back to article IT reseller Misco UK shutters warehouse and distie centre

Misco is shuttering its UK warehouse and distribution centre in Greenock, Scotland, in a bid to drag the P&L accounts out of the red. The company was owned by US parent Systemax until it, along with operations in the Netherlands, Italy, Spain and Sweden, was sold to private equity outfit Hilco Capital in March – the firm that …

  1. Anonymous Coward
    FAIL

    Model error.

    IT reseller: buys kit at price x. Sells kit at price y. Adds no value whatsoever, only delay. y > x.

    I can see why that's only a short-term model.

    1. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

      Re: Model error.

      What Misco did (as did Inmac) was have a single place to get all of the specialist cables, interposers and media that would cost an arm and a leg and take 28 days to get from the equipment manufacturers.

      They made sure that all IT departments had catalogs readily available (shipped in the trade rags), so that when you urgently needed tapes, disks or a dozen boxes of three part multi-copy fanfold paper, you had a readily available place to go, available on the end of a phone line, albeit at a premium price.

      But nobody in their right mind would consider them for regular supply of these things!

      There's multiple instances I've experienced where they've dug where I was working out of a hole.

      That original operating model worked fine until the internet...

      Now, you can almost certainly get what you need from Amazon or one of it's marketing partners, at a price that is difficult to compete with, and probably delivered next day as part of the standard offering. It's really difficult to compete with the steamroller that is Amazon. And that is what Misco's recent history has shown.

      1. Lee D Silver badge

        Re: Model error.

        My suppliers hate Amazon.

        Much as I hate to say it, they can't just sell me a product any more.

        They have to make up by giving me something I can't get elsewhere - service, support, warranties, actually coming and talking about what I want, etc.

        Much as it's economically dangerous to put all our eggs in one basket, there's nothing stopping someone else doing an Amazon, but nobody is. My workplace spends hundreds of thousands each year on Amazon alone. When you just want THAT... that product THERE... they are invaluable. Especially if you want it quick.

        As I have to tell my suppliers, you can't be cheapest. Don't try. I'm not interested in that. I'm interested in those that can give me something else, something that Amazon themselves can't sell me.

        1. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

          Re: Model error.

          Amazon have too much of a head-start for anybody to be able to catch up.

          If you remember those few short years ago when they first appeared, they were selling books. They were priced so that the discounted price and the shipping together was a penny cheaper than the RRP on the back of the cover, the one that all the bricks-and-morter booksellers would be charging. Often, it would be delivered next working day, even though you did not pay for one day delivery (although this is something that they stopped once they were established).

          At the same time, the physical booksellers were desperately trying to shoehorn other items into their stores, because they were having trouble surviving, especially against the supermarkets, which would be selling the bestseller list at a discount. as a result, the number (and number of copies) of books traditional bookstores stocked was significantly reduced. They all, however, offered to order in any titles they did not have on the shelves.

          OK. I want to buy a book, lets say part of a series. Waterstones, Borders and Smiths would have the latest one in the series, but none of the others. They offer to order it in. But I can get it in the same timescales, possibly cheaper, delivered to my door from Amazon. What a tough decision to make! And this was the foot in the door.

          Then they moved on to music, stocking centrally even the most obscure titles. Once they started getting the distribution network established, they were then able to move, seemingly, into everything else, and even established an IT model for their own use that they worked out that they could sell.

          Now, they've tied their customer base to them with seductive offerings like Prime. (I really, really want to support my local shops, but when I can order something not available locally on Saturday afternoon, and actually get it delivered on SUNDAY for free, even I find that irresistible).

          Even the largest retailer or wholesaler would have difficulty competing with them, although it seems like in the UK, Sainsburys/Argos and Tesco are giving it a go.

          But here is what I think is the ironic thing. Many of the shops that Amazon threaten are now being set up to act as a collection point for Amazon deliveries. This must really feel like a kick in the teeth for some of them!

          1. Lee D Silver badge

            Re: Model error.

            I'm afraid that Sunday trading laws are very medieval.

            Non-24-hour opening, is very 20th Century.

            It's ridiculous that the bread counter closes so you can't get fresh bread after work, for instance. Same for the pharmacy and everything else in-store.

            Stock shortage of obscure items, I can forgive, but the other day I wanted to buy a small petrol generator and literally couldn't find even the cheapest of them in four different HUGE DIY stores. Amazon had 20 models, most on next-day delivery.

            Amazon are really dragging us in the Star Trek age, and I can't fault them for that. That nobody else is trying to compete is sad, they are only ever playing catch-up when they could actually make in-roads before Amazon get there.

