High Street chain collapse sweepstake

[WillPS]

With the Co-operative Group posting massive losses, my local society (the East of England Co-op) seem to be keen to distance themselves from the Co-operative Group and have nicely made signs in all the stores (using the lovely EoE co-op branding with no Calibri/Times New Roman in sight no less) reinforcing how they're not part of the Co-operative Group, they have their own local board of directors and that they're profitable and expanding (330 million turnover last year). In what could be further distancing, I've noticed that a few branches have had their Co-operative Bank cash machines ripped out and new 'Cashzone' machines have been installed in their place, albeit with Co-op Bank software. All this leads to the question of how much involvement the Co-operative group actually has in the societies? They use the Co-op font on all their posters advertising offers but their labels and barkers all use a different font, and the logo of the main Co-operative appears in a few spots around the shop, in addition to all the Co-op own brand stuff, so there's clearly a fair bit of involvement, but how much?

I'm sure I've explained this here before *searches* - yes, about halfway down this page is a potted history of the CRS/CWS/regional societies and their relationships: http://www.metropol247.co.uk/forum/view ... p?p=113643

tl;dr - The Co-operative Group acts a wholesaler to the smaller societies

[iSon]

It has taken a while but it looks as though phones4u is about to bite the dust.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/news ... ng-up.html

[WillPS]

Christ, didn't see that one coming. Never had any cause to buy from them but their shops were always busy. Makes sense for the networks to want to supply directly.

Bummer for those who have mail-in cashback deals with dialaphone though.

[Critique]

Are EE still one of the options at Carphone Warehouse? I seem to remember Three cutting ties with them at some point over the last year, and wonder if the same thing might happen to them to?

[Martin Phillp]

Christ, didn't see that one coming. Never had any cause to buy from them but their shops were always busy. Makes sense for the networks to want to supply directly.

Bummer for those who have mail-in cashback deals with dialaphone though.

I read a report in one of the papers about two weeks ago about Vodafone pulling out. There's also a rumour going around that BT might snap up those shops as part of selling their retail products, including their return as a mobile business as an MNVO this time round.

[Critique]

I've been hearing rumblings on the grapevine that our local Homebase is getting an Argos installed within it soon, and that it's allegedly being some sort of concept store, with iPads instead of catalogs and other such new things. Who knows, maybe they'll even have a plasma with the order numbers on instead of an ancient CRT with the colours all out? Previously Homebase and Argos have been run very separately (although possibly some Homebase lines have been sold in Argos?) so it'll be interesting to see if this is a way to consolidate the two if profits are falling?

Alternatively, these rumblings may be lies and there may be many Argos stores with iPads and plasmas in. We wouldn't know here, our local branch has the old logo on it still and those blue stockcheck machines.

[Whataday]

I think it's shocking how the extremely rich mobile operators can ditch the profitable Phones4u and put thousands of jobs at risk.

[Martin Phillp]

Alternatively, these rumblings may be lies and there may be many Argos stores with iPads and plasmas in. We wouldn't know here, our local branch has the old logo on it still and those blue stockcheck machines.

There are what Argos call 'Digital only' stores in and around London. The stores on the Old Kent Road and Old Street does everything using tablets and plasmas.

However, my local Argos recently had it's refurb, while it got the plasma and the touch screen product/stock checker, it's still full of paper catalogues to look at with order forms/pens and uses the old Quick Pay terminals and cashiers.

However, I simply order online using click and reserve and pay using Quick Pay in store. Paper catalogues are redundant for me.

[Pete]

I think ours has paper catalogues and some sort of iPad type thing. I find it easier to browse using the laminated book of dreams and then use the iPad afterwards. Maybe that just a sign of age?

[bilky asko]

The touch screen terminals have a USB port on the bottom, allowing you to insert a USB stick and load hilarious images onto the terminal, such as one saying "Welcome to Index, Touch to Start".

[cwathen]

Are EE still one of the options at Carphone Warehouse? I seem to remember Three cutting ties with them at some point over the last year, and wonder if the same thing might happen to them to?

I of course feel sorry for the people that stand to lose their jobs, but I can't say I'll mourn Phones 4U that much. I've taken out a few phone contracts from them and find their sales staff aggressive and rude in their approach which is almost certainly a result of heavy handed management techniques which will tell them they're crap if a customer leaves without insurance and a raft of accessories.

The last one I took out from them about 5 years ago put me off getting a contract from them ever again, when I was more or less told I was stupid for refusing to take out insurance, along with the sales rep implying that the phone had no warranty if I didn't have insurance. They also used to have a nasty tactic of not including VAT in their quoted contract prices, making them sound cheaper than they actually are, do they still do that?

Apparently EE have been the only option there for a little while, following Vodaphone pulling out in recent weeks and O2 a few months ago.

Interestingly, EE cite 'concerns that Phones 4U was selling for only one of Britain's main mobile operators [which might] reduce its appeal for customers who wanted to compare the prices of different operators' as their reason for pulling out.

Seems a bit dubious to me - I've never known a supplier to have an issue with a business selling their product exclusively. Certainly when I worked in retail Panasonic would have been over the moon if we only sold their tellies rather than stocking Sony and Samsung too.

I would say the pull outs are intended in the short term as an attempt to prop up the operators' own flagging retail businesses by driving customers there who previously would have gone to phones 4 u. And longer term I think you will see a pull out of Carphone warehouse too. At that point the only mainstream source of a contract (discounting the few independents that hold on) will be directly from the operator so they can control pricing and service levels much more tightly, preventing them effectively competing from themselves when high street resellers put together better packages than buying directly.

If I was Dixons, I'd be trying to dispose of Carphone Warehouse as quickly as possible. Considering Phones 4U has gone from being a healthy profitable company to nothing in a few months entirely because their suppliers pulled the plug on them, I don't know why they'd think they are safe.