Posts by Nigel Hamlin

New(-ish) world order

I agree with those who've said here, in effect, that the world is changing. It has been for ages. The reason that I, and many people, so often prefer to buy online is that centralised, online retailers have better stocks, it's easy to find the best price available, delivery is usually at least as quick as it will be from the high street (if not actually quicker) and buying online is generally far easier than heading downtown.

If high street retailers wish to stay in business, they have to find ways to provide services that people both want/need and are willing to pay for. If I take my car to be serviced, I do not expect them to charge me extra for any parts needed, over and above what those parts cost them. Instead, I expect them to charge me openly, honestly, fairly and separately (on the invoice) for their own time and expertise. Similarly, if retailers of Macs and related items wish to stay in business, they have to differentiate themselves from the Apple Store and, if they can't do that, then face facts: what is the point of them? If you don't somehow add value, of a sort that people are willing to pay for, then what are you there for?

I liken this situation to that of all the retail stores that failed to compete successfully with supermarkets. In the UK, many just went to the wall after trying to compete on price. A foolhardy strategy, given the immense buying power of the supermarkets, which the small independent shops could never hope to match. In France, on the other hand, such small independent stores chose to compete by differentiating. They specialised, they focussed on offering premium products at higher prices. Products of the sort that the supermarkets were NOT able to source in the quantities that they'd need to stock their shelves. In that way, they offered something different to what the supermarkets did and thus stayed in business.

Bottom line: when you run a business, you have to play to your strengths (if you have any). And for the smaller independent retailers, that means being agile and innovative. It does no good for Apple retailers to complain that they "supported Apple for years", because that's simply not true! Apple supported them for years by providing products that they could sell with a profit margin (albeit, I know, not usually a big margin). They made those profits, which earned them a livelihood and it doesn't mean that Apple still owes them anything. It's all history.