HMV the latest to call in the administrators

I would be inclined to save my sympathies for the small independent shops in our towns and cities, which are taking one hell of a battering at the moment. I walked around my own town at the weekend, and it was a depressing sight. Many shops were boarded up and empty, some have been replaced with kebab houses and other takeaways and others with pubs. Most of the big local independent shops have gone, and some of the national chains have gone too. It's horrible being old enough to remember when times were different, and the run down town was thriving and bustling with energy. I've lived through a few economic depressions now, but they were nothing compared to this we are witnessing and experiencing today.

Online shopping is cool, but the damage it has done to our local economies cannot be underestimated. I build e-commerce solutions for a living, and I often wonder if e-commerce is something that benefits us much less than we would believe?

 

HMV stores had a horrible atmosphere, dark and dingy with stock piled up everywhere like an expensive jumble sale. It is a shame to see an old high street name disapear, especially when undermined by tax avoiding companies but as said earlier in the thread they muscled out the independents to get where they were.

 

^^^ This

 

That is what the high street will become, stores that can add value by having a high street presence such as clothing and technology.

 

I think the problem with e-commerce is it's often ruthlessly efficient with manpower compared to bricks and mortar retail, so the ratio of jobs will never be 1:1.

 

What, even though John Lewis price match against online retailers?

 

It was an example.

 

Retail by 2020 will be Furniture / fashion stores + Apple and jewelry that will be about it in england. ( ignoring food stores )

Game HMV Pc world and shops like it will struggle for survival. Anything selling technology products is going to struggle to compete agaist amazon.

HMV will not be the last big high street collapse.

Even the biggest electronic retailer is still struggling with net loses of 154million ( dixons) Hence all the mergers with pc world stores and currys going into one shop. ( which means less jobs)

The pre recession high street miricle will not return again people now shop smarter and look at stuff they wish to buy then check on there phones online if its cheaper they buy online if its cheaper in store they buy there.

Its what i do for most of the stuff i buy from clothes to trainers games cds ect.

The Smartphone has changed alot most shoppers now have one and are willing to use it to search out the bargins online.

 

I agree that it's difficult but not impossible.
I think any product with a semblance of interactivity could take something from the Apple stores. DVDs and Music tends to be a product you buy to consume at a later point. Games to a certain extent differ but, short of setting up loads of console displays with a range of games throughout the store it'd be hard to apply.

 

Problem is though, few companies ever tried. They milked the late 20th century shopping "experience" to their eventual demise.

19th, early 20th century shopping is still alive and well and largely internet proof; bond street tailor, "Good" department stores. Difference is, like Apple, they're going for a different market from HMV, PC World who target "price sensitive" consumers but with overheads that have proven unsustainable.

 

Couldn't happen to a nicer group of rip-off merchants.

Every HMV experience I've had has been between terrible and shocking.

I thoroughly concur that high-street shopping has to be an experience, and most of the time, they provide such a mediocre experience I'd rather shop from my sofa. Quicker, easier, cheaper, and no hassle.

I spend a lot of time in Games Workshop stores. It's the community feel. Like minded people sharing ideas, playing games, socialising? It's a really enjoyable experience that almost always leads me to buying things.

I don't see how that "eco system" could be applied to most other stores, but hell, the highstreet really needs to work it out if they expect to pry me from Amazon.

 

Except clothes, shoes, food, beds and furniture, wallpaper and paint and anything else that needs to be touched, tasted, tried on, fitted, seen in real life or be experienced in another way as a physical object.

By the way: I always try to buy at small local independents --even if I end up paying a premium. My last purchase was a Sony TV which I paid £150,-- more for than if I'd gone on-line, but I think it's worth the local presence and service of the shop down the road.

 

Ann Summers nailed it too

 

Sad to see it happen, but like most of the retailers that have 'gone' recently, they should have seen how the times were changing and adapted with them... I really like the order online and collect in store ideas, as do lots of people, but things like that were never widely adopted.

If they had seen in say 2002 the way that online shopping 'could' have changed things, they might have survived.

 

Ever been to a Nespresso shop?

They can't hand the bag over the counter to you, they have to walk round to the end, and give it to you at a hand friendly high...

Apple are nubz compared to that.

 

The only reason HMV are going down is because they were arrogant enough to think that they could just continue ripping people off with an out of date business model.

Good riddance imo, make way for a better company to come in.

Obviously I feel bad for all the employees, never want to see people out of work.


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Clothes shoes can be brought online its how I shop. It's far cheaper and a much bigger range vs competing shops around where i live. ( outside a major city basically)

Even food shopping has headed online for my older family members, they don't have to carry it, push a heavy trolly and its all delivered to the door free instead of a taxi bill.

Beds and furniture these days are replaced when they drop to bits in most households and for the lowest cost in furniture that's ikea who already do a shopping experience of such. ( one of the few companies that have moved on with the times)

We hire decorators to paint nobody has that time spare catalog shopping for colours and wallpaper they bring it with them easy way out lol.

Also has not stopped massive closures in furniture sector, decorating and clothing sector ( half of all retail shutdowns have been around these 2)

Only really BnQ left here for wallpaper paint. Rest have vanished into bankruptcy or buyouts.

Retail sector as we know it has no real future when Wollys shutdown that should of been the sign to all struggling retailers.

 

Play.com has given up selling direct to customers- going to a third party marketplace, a sign of the times.

What we will be left with is a few core chains in each sector as the rest will either die or be bought out/merged etc.
Clothes shops will likely become store fronts for online catalogs- size of each item you try on and its sent to your home.

Small independent stores may survive if local people choose them and they are protected from the major chains entering the local market but its only going to be a on a small scale.

 

Plays business model was basically splitting the tax advantage with the consumer, that dried up when the government went to war on tax avoidance and in its merciless pursuit of justice for the populous stopped them getting cheap dvds. They're pals got to keep their little tax ploys.

 

sigh...


There is no moral obligation to pay any more tax than you legally have to. If everyone had the means to avoid paying tax they almost certainly would.