are heading
Brian Dixon
- Location: Dover
- Registered: 23 Sep 2008
- Posts: 23,940
im with ross with this one,i like to try before i buy.
howard,try the old ron player shop at charlton center.
Guest 653- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,540
That's Phillips and Drew, Brian.
Roger
howard mcsweeney1- Location: Dover
- Registered: 12 Mar 2008
- Posts: 62,352
it would be tragic if town centres were left to the alkies, druggies and assorted others.
we must try the best we can to keep ours going.
forgetting the shops for a minute, we have quite a few good cafes and restaurants here.
Ross Miller- Location: London Road, Dover
- Registered: 17 Sep 2008
- Posts: 3,698
If general retailing is losing out to the internet then the "high street" needs to reinvent itself as more of an entertainment venue.
This should include restaurants, cafes & bars, as well as galleries, cinema, music venues, clubs etc.
The other thing the "high street" could do is greater specialism around not only food and clothing, by which I mean small speciality shops, fresh food retailers (butchers, fishmongers, fruiterers, greengrocers, cheese shops, bakers etc. - think Borough Market) but also small local retailers of things like hi-fi and tvs, computers, where they offer personalised service as well as decent pricing, art, gifts etc. Of course to achieve this "high street" rental values will need to drop to the level of the secondary shopping areas these types of retailers currently inhabit.
It will reach a stage where landlords drop rents as some rent is better than no rent and also local authorities will start to agree to change of use to deliver this.
"Dream as if you'll live forever. Live as if you'll die today." - James Dean
"Being deeply loved by someone gives you strength,
While loving someone deeply gives you courage" - Laozi
Guest 655- Registered: 13 Mar 2008
- Posts: 10,247
You are dead right on that Ross.