HMV Set To Call in the Administrators!

[Bungle73]

I think online shopping / high street shopping could be a generational thing - whatever happened to social interaction ???

Reminds me of people in the same office sending e-mails to each other rather than having a conversation !!!

I prefer a mixture of both.

I don't want a conversation when I wish to purchase something. I want them to take my money and just give me what I want. They're not my friend.

What a waste of time and effort!

As opposed to the hassle of travelling to the high street, in whatever the British weather is deciding to do that day, and then having a few minutes to try something on in a shop, instead of as long as you like in the comfort of your own home.

 

[GB]

What a waste of time and effort!

is it?

 

[EM2]

I don't want a conversation when I wish to purchase something. I want them to take my money and just give me what I want. They're not my friend.

That seems somewhat at odds with what you recently said in this thread
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

As opposed to the hassle of travelling to the high street, in whatever the British weather is deciding to do that day, and then having a few minutes to try something on in a shop, instead of as long as you like in the comfort of your own home.

And when you get them, you find they don't fit, or they've sent the wrong size or wrong colour or wrong item completely, or you just don't like it and then you have to pack them back up, arrange collection and either wait in for them to be picked up or take them to the post office yourself.
If it's such a great idea, how come mail order catalogues didn't kill off the High Street?

 

[wintonian]

Shoes, as with clothes, you can get and send back if not right.

Yes but the retailer might not appreciate you spending a month buying and then sending shoes back to them if they don't fit, where as I can go to a shop and try on all the pairs I want there and then.

Just recently I spent £150 on a pair of boots which involved 3 trips to different stores of the same company, (mainly due the fact that there isn't anyone else round here that knows what they are doing in regards to shoes) tried on 8 different pairs, made from 5 or 6 different lasts, plus some of them in different sizes and found the assistants opinion suitability and fit helpful.

I'm not sure some on-line retailer would thank me for the exchanges necessary in going through all that.

 

[jon0844]

To be honest, the online retailers don't seem to mind. I am sure they're actually quite happy to send out 20-30 items (my mum has done this once!) and know that, while many will be returned, chances are more things will be kept.

When people are shopping in a store, they're probably concerned about how much time they're taking, waiting for a changing room and finding it hard to get a second opinion from bored partners/friends etc.

It seems quite easy to send stuff back now, with many companies collecting from your door.

 

[wintonian]

It seems quite easy to send stuff back now, with many companies collecting from your door.

and that's the other benefit of ordering on-line; that you now have the right to inspect the goods and send them back within 7 days. While most retailers will offer a return period for goods bought in person this is not a right and most will complain if you open packaging (in order to inspect the goods) that is not easily resealable.

 

[jon0844]

It's swings and roundabouts, and possibly even a generational thing. Some people prefer to be in a shop with staff to assist, while others are put off by staff being 'pushy' or 'clingy'. I guess as more people get used to social contact via their smartphone instead of face-to-face, we'll see even fewer people being confident enough to talk to strangers in a shop!!

I must admit that I still buy more clothes from shops, but it's rare as I now buy clothes and wear them for ages. I therefore 'restock' my wardrobe quite rarely. I am sure in the future, I'll go down the online route.

 

[Clip]

Back in the day (when I was a lad) I used to use Hard to Find Records in Birmingham. Apparently they have gone under as well so it's not just the big names unfortunately

Did like the guys number plate though: V1NYL

HTFR were a bunch of crooks and their online business is still going I believe. They themselves over priced their records and even sold 'Rarities' that they had pressed up themselves!! Also selling represses as originals and so on and so forth.

 

[Buttsy]

Ah well, it tends to be CD's now as I can't put vinyl onto MP3 player.

You can get a turntable which plugs into a PC/laptop and has software that converts the vinyl to mp3. I have one to convert all my albums so I can listen to them on an mp3 player.

 

[radamfi]

I like paying low prices and don't like talking to shop staff so I buy online a lot of the time.

However, one significant advantage of physical shops is that you don't have to wait for delivery. You also don't have to worry about not being at home when the delivery takes place. I try to take advantage of 'click and collect' services where possible when buying online.

 

[Geezertronic]

HTFR were a bunch of crooks and their online business is still going I believe. They themselves over priced their records and even sold 'Rarities' that they had pressed up themselves!! Also selling represses as originals and so on and so forth.

I've heard a lot of people say that about that and even friends used to mention the attitude of the staff, maybe I was one of the lucky ones. I bought my first set of decks from them many moons ago and spent quite a bit of cash buying vinyl and can't say I ever had an issue with them tbh - guess I was just lucky

 

[jon0844]

I like paying low prices and don't like talking to shop staff so I buy online a lot of the time.

However, one significant advantage of physical shops is that you don't have to wait for delivery. You also don't have to worry about not being at home when the delivery takes place. I try to take advantage of 'click and collect' services where possible when buying online.

