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[madabouthoovers]

Yes, that made interesting reading that article did on the other thread, with 46% of all vacuums worldwide being bagged canisters!


Shame about the 6% being bagged uprights though, but also a surprise that only 7% are bagless uprights, and I'd imagine most of these are in the UK and US.


I still think Currys should stock more bagged uprights though, I don't know why they cant stock the SEBO Felix and X Series. Not everyone wants a PurePower, and the Purepower falls foul of the new EU power limits as well from Sept, so that might disappear completely if HooverCandy haven't got a replacement for it.


Currys seem to think that all people want is Dysons and bagless - either that or Dyson pays them a big bung to favour selling his cleaners.

 

[madaboutsebo]

Sure did! Yes that was a shame I would of thought the Upright percentage would have been higher especially the bagless upright percentage! Both are a surprise to me too. Like you say it must be the UK and US. Although suppose the US have more canisters with motor powered heads than the UK have.

I agree, one of my local Curry's had a nice display of SEBO's with a banner 'We love SEBO' , one of he sales guys I chatted to loved the SEBO and sold a few converting would be Dyson buyers to the discussed of the Dyson Sales Rep who wouldn't speak to him when they visited! Now that display has has gone all shop floor stock sold off. Nearly bought a Felix Vogue they where selling off for about £100 ship floor display no box or tools! Obviously they didn't sell well!? Shame really they even had the dirt collector (not sure of the correct name) to attach to the top of the Felix to show dirt picked up! I love my Felix best vacuum I've ever owned. Would like an X4 sometime or K series.

Curry's certainly do think people just want bagless cause that's what the public want or think they want. I think Dyson pays Curry's for there big displays and to promote their vacuums over others IMHO!

 

[madabouthoovers]

The other big problem with Currys is that they don't carry much in stock in their branches, and you have to pay first and either have it delivered or collect from the store several days later.


The problem with this is that if you were going to have it delivered, its cheaper to use other online retailers like Freenetelectrical.co.uk


 


I have not bought from Currys quite often now as they didn't keep the items I wanted in stock, and insisted I'd have to pay first and then wait for delivery, so I found the items cheaper elsewhere and had them delivered.


 


Both Currys and Argos really need to decide if they are internet retailers only offering home delivery, or shops you can go to, buy the product, put it in your car and drive home with it. Both seem to stock less and less nowadays in store, and if you've then got to wait for delivery, then its cheaper to order from other online retailers.

 

[vintagerepairer]

madabouthoovers

If the "problem" you refer to really is a problem for Currys and Argos, you can bet your life they'd be onto it like a shot. I am not having a go at you or anyone now, but I am telling it like it is; what you are saying is that this causes you a problem. Doubtless there will be a good deal of other consumers who also find doing business the Currys way a little tiresome too, but if this was sufficiently widespread to cause Currys and Argos significant loss of sales, they would no longer trade in this manner.

As you know only too well from another thread, a great number of brand-new old-stock vacuum cleaners & other appliances are now being sold off, with references made to the cost of storage which has been incurred year on year. That is the reality of the situation; stock is incredibly expensive to hold, with costs arising from a number of factors, not just the purchase cost of the stock. Though to the general public it may seem that every sale is profit made and every sale lost is a profit not made, to the retailer this is not so. Every retailer has to establish what the stock is going to cost them, vs lost sales incurred for not keeping products in stock, otherwise they are at great risk from having too much money tied up in stock which continues to cost money whilst it sits there doing very little.

 

[madabouthoovers]

Your points are duly noted vintagerepairer, but you can bet your bottom dollar that whilst Currys's branch warehouses don't stock much of anything else vacuum wise, they are never short of Dysons!


Meanwhile, seeing as all Currys want to sell is mostly bagless vacuums, I shall have to continue to ditch Currys and go elsewhere. Pity, as they used to be quite efficient years ago, but as you say, they wont really be bothered about losing my custom.

 

[hi-loswitch98]

Any Argos I have been into always carry a large range of products. There's only been one time where I wasn't able to purchase the item I intended to buy.

 

[madabouthoovers]

What about all the items on Argos.co.uk like Miele vacuums that aren't carried in stock and have to be ordered into store or home delivered, taking several days? Its cheaper then to buy these from other online retailers. People are just not getting what I'm saying are they.


Take the following Miele S6220, a good seller, I'll bet your local store has none in stock when you try to reserve one, and you'll have to wait days for them to get one in:



http://www.argos.co.uk/static/Product/partNumber/4066734.htm

 

[madabouthoovers]

And then the hoover Purepower - no currys shops carry these in stock either:



http://www.currys.co.uk/gbuk/home-a...9-pdt.html?sPageInfo=1_20&sSortInfo=price-asc

 

[vintagerepairer]

I get it.

