A Natural Consequence Of Having Too Many Shops !

[mikey4444]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/29201191

I have been waiting for this. My town centre has 12 Mobile phone shops...far too many and something had to give. What a pity about all those job losses though.

[Old_Geezer]

I note it says jobs are "at risk" rather than "gone". I wonder if this means they still hope for a solution apart from no longer existing.

[mikey4444]

The probable answer to this is that some of the shops may be taken over by rival chains. But even this is unlikely as these kind of shops are every other premises in some High Streets.

[Gromit]

It has nothing to do with having too many shops. The carriers are changing their business model and are not working with Phone4U any more. They perfer to have their own shops and want to make money from hardware as well as the networks they own.

All about elimating the competition and maximising profits for themselves.

[Old_Geezer]

So Carphone Warehouse out next ?

As a customer I want to make a decision on a network AFTER I get to the shop rather than commit myself (more or less) beforehand. So it doesn't work well for me. That said as I'm on one already I'd need to have a reason to change. I don't spend enough to make any great saving.

[baza]

there is a rise in charity shops in my area, does this mean anything?

[Old_Geezer]

It means when no one else can afford the rates they pick up premises rental on the cheap.

[mikey4444]

I had my first Mobile phone in the summer of 1994. It was so unusual at the time that people used to stop by my desk and examine it, as if it was some exotic piece of the Crown Jewels. At the time, I didn't have any friends that I could call on it, because they didn't have one. The screen was very small and the handset was very large and "texting" had yet to be invented. The concept of watching videos and downloading something called an "email" was strictly in the Beam Me Up Scotty area of science fiction.

Now everybody who wants a phone, has one, which must make for about 90% of the population. And yet our streets are infested with these shops, cheek by jowl. There were simply too many shops selling us the same thing, so its not wonder that a chain has gone bankrupt.

[baza]

My first job was in Burtons, there was John Collier 2 shops away, also Hepworths, Austin Reed and Weaver to Wearer, all within spitting distance, all gone now. High streets change with public spending and profit margins, shame about the possible job losses .

[EDDIE51]

12 mobile phone shops? how did they all make a living?
Charity shops get an 80% reduction in business rates, they get their stock free and most staff are unpaid volunteers no wonder they are on the increase. 5 in my small town centre but just 1 mobile phone shop.

[Bazile]

//There were simply too many shops selling us the same thing, so its not wonder that a chain has gone bankrupt. //

mikey
As as being pointed out it's not as a result of competition between mobile shops on the high street

[Gromit]

Mikey444

The chain has not gone bankrupt. It made £100 million last year.

It is about supply. The people who own the networks do not want Phones4U to sell for them any more. EE want to sell their own packages and make the money themselves, rather than let a third party ( P4U ) make money. EE have invested £millions in the network, so they can decide who they want to supply to.

[mikey4444]

I was going to give the example of shoe shops.

In the 60's and 70's we had loads of shoes shops in every High Street ...Dolcis, Lilly and Skinner, etc, but they all seem to have disappeared ! As all the Memsahibs in my family seems to have far too many pairs of shoes, where do they them all from ?

[Old_Geezer]

Ah shades of Hitchhiker's Guide I think.

[mikey4444]

Gromit.... according to the BBC, this chain "has gone into administration putting 5,596 jobs at risk" If this is not going bankrupt, I am not sure what is ?

[Gromit]

// Phones 4u made a profit of £105m in 2013 and had plenty of cash in the bank, but has been forced to call in the administrators after EE announced it was withdrawing its business on Friday.

Vodafone stopped selling contracts through Phones 4u two weeks ago. Although O2 and Three took away their custom earlier this year, Phones 4u said the decisions by Vodafone and EE came as "a complete shock" as both companies had "consistently indicated that they saw Phones 4u as a long-term strategic partner". //

Going into administration does not mean the company is bankrupt, it means it cannot carry on trading. As all of its suppliers will not give them anything to sell, they are effectively unable to trade.

[mikey4444]

The internet has already stolen a march on High Street shops of this type. O2, my Mobile provider for 20 years have already sent me 3 emails, asking me to "pre-order" the new iphone. This is in addition to at least another 3 providers that I am not with. If I do choose to change over to the new Iphone, which I probably won't, it will be directly with O2, rather than trolling up and down the High Street.

[Bazile]

Mikey - you know that old market trader saying ? - Dont touch the goods unless your'e buying .

Well there are loads of people that like to feel / examine the phone in their hands , before making a commitment .
i'm about to buy a new phone - i'll certainly be going to a shop to look at it before i make any purchase - and while i'm there i may well purchase the phone .

If an high street shop did not make economic sense to the like os EE Vodaphone etc , the you can bet your bottom dollar , they would not be there .

[mikey4444]

Better hurry up then Bazile, while they are still there ! Try Tesco !

[Gromit]

Mikey,

You are getting completely mixed up with buying physical goods, a phone, and buying a service, a mobile phone network.

You can buy hardware anywhere, internet, high street supermarket.

The sale of 'air time' is controlled by just a few carriers who will sign you up to a network.

The current situation is that the networks now want to sell you the iPhone as well as the service.

[mikey4444]

I am not getting "mixed" up Gromit !

The reason that Phones for U are going out of business is that the network providers are no longer prepared to let them have any airtime. This you have explained. But these providers are still providing airtime to other shops, and to their own. So my initial words about there being too many Mobile Phone shops still stands. The public are unlikely to be much bothered by a shop going out of business, as they will still be able to get a similar service from hundreds of others outlets. I feel desperately sorry for all the staff that are going to be made redundant but its a consequence of competition on the High Streets, which is supposed to be so good for us all.