Amazon has thought of that. You can now get items delivered to a locker at, say, a petrol station or late night shop and collect at your convenience.

Of course there are times you want something quick. But with some careful planning, those situations are probably decreasing all the time.

 

[theblackwatch]

However, one significant advantage of physical shops is that you don't have to wait for delivery. You also don't have to worry about not being at home when the delivery takes place. I try to take advantage of 'click and collect' services where possible when buying online.

This is the one major flaw of online shopping, aprtticularly where things are bulky. I don't find it a problem with CDs though as they fit through my letterbox ok. I did a fair bit of my Christmas shopping through Amazon and used the 'Amazon Locker' facility which enabled me to have five of my items all delivered to a locker in a shop 5 minutes walk from home for just £1.99.

 

[michael769]

Some people prefer to be in a shop with staff to assist, while others are put off by staff being 'pushy' or 'clingy'.

Problem is that the knowledge and/or enthusiasm if shop staff is very variable. many major retailers quite obviously supply little to no training meaning that they rely on their staff having the interest to know a subject for themselves.

Comet were a case in point - while you will get the odd very enthusiastic staff members, the majority have little knowledge about anything other than their extended warranty projects so their "assistance" left you needing to have done your research before you go to the shop - in which case you might as well complete the purchase online.

In the current retail world the high street really needs to provide some added value in terms of service to survive - sadly some seem not to have grasped that yet.

 

[radamfi]

Anyone used (or at least heard of)

http://my.bybox.com/

?

 

[michael769]

However, one significant advantage of physical shops is that you don't have to wait for delivery. You also don't have to worry about not being at home when the delivery takes place. I try to take advantage of 'click and collect' services where possible when buying online.

Of course - for some items even the shop still has to deliver - and with online retailers often offering far faster and often more guaranteed delivery times (looks at furniture shops here) than high street retailers....

It is noticeable that some high street outfits are actually doing very well. John Lewis is a case in point - knowledgeable and enthusiastic staff who avoid hard selling, guaranteed delivery dates to within a 2-4 hour window. A lot of the problem is that many high street operators have failed to recognize is that the world is moving on in terms of service, reliability and selection - and are failing to keep up.

It is easy to blame online or Tesco, but the reality is that businesses have been going to the wall for centuries and the underlying reason is usually the same, a failure to keep up with changing trends, or failing to improve your offering in line with the best of the competition. The people who ran HMV, Jessops and the like into the ground only have themselves to blame. Blaming their more successful peers is simply a sign of someone who lacks the imagination and insight to understand how they can improve their own performance.

 

[Bungle73]

That seems somewhat at odds with what you recently said in this thread

No really. That was referring to talking about details of the product. I can easily do that by phone or email with an online retailer. In fact most of the time the details needed are on the website anyway.

What I'm not interested in is chit chat.

And when you get them, you find they don't fit, or they've sent the wrong size or wrong colour or wrong item completely, or you just don't like it and then you have to pack them back up, arrange collection and either wait in for them to be picked up or take them to the post office yourself.
If it's such a great idea, how come mail order catalogues didn't kill off the High Street?

Online shopping is far better than catalogues. You can usually see if something's in stock, you can easily order with a few clicks of the mouse, there's a much larger selection of prouducts and it's easy to shop around different sellers. It's nice being able to shop any time of the day or night, sitting back in a comfy chair sipping a mug of coffee, instead of running round a load shops in the freezing cold after having had to go the effort of getting there.

 

[Buttsy]

It's nice being able to shop any time of the day or night, sitting back in a comfy chair sipping a mug of coffee, instead of running round a load shops in the freezing cold after having had to go the effort of getting there.

No wonder obesity is on the rise in this country!

 

[Bevan Price]

I think that one problem with HMV and most other retailers is that CD sales are falling due in part to mp3 downloads, but also in my opinion because CD prices have become too high. If the music industry wants the CD to remain a viable form of distribution, I think it needs to limit prices to around £5 to 7 for a single CD, and £10 for a double CD.

And if that means encouraging bands/singers to reduce costs (e.g. time spent in recording studios) - so be it. Back in the 1960s, some great LPs were made with less than 1 to 2 days in recording studios.

As for HMV, since I belatedly moved from Vinyl to CD, I have bought numerous CDs from HMV, but even the larger branches (e.g. Liverpool, Manchester) do not stock some of the fairly obscure prog rock music that I like. I have found a few bargains at market stalls, but with a few exceptions, their stock range has much less variety than HMV and finding something of interest is pure luck.

 

[tbtc]

Has anyone seen this map of independent record shops?

https://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msi...0&ll=53.19287,-1.043701&spn=4.061551,9.876709

Worth a share?

I think that one problem with HMV and most other retailers is that CD sales are falling due in part to mp3 downloads, but also in my opinion because CD prices have become too high. If the music industry wants the CD to remain a viable form of distribution, I think it needs to limit prices to around £5 to 7 for a single CD, and £10 for a double CD.

