Metropol

Today I had chance to pop into a Black Megastore (a brand of DSGi) and it was truly amazing. Think PC World and Currys, combined and they let you use the stuff! It is an amazing shop and I am impressed. They have one on New Street in Birmingham, others are Woking and Tottenham Court Road. It does workshops and one to one support sessions (strangely Apple like!, without the pretentious dogs nads feeling from the staff!)
More details:http://www.retail-focus.co.uk/index.php ... &Itemid=67

It does look superb, and I'm hoping they start opening new stores across the country. It looks like the sort of place that could appeal to a wide audience. I just hope they have better customer support and a nicer image than 'The Tech Guys' which really is just overpriced stupidity - there's a lot of non-techy people who get fooled into thinking is their only or the best option.

in king's lynn, our branch of pc world and currys has been combined, as... "Currys | PC World"... is this the same as Black then?

maybe they are experimenting with getting rid of those legacy brands?

Black is one of a number of new concept stores Dixons Retail (new name for DSG International) are to try over the coming months and years.

more in this article ….

WWW.TELEGRAPH.CO.UK/FINANCE
02-Jan-2011 @ 21:18

and every product, says a spokesperson for the brand, will have to meet the highest tech and style specifications before it earns a place on the shopfloor.

Heh.

In other words: every product must have an absolutely massive markup.

Bigger pictures: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/sectors/ ... 26.article

Chie wrote:

and every product, says a spokesperson for the brand, will have to meet the highest tech and style specifications before it earns a place on the shopfloor.

Heh.

In other words: every product must have an absolutely massive markup.

Bigger pictures: http://www.marketingweek.co.uk/sectors/ ... 26.article

That's not the case at all, and if you'd tear yourself away from your home and went to one of these shops, rather than relying on the internet, you'd see that. I hate being like this, Chie, but you have a chip on your shoulder about the world and it's kind of depressing. Just an observation, Chie, not a character assassination.

___

Dr Lobster, it's better than that, for one, the staff know what they're talking about. They also do training and let you get a lot more hands on with the stuff, even letting you use a laptop say, for 2 hours or so, on the web. It has chairs and a small cafe and internet access for free. They have about 18 iMacs available for free public use and, my favourite feature. It's cleaned, unlike most PC Worlds/Currys shops.

There is a reason for all of that, Beep. It's to make the shop seem busy.

You unwittingly assume the role of an actor when you go inside one of these shops to sit or stand around playing with their cool, expensive products, which a minority of shoppers can afford to buy.

Using their internet for two hours probably costs a matter of pence. Your comforting presence in the shop though is worth sales of £100s to the company. If it were empty nobody would go in, and those who did go in would be far less likely to make a purchase.

Sorry, but I find it depressingly exploitative. After reading your review you'd be forgiven for thinking that 'Black' was a library - a public service - rather than a shop. In reality they're a big company selling high markup products - they fleece people blind; they're not doing you a favour.

Chie wrote:There is a reason for all of that, Beep. It's to make the shop seem busy.

You unwittingly assume the role of an actor when you go inside one of these shops to sit or stand around playing with their cool, expensive products, which a minority of shoppers can afford to buy.

Using their internet for two hours probably costs a matter of pence. Your comforting presence in the shop though is worth sales of £100s to the company. If it were empty nobody would go in, and those who did go in would be far less likely to make a purchase.

Sorry, but I find it depressingly exploitative. You'd be forgiven for thinking that 'Black' was a library - a public service - rather than a shop after reading your review. In reality they're a big company selling high markup products - they fleece people blind; they're not doing you a favour.

It is the perfect model of capitalism, Chie. They're taking the act of selling product to a new level - wrapping it in a "lifestyle" environment and creating a social aspect to it.

I don't like the Dixons group outlets, personally. I find their markups to be obscene, and their staff can only earn decent money by selling extended warranties on products - usually by implying that what you're paying good money for will likely fail after a given period, leaving you snookered, which is both misleading and flies in the face of the Sale of Goods Act. All of this maximises the return for the shareholder and serves no one else - certainly not the customer.

But for you to say this Chie is very strange to me. Doesn't sit well with your highly capitalist views.

Can you explain this?

Gavin Scott wrote:

Chie wrote:There is a reason for all of that, Beep. It's to make the shop seem busy.

You unwittingly assume the role of an actor when you go inside one of these shops to sit or stand around playing with their cool, expensive products, which a minority of shoppers can afford to buy.

Using their internet for two hours probably costs a matter of pence. Your comforting presence in the shop though is worth sales of £100s to the company. If it were empty nobody would go in, and those who did go in would be far less likely to make a purchase.

Sorry, but I find it depressingly exploitative. You'd be forgiven for thinking that 'Black' was a library - a public service - rather than a shop after reading your review. In reality they're a big company selling high markup products - they fleece people blind; they're not doing you a favour.

It is the perfect model of capitalism, Chie. They're taking the act of selling product to a new level - wrapping it in a "lifestyle" environment and creating a social aspect to it.

I don't like the Dixons group outlets, personally. I find their markups to be obscene, and their staff can only earn decent money by selling extended warranties on products - usually by implying that what you're paying good money for will likely fail after a given period, leaving you snookered, which is both misleading and flies in the face of the Sale of Goods Act. All of this maximises the return for the shareholder and serves no one else - certainly not the customer.

But for you to say this Chie is very strange to me. Doesn't sit well with your highly capitalist views.

Can you explain this?

I'm anti-exploitative marketing, Gavin. High salaries, investor returns and staff bonuses sit fine with me. That is none of my business. However, manipulating consumers is wrong. Companies have been doing it for ages, of course, with emotive advertising and in-store lighting, but stores like Apple and Black have taken it to a new, far more sinister level, in my opinion.

How is in-store lighting sinister? Particularly in an Apple store, where it's just...bright.

Chie wrote:I'm anti-exploitative marketing, Gavin. High salaries, investor returns and staff bonuses sit fine with me. That is none of my business. However, manipulating consumers is wrong. Companies have been doing it for ages, of course, with emotive advertising and in-store lighting, but stores like Apple and Black have taken it to a new, far more sinister level, in my opinion.

You got the "high salaries" bit wrong. I tend to think that high margin retailers should reward their staff proportionately; but groups the size of DSG don't get to be that size by giving their profits to their workers. Its often why you see young sales assistants, totally un-engaged with the products they're selling, with often less knowledge than the customer.

In fairness to, "black" - perhaps this is their attempt at reversing that situation. I just hope the extra training and product knowledge is suitably rewarded.

I'll echo sputs question about lighting. As a lighting designer, I'm curious to know what you mean when you reference it. I know lighting can create visual excitement, but I'd like to know how this can be taken as a sinister thing.

And didn't you praise the John Lewis ad because of the emotional response it created in you?