Another High Street Rebrand

bilky asko
Posts: 1400
Joined: Sat 08 Nov, 2008 19.48

Jake wrote: Tue 27 Jun, 2017 17.51 Thomson is (finally) becoming TUI.

https://www.tui.co.uk/about-tui
I'm still getting over the change from Lunn Poly.
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dosxuk
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Joined: Thu 07 Feb, 2008 21.37
Location: Sheffield

Just in time for a video of a Tui aircraft doing a three point turn to hit the internet and everyone to go 'wth is the pilot doing?!'.
Square Eyes
Posts: 630
Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 13.38

Which brands / chains do people think are crying out out for a change or a rebranding ? To me Boots is looking extremely tired and dated. The whole store concept requires a complete overhaul it doesn't seem to have evolved at all for well over a decade.
all new Phil
Posts: 1965
Joined: Sun 13 Feb, 2005 00.04
Location: Next door to Hell

Asda. I know they're forever changing their logo and all that, but that's half the problem. Every time I go in there's an incoherent mess of different colours, fonts and styles. My local store has maroon walls, black and green aisle signs, bright red aisle end POS, blue POS for new and promotional items, cream signs around the fridges, as well as hanging POS in whatever design they're feeling like issuing at the time. Add to that the myriad of different shelf edge barkers, the awful looking SELs with the plastic coloured covers that are slightly too big, and the constantly redesigned packaging with no house style - it's a mess that needs properly sorting.
james2001
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Joined: Sat 04 Jun, 2005 23.10

I was about to say Asda can't even decide whether they're using the Wal-mart sunburst or not, though a quick look at the website and it sees to have finally gone from there- it was definately still there last week though! But it's been vanishing from adverts, social media and redesigned product lables for the past couple of months.
woah
Posts: 365
Joined: Sun 28 Mar, 2010 12.39

I'm surprised they changed back so quickly since they'd started rolling out the sunburst logo to store signage, but the sunburst really was pointless - it added absolutely no appeal to the brand. I'd agree ASDA is in a mess - I think the brand and the stores themselves comes across little downmarket these days as well, when most people want/expect high quality/premium items even from discounters like Lidl/Aldi.

The one that springs to mind for me though is WH Smith - I am sure it must only be a successful business because there's often little other option in places like train stations, airports, service stations and hospitals. Poorly maintained and very bland stores with even blander branding and there's absolutely stand out reason to shop there. I don't rate the quality of their products, they are usually very expensive, customer service is not good at all and usually involves a simple chocolate bar purchase involving 15 pointless vouchers and attempts to sell additional rubbish you don't need. There doesn't seem to have been any effort at all in the last 15 years to adapt to the current market.

It's a shame because I think there's demand for what they sell but there's absolutely no incentive to go there. I think if they reinvented their branding, store layout and range a little - and reduced their prices to sensible levels - it'd do wonders for their appeal.
Critique
Posts: 980
Joined: Mon 17 Aug, 2009 10.37
Location: Suffolk

I think it really is a mixed bag up and down the country to the quality of stores - Ipswich station was refurbished last year and as part of it they got rid of the old WHSmith Travel and built new shop space, with WHS taking one of the new units. It looks much better and cleaner in there. Likewise, in the town centre recently the WHS took on the Post Office and so much of the upstairs space was refitted - that all looks very clean and nice (and generally did beforehand), but it's a mixed bag as to the quality of store. Irrespective of location though they're all ridiculously expensive for basic things!
Martin Phillp
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woah wrote: Wed 05 Jul, 2017 21.35

The one that springs to mind for me though is WH Smith - I am sure it must only be a successful business because there's often little other option in places like train stations, airports, service stations and hospitals. Poorly maintained and very bland stores with even blander branding and there's absolutely stand out reason to shop there. I don't rate the quality of their products, they are usually very expensive, customer service is not good at all and usually involves a simple chocolate bar purchase involving 15 pointless vouchers and attempts to sell additional rubbish you don't need. There doesn't seem to have been any effort at all in the last 15 years to adapt to the current market.
WHSmith is split into two business. Travel (Railway stations, hospitals, airports) and Retail.

Travel is in profit, but they also have less staff. A friend of mine worked for a railway station store where he'd seen cuts to the point where he was the only one working in the store from 0600-0900 at the height of the morning rush. Self-checkouts have helped him to be able to do other tasks such as doing the stocktake and shelving magazines and food/drink.

Retail is loss-making. They've closed a dozen or so stores in my part of London, keeping open stores which have been awarded Post Office franchises which use space they don't use. PO counter staff are typically paid less per-hour than those who work for Post Office Ltd.
TVF's London Lite.
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Pete
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Joined: Fri 15 Aug, 2003 13.36
Location: Dundee

WHSmith travel also have a trick of opening coffee shops that also have a fridge of sandwiches and chocolates but are not branded as WHS. For example Dundee station used to have a comical WHSmith "branch" (literally a market stall) upstairs and a Pumpkin cafe downstairs. When the old station was demolished and the new temporary entrance brought into use, WHS disappeared and Pumpkin was replaced by a Coffee House counter.

It appears nobody is aware this is a WHS business as the general view is we had only the hospital branch for a while. A new retail branch has opened in town after the one in the shopping centre closed. It's very cheaply fitted with blatant second hand kit.

The sooner Tesco and Sainsburys muscle into the hospital sector and kill off WHS and their profiteering the better.
"He has to be larger than bacon"
Martin Phillp
Posts: 1469
Joined: Wed 11 May, 2011 01.28

Pete wrote: Wed 05 Jul, 2017 23.26

The sooner Tesco and Sainsburys muscle into the hospital sector and kill off WHS and their profiteering the better.
Sainsbury's used to run the in-house pharmacy at my local hospital, but that has since been sold to Lloyds as part of the sale of the in-store pharmacy business.
TVF's London Lite.
thegeek
Posts: 858
Joined: Sat 04 Jun, 2005 12.35

woah wrote: Wed 05 Jul, 2017 21.35 The one that springs to mind for me though is WH Smith - I am sure it must only be a successful business because there's often little other option in places like train stations, airports, service stations and hospitals. Poorly maintained and very bland stores with even blander branding and there's absolutely stand out reason to shop there.
see WHS_Carpet on Twitter for plenty of examples of this.
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