Dick Smith in store decline

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4086 posts

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#1449264 12-Dec-2015 17:15

Hammerer: It's funny how some people who've made a point that they avoid the DSE retail stores are keen to point out how badly DSE is doing.

From the general tone of the thread I'd got the impression that they'd be haemorrhaging a lot worse than they are. IMO that small profit is quite respectable. The stores do look quite bare but I've seen a lot of people spending there. This is the case even in Lower Hutt where JB HiFi just opened a big new store.

To be fair, the tiny profit is less of a return than you'd get if you liquidated the company and lived off the interest...
The issue is the slashing of the projected profits (pie in the sky stuff, apparently), the massive decline in share price, no obvious plan to fix things - as costs have all been cut to the bone, leaving very little leverage for the company to succeed against some well healed bricks and morton competitors... and more nimble on-line competition.

Behodar

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#1449265 12-Dec-2015 17:15

I've just emptied my cart and tried again from scratch, and now it's not even finding the Whakatane shop when I enter my postcode.

I give up.

richms

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#1449267 12-Dec-2015 17:19

Not ended up over on the .com.au site have you? THat happened to me clicking around on links last time and I was a bit annoyed when I went to check out.

Richard rich.ms

Behodar

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#1449269 12-Dec-2015 17:21

Nope, definitely .co.nz. It's finding Rotorua, Tauranga, etc. Maybe the local one went bust at 5 pm :P

richms

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#1449274 12-Dec-2015 17:36

The site is in a mess anyway - lists games still that go to a page not found when you click on them etc.

Richard rich.ms

MadEngineer

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#1449278 12-Dec-2015 18:02

with my last purchase the box to enter my credit card details was blank. their site is craptastic

You're not on Atlantis anymore, Duncan Idaho.

Rikkitic

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#1449281 12-Dec-2015 18:07

Same kinds of experiences. Definitely agree.

Plesse igmore amd axxept applogies in adbance fir anu typos

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mattwnz

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#1449316 12-Dec-2015 18:53

Hammerer: It's funny how some people who've made a point that they avoid the DSE retail stores are keen to point out how badly DSE is doing.

From the general tone of the thread I'd got the impression that they'd be haemorrhaging a lot worse than they are. IMO that small profit is quite respectable. The stores do look quite bare but I've seen a lot of people spending there. This is the case even in Lower Hutt where JB HiFi just opened a big new store.

When I went to JB Hifi Lower Hutt I didn't see too many people buying. They do have a lot of higher margin stuff, such as more obscure music, records etc, as well as cases, headphones etc. Things aren't really any cheaper than you can get elsewhere, but the way they write pricing in a handwritten style gives the impression thatyou are getting a good deal. I use an Apple TV as an example, there was a red and yellow discounted price tag on it for $298, but under this the white sticker price was $299. So it's a saving of $1. I wonder how many people lift up the sale price sticker to see what it's normal price is.

The staff in the DSE told me that they were just clearing out old stock, and new stock was arriving in the new year. I hope that is the case because I don;'t want to see another empty store. To be fair, alot of what is being sold off is older stuff, that has been hanging around.

Dunnersfella

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#1449328 12-Dec-2015 19:32

mattwnz:
Hammerer: It's funny how some people who've made a point that they avoid the DSE retail stores are keen to point out how badly DSE is doing.

From the general tone of the thread I'd got the impression that they'd be haemorrhaging a lot worse than they are. IMO that small profit is quite respectable. The stores do look quite bare but I've seen a lot of people spending there. This is the case even in Lower Hutt where JB HiFi just opened a big new store.

When I went to JB Hifi Lower Hutt I didn't see too many people buying. They do have a lot of higher margin stuff, such as more obscure music, records etc, as well as cases, headphones etc. Things aren't really any cheaper than you can get elsewhere, but the way they write pricing in a handwritten style gives the impression thatyou are getting a good deal. I use an Apple TV as an example, there was a red and yellow discounted price tag on it for $298, but under this the white sticker price was $299. So it's a saving of $1. I wonder how many people lift up the sale price sticker to see what it's normal price is.

The staff in the DSE told me that they were just clearing out old stock, and new stock was arriving in the new year. I hope that is the case because I don;'t want to see another empty store. To be fair, alot of what is being sold off is older stuff, that has been hanging around.

The market is incredibly tight, everyone is PriceSpy'ing the beejeebus out of each other - so no one is really that much cheaper.
Sure, every company will have its deals, but they also have products where they cream a lot of margin.
If they didn't, they'd be broke.

richms

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#1449357 12-Dec-2015 20:02

Website is clearly not being maintained properly.

Its sending emails that look like this abortion.

Richard rich.ms

nigelj

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#1449393 12-Dec-2015 21:49

Dunnersfella: DSE financials have just been released for NZ.

http://www.business.govt.nz/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/37602/22113960/entityFilingRequirement?backurl=/companies/app/ui/pages/companies/37602/documents?backurl=%2Fcompanies%2Fapp%2Fui%2Fpages%2Fcompanies%2Fsearch%3Fmode%3Dstandard%26type%3Dentities%26q%3D37602

$179m turnover, 1.5m profit... that's under 1% margin.
But it's better than losing money.

But section 18... "As at 28 June 2015, Dick Smith Group has partially drawdown debt of AUD$70,500,000 (29 June 2014: Nil).", while that is shared through DS as a whole, can't be that good for business in the current apparent state.

sbiddle

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#1449601 13-Dec-2015 12:06

Their actual gross profit isn't bad - but it's their debt which is their real issue.

I just got back from Queensgate and went to the store in there to grab some batteries. It really looked like a store on the verge of shutting it's doors with empty bins everywhere ticketed for clearance stock and empty shelves. Ticketing was extremely poor with lots of (what I presume are special products) with no ticketing and large quantities of what can really only be described as worthless junk - phone cases, tablet cases and chargers with the old Apple connectors.

I don't think you can put the demise of the company down to any one thing, but one thing is clear. Woolworths were smart operators and only sold the business because their multiple attempts to turn it around failed. Alarm bells should have started ringing within months of private equity taking over and exclaiming they'd turned the business around - but instead of alarm bells there were simply people lapping up the talk and then investing in the float.

Like lots of big business I often wonder whether those running the company (or investing in it) ever actually look at the business from the perspective of the average customer and form their own views about whether the direction the business is taking is a good one or not.

rossnixon

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#1449662 13-Dec-2015 13:59

I purchased an external HDD online (click & collect) last week. I waited several days thinking maybe they were very busy, then phoned them. "No we have no record of your purchase. Please check your bank account, as perhaps the payment was reversed". Yep - thanks for *not* advising me!!!

It was a very good (below cost I would think) bargain - well it would have been. Maybe the staff snapped them up after they noticed lots of orders for them?

Dratsab

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#1449719 13-Dec-2015 16:39

I was talking with a Dick Smith manager at a store near my work. He was telling me, employees he knew in other stores had told him their managers had hoarded all the good stuff so employees got first pick. Friends got second look. Hearsay, but an interesting thing to mention.

reven

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#1449735 13-Dec-2015 17:42

3rd time I went into a DSE in the last week or so because of the amazing sale... after the initial spend of $15 on two PS3 games for my son, I havent bought anything. Their prices are still way overpriced on most things.

there amazing sale on a 2tb external hdd is noel leeming special price as well which has been that price for a while now and ends 31 december, so nothing to get excited over. took things up to the container to get a price check on them, and yup still expensive.

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