Click & Collect shopping. Oh the stupidity.

[Darlofan]

I’m surprised 2 posts already mentioned use Halfrauds. I thought it was universally known to be a rip off. The one in Wrexham should be easy to avoid for parts as 200 yds down the road is a motor factors who are significantly cheaper, more knowledgeable and you don’t have the weird car park enforcement guy watching your every move!

[Sam]

You maybe surprised that halfords have some good offers on occasionally and local motor factors aren’t very helpful when your after a set of carbon forks for your mountain bike.

Digressing a little, I find the majority of motor part suppliers in Wrexham to be……… Not what they used to be either.

Ex car mechanics made great car part salesmen. Ex Facebook and xbox one players sadly don’t.

This maybe another contributing factor why high Street shops are on the decline.

Poorly trained staff motivated by sales and commission alone! I have come across this recently in Wrexham too.

[Jamsindahouse]

[quote quote=96878]I have always given local traders the opportunity to supply me goods, but sadly, when I go into town and a product I request has a markup of 100,200,300% than eBay, Amazon etc. I walk away.
A final note too broaden the debate.
If I require a product & I can predict that I’ll need it in a month, I’ll buy it from China via any of the above aformentioned services for pennies.

Just like local retail traders are doing.

Nowadays, the internet allows Joe bloggs to go almost to the supplier.
[/quote]

You hit the nail on the head.
The internet has made it very easy for savvy shoppers to get better deals and undercut retails if they use sites like alibaba.com and buy in bulk.

The Argos & eBay partnership was a great idea for Argos, they currently sell items on eBay and it also means they will get shoppers who may not use Argos into their store. Sure, not everyone who collects something will buy extras but any additional business is a bonus.

More big name stores will follow this example, especially the huge Tesco type stores who have too much space to fill.

[Sam]

Sadly, I confess, I’d love to support my local well stocked shop.
In an ideal world, wrexham could provide x2 of everything, the reality is, you’ll be hard pushed to find a single ‘decent’ supplier of a certain type of product, because of this, they really don’t give a hoot. They’re not competing with the other shop so they can afford to up their price and offer a lousy service. Their monopoly allows them this luxury.

Prove it yourself. Shops in the town centre with a direct competition offers better value and customer service than solitary shops.

Try out the theory, I have, and it’s true.

Therefore, most of my purchases and pennies are spent via PayPal.

[Katia]

We all buy different things no doubt so our experiences will vary.
I hardly ever, nearly never use ebay anymore, maybe because the novelty has passed, but more likely because their operating costs have been rising over the last few years and sellers have mostly either increased their minimum quantities, hiked up delivery charges or streamlined variety. I can’t remember the last time I made a PayPal transaction – and thats nothing concerning hacking concerns.
The situation with ebay will be mirrored by Amazon, already we have seen free delivery raised to items over £10, then becoming items over £20.
Lets imagine a future condition that Amazon require a purchase of £30 or more for free delivery – not everybody is interested in joining Prime to avoid this – it could just be more sensible to visit a shop.

For myself, mainly not ordering in bulk, and only requiring single items, ebay and China don’t really figure any more.
I recently wanted a new watch, I found the one I liked in town for £20, had a look on Amazon where it was £17 plus £5 delivery, found the same watch on ebay – available in minimum quantities of 10 working out at £11 each – but I didn’t want 10 – plus all the fees involved took the price higher.
I eventually found the exact watch on a market stall in Rhyl for £3.

Now for those that doubt the future of markets – this is the key – a market trader can order in bulk and make it pay – not everybody can go to the source for a single item at a keen price.

I believe there is still a worthwhile future for market traders, independent shops, retailers, wholesalers, distributers and delivery companies.
The key is to stop loading local traders with disproportionate costs for running their business – and to make it cheaper for customers to reach them ie no parking charges for shopping.

[Author]

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