But having been in business myself, I am working to the first rule which is that a business has to make money in order to survive. Granted that without customers there would be no business at all, so yes, they are essential, however, no business can ever afford to be all things for all customers, because that is way too expensive. A business has to work to a strategy which allows the bulk of it's customers to be sufficiently satisfied with what is on offer.

The fact that some people might find some retailers objectionable does not mean that the business is getting it wrong for all of it's customer base.

 

[madabouthoovers]

But why do Argos and Currys offer items online, that they don't or wont hold in stock, causing disappointment, and long delays in getting these items.


Why not just advertise only what you can physically stock. Argos has only recently started with all this "pay or reserve now and get it in several days" business. If I've got to pay £220 from Argos for an item, and then have to wait for it to be delivered, then I'd rather pay £180 from somewhere else for the same product and have it delivered.


I'd be prepared to pay a premium if I can get the item today from the shop stock, but not if I've got to wait several days for it, and I can get it cheaper somewhere else. How is this being competitive?


 


Take the Miele S6220 detailed above a few posts, in Argos, its £220, they don't hold them in stock any more, and you have to have it delivered, taking several days.


The same S6220 on Freenet (link below) is £177.49 - that's a saving of £42.50, so why should I buy it from Argos?



http://www.freenetelectrical.co.uk/miele/vacuum-cleaners/s6220/product-1519/

 

[sebo_fan]

Oh you will keep going on and on about Miele - yet you fail to see between the lines of what Benny is saying.

People aren't buying expensive German vacs because buyers are generally conditioned into buying bagless since the age of Dyson and heavy advertising in stores. Thus, in turn Argos and other sellers on the high street will only cater to what "the average buyer" wants due to what we've been led to believe is the next best thing. Dyson is at the top end price wise but for everything else there are the cheap paper filter cone or NLOS washable filter types.

All the while the "cheap end of the bagged" market has always fallen down to Panasonic and Hoover. Both brands stock heavily compared to Miele, SEBO and Bosch - all of these three brands are constantly "out of stock" because not all warehouses from Currys and Argos will stock these machines on the premises and often have to wait for delivery from another warehouse if they have the product.

In turn high street franchises are no longer selling a huge array of brands. Debenhams, House of Frasers and Next for example are all selling Dyson with few Vax models other than their steam cleaner mops.

 

[madabouthoovers]

Expensive German vacs? Excuse me -Miele are not as expensive as Dyson's Malaysian vacs, and much better quality, and you know it.


 


What would you rather have - A Malaysian Proton car or a German Mercedes car, then imagine Proton charged more for their Malaysian cars than Mercedes did for their German cars. Would people be flocking out to buy Protons costing more than Mercs?


 


Exactly, so why are people so willing to pay more for a Malaysian Vac than a German Vac - just because James Dyson says so? Sometimes I cannot understand people's mentality.

 

[sebo_fan]

Expensive as in expensive to run as well, the more I think about it. Miele's dust bags are a classic example. Just 4 in a box there for nearly double the amount of SEBO and even then buyers moan.

You want to have your cake and eat it. You want the kind of service that we had back in the 1980s, where I think you will find that quite a few vacuums were made in Singapore and China, but just not that many compared to today.

You want to have every brand and every model at your fingertips in one stop-shop - a lot of people do - even I do when I'm shopping around for something as basic as a CD/iPod dock but sadly business doesn't work like that nowadays.

There's a lot to be said for the old customer loyalty - there is no loyalty any more - Currys and Argos just want to make money.

The reality of business in the UK also came crashing down the moment pound shops appeared.

I worked in one of them and I was a product buyer for it - I was shocked at the mark up of products that local shops had. Overnight, our pound shop threatened the livelihood of the local DIY shop whose products were no longer seen as a "best value" but rather, a bit of a rip off. Yet, no wonder Pound shops have never had it so good.

 

[madabouthoovers]

Then I'm afraid we are going back to the dark ages, not forward, where we have less and less choice, and get what we have to buy dictated to us by the likes of James Dyson, and TTI, and the good people of the UK have to go and buy a Dyson, or a Vax, as that's pretty much all the big box stores stock now, as James Dyson pays them to ensure that this is the case. This is corruption and rigging of the market place, and is NOT beneficial to customers. It is not how capitalism is supposed to work.

 

[sebo_fan]

Well at the same time when you think back to how franchises worked, you were lucky to find any other brand but Hoover and Electrolux selling on the shop floor. No Philips, Moulinex or Rowenta were available at all companies.

I don't see much of a difference now other than different brands but that same kind of a feeling of having to "shop around" for the brand you might have read up on but can't seem to find.