I agree with you, though (whilst everyone complains that HMV are too expensive) I think that CDs today are often a lot cheaper than in my student days fifteen years ago - I regularly paid over £10 for a CD album in the late '90s, yet most chart CDs in HMV have been under £10 over the last couple of years (despite inflation).

It's depressing looking at the boxes of music that I have in the attic to see the £12.99 stickers on CDs that I purchased in the days when that was the cost of a couple of good nights out.

 

[Harbon 1]

I think that one problem with HMV and most other retailers is that CD sales are falling due in part to mp3 downloads, but also in my opinion because CD prices have become too high.

I do a strange thing where I only buy albums in store, then put them on my iPod, put the cd back on the shelf and leave it there until its needed. It's always nice to have a hard copy somewhere

 

[radamfi]

I think that CDs today are often a lot cheaper than in my student days fifteen years ago - I regularly paid over £10 for a CD album in the late '90s, yet most chart CDs in HMV have been under £10 over the last couple of years (despite inflation).

It's depressing looking at the boxes of music that I have in the attic to see the £12.99 stickers on CDs that I purchased in the days when that was the cost of a couple of good nights out.

I bought most of my CDs from 1989 to 1993 and paid about £12-£14 for most of them!

 

[tripleseis]

HMV failed to adapt and have been getting killed by Amazon, Play and iTunes etc.

I still prefer to buy clothes in person (try before I buy). Can't be arsed to wait for couriers to turn up if I wish to send stuff back (and my nearest post office is on a High Street - irony). Sitting around at home all day isn't my bag. Buying online is fine for something like t-shirts (or if you know your size) but if I want to know the quality of what I'm buying then nothing beats actually going into a clothes shop and trying it on.

Everything else I'm happy to purchase online or in person (Click and collect is a great time saver and for getting stuff instantly).

Primark (hardly a beacon of quality) have reported a 25% boost in sales this Christmas. People still like to visit the shops for clothes it seems.

 

[ACE1888]

Like it or not, CD/DVD shops are 'dead in the water' even supermarkets have vastly reduced their salespace for them, very sad sign of the times though. Downloads are the only way to go these days (I, being 44, prefer the 'physical' CD etc, but 73.4% of the population doesn't, which will only rise in the future)

 

[starrymarkb]

I do a strange thing where I only buy albums in store, then put them on my iPod, put the cd back on the shelf and leave it there until its needed. It's always nice to have a hard copy somewhere

Indeed, All mine are ripped to the PC (320kbps MP3) and then boxed up and put away. Mainly as it makes storage easier (I have 5 boxes full!) but also as a backup (though the MP3 stores are now doing cloud backup that wasn't always the case!)

 

[tbtc]

I bought most of my CDs from 1989 to 1993 and paid about £12-£14 for most of them!

...and yet "kids" these days won't pay £10 for an album - I don't think that people realise just how cheap music is nowadays (for all the complaints about HMV being too expensive)

 

[wintonian]

...and yet "kids" these days won't pay £10 for an album - I don't think that people realise just how cheap music is nowadays (for all the complaints about HMV being too expensive)

I wouldn't pay £15 for an album in the mid 90's, unless it was one I couldn't live without, generaly waiting to they were on offer for £8-10.

 

[jon0844]

Primark (hardly a beacon of quality) have reported a 25% boost in sales this Christmas. People still like to visit the shops for clothes it seems.

Primark is incredibly popular and I expect they'll move in to take over the larger HMV stores. The only problem for a fashion retailer is going out of fashion itself (suddenly becoming uncool, for example).

But, the company seems to have been doing well for many years now.

The more expensive clothes shops and 'boutiques' are probably still doing quite well in certain locations, as we have to remember that despite a lot of people cutting back there are still an awful lot of people who are doing very well for themselves (possibly even better in the recession, having used it as an excuse to pay employees less etc) and are still spending huge sums of money.

Ditto around the world, hence news today that the UK car industry is seeing a boom - presumably as more luxury cars are being sold to the new rich people being created on a daily basis.

...and yet "kids" these days won't pay £10 for an album - I don't think that people realise just how cheap music is nowadays (for all the complaints about HMV being too expensive)

Do people even buy albums these days, as against just buying individual tracks that they like? There's also Spotify, which I am quite happy to pay a fixed £10 a month for and never actually own the music. I can easily stop paying and pay again later, so do I need to build up a collection anymore? Likewise with TV and film.

 

[wintonian]

Ditto around the world, hence news today that the UK car industry is seeing a boom

Try saying that to the people of Southampton!

 

[jon0844]

Try saying that to the people of Southampton!

But it's the manufacturers of luxury vehicles doing well. As is, sadly, the case in any capitalist society, if you don't make something someone wants then you lose out. Nobody is (generally speaking) going to bail you out (although, I guess that if anyone is likely to be bailed out it might be the motor industry).