The fate of Jessops.
When I was young my experience of buying photographic gear was dominated by one store. They had the biggest ads in all the magaznes I read, frequently running to 8 full pages, basically a small catalogue.
They majored on products that gave good value for money in an era when price hunting between shops was not easy to do and most items were sold at full retail price.
Back then there was no internet. Finding the best price for a product meant going out, buying a couple of photographic mags (usually Amateur Photographer and Practical Photography) and going through all the ads. Well thats how I bought my Nikon F90X, eventually settling on Robert White. Although my camera came from elsewhere all my accessories came from Jessops, including the own brand camera bag, Uni-Loc tripod, vivitar lenses (do they still make those?) and Centon flash. These are the kinds of kit that do the job so long as you treat them well, the stock kit of beginners in those days.
So what's changed? In a word, Internet.
If i get to have 2 words, the other one is Digital.
If I want to buy something now, what do I do?
1. I read a review site like dpreview to find the exact product I want. This explains to me why I should spend a little extra, it fuels the gadget lust to a greater level. I no longer want the low end product that 'can do' I want the high end one that can do with bells on. I might have to save up a bit longer but I'm willing to do that so I can get the same results as the pros (or think I can!). The point is, I don't want the cheap no brand stuff only Jessops has, so my shopping mall has gotten bigger.
2. Now I know what I want i need to know where to get it. No longer do I head for the magazine stands, I'm on google. Or maybe pricerunner. Or maybe I'l just go to the sites I usually buy from. Maybe I'll even have a look at Jessop's site.
The chances of Jessops being cheapest are slim, so they've probably lost my business if I'm buying online. But what If I want to play with my gadget before I buy? Well maybe Jessops can help me. I can go into one of their high rent, fancy looking high street stores and have a look, maybe even talk to the staff. But will I actually buy it there? Only if they can match the cheap price of, lets say, their own website!
And there's the rub, they're selling at online prices from bricks and mortar shops. And no-one can afford to sustain that.
So, we have a shop who's long tail of products has been spread around other, more efficient retailers. Who's high margin, own brand stuff isn't selling. And who's remaining sales can't sustain them because they're running an online business out of 200+ real shops.
I'm fairly sure they won't go down entirely, but what they'll look like in 5 years time is anyone's guess.
What would I do?
Sell up the shops.
Buy a huge warehouse, oh they already have one!
Make a really nice website selling all the bits no-one else has.
Build an affiliate scheme to increase traffic and brand visibility.
Cross my fingers and hope for the best!
Well, that's what I think.
as a course texbook, I haven't read it yet but I hear good things so my copy is on it's way from Amazon.