            It is ludicrous that I can order a huge piece of machinery and have it on my doorstep (or workplace, or friend's house) in a matter of hours. I can't even get that from a hire shop (which are closed for the majority of the day anyway).

            1. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

              Re: Model error. @Lee.

              Sunday trading laws remain as there is still a thought that it is desirable to have one day when it was more likely that a family could spend time together.

              Many families nowadays just don't get together any more, not even at meal times. With both adults working, often in non-office hours jobs, and their employers controlling their shifts, this will only get worse. The more you in your cozy, mostly office hours job want to shop in the middle of the night, on Sundays or Bank Holidays, the more some living-wage job-slave who cannot afford to say no, has to work unsociable hours in the shops, warehouses or delivery vans, to the detriment of their family life.

              In my family, I work away from home during the week, one of my sons works in the hospitality trade and hist days off are Monday and Tuesday (and he often loses the Monday because the restaurant he works in is normally closed on Mondays, except Bank Holidays), and the other of my sons living at home works evenings.

              My daughter and son-in-law, who have their own house, work different shifts, and are expecting their first child. Their family life will be complex from the get-go, and I have no idea when we can get together with them as a whole family, even though they only live three miles up the road.

              1. Lee D Silver badge

                Re: Model error. @Lee.

                If I could push my shopping off to 1am on a Saturday night/Sunday morning, it would be a lot easier to find time to spend with other people at more social hours.

        2. Roland6 Silver badge

          Re: Model error.

          When you just want THAT... that product THERE... they are invaluable. Especially if you want it quick.

          Disagree, I've often turned away from Amazon (eBay and Dell) at the point I actually order something, only to discover the particular variant I want isn't available on prime/next day delivery as it will be directly shipped from China...

          Irritatingly, several UK high street retailers have broken the connection between their store and web stock systems. Hence when ordering online you can no longer confirm an item is in stock at a convenient store before you press click-and-collect, thereby greatly reducing the value of the click-and-collect service...

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Misco catalogues

    Ahh Misco! That's a blast from the past. Were they still sending out their catalogues? At one time I was receiving three copies of every issue, no wonder their prices were so high.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Misco catalogues

      Not only their catalogues. Shortly after setting up my own business, Misco sent my stationary order twice but only charged me the once. Must have been a two for the price of one promotion. ;-)

      1. Captain Scarlet

        Re: Misco catalogues

        They went for e-books now its just the occasional leaflet with a delivery and email based advertising

  3. Korev Silver badge
    Thumb Down

    "Release"

    "releasing staff"

    What a horrible phrase...

    1. KroSha

      Re: "Release"

      Is "terminating" any better?

  4. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    I've been using them for a decade and a half and was still using them up until last year; generally their prices were good, we had a credit account with them (no fannying about with credit cards and do they/don't they give you a VAT invoice like sellers on Amazon/ebay) but the customer service went to shit and I gave up. Looking back, the warehousing model is what's killed them; Softcat and Vohkus can get stuff to me nbd at no or little charge, whilst this started becoming an issue with Misco.

    Oh well - I'll always have my happy memories of chatting to account manager Jennie back in the noughties. ;-)

  5. Mr Dogshit
    Headmaster

    Is "to shutter" a verb?

    No, I thought not. How about "to close", or is that too old fashioned, or perhaps too British?

  6. dajames
    Headmaster

    No, I thought not.

    Then I'm afraid you thought wrong.

    According to my rather long-in-the-tooth Concise Oxford English Dictionary "Shutter" is a transitive verb meaning "to close with a shutter" and a reflexive verb meaning "to shut oneself in (or off) with shutters". The word is established and not particularly new.

    This is English, though; you can form a verb from almost any noun (even "verb" itself) and - as long as the meaning is clear in the context in which you use it - it makes a perfectly acceptable word.

    That said: unless Misco's warehouse has shutters that will be in some way symbolic in the closing of the warehouse, the use of the term seems an unnecessary stretch of artistic licence.

  7. Blitheringeejit
    FAIL

    Dropping the shipping pilot

    My experience with Misco was that they were good when they operated a decent warehouse system, and the "in stock" indicator on their website had some meaning. But over the last five years or so, an increasing amount of their "in stock" stuff was actually drop-shipped by their supplier, who turned out not to really have it in stock at all. So I'd order stuff which was "in stock", then find that it didn't arrive, chase it with Misco, and be told that their supplier had failed to ship it, and that this was not Misco's fault.

    Broken model, I'm gone - but not to bloody Amazon, who only manage to be cheaper by evading their corporation tax liabilities.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Dropping the shipping pilot

      + 1; in stock was, latterly, frequently far from the truth.

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