Dick Smith in Continual Sale Mode

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#1096994 28-Jul-2014 11:13

DSE lost me as a customer a long time ago, they used to be an actual electronics store and I used to enjoy browsing and shopping there.

I stopped taking DSE seriously when they stopped stocking actual electronics. You know: resistors, capacitors, transformers etc. Mind you these days you can get most of what you'd need off of ebay in bulk much cheaper than a store here could provide. Although the QC isn't great it's often good enough for a hobbiest like myself and in emergencies I just head down to Jaycar.

Kopkiwi

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#1097169 28-Jul-2014 15:20

Haven't shopped at DSE in years, their product range is rubbish, their sales staff no absolutely nothing and their pricing is higher than average with no room for movement.

MikeB4

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#1097177 28-Jul-2014 15:26

My order of preference for appliance shops etc would be

Noel Leeming (especially Lower Hutt there is one guy in there that is really good)
Harvey Normans
JB HiFi ( just wish they would turn down or off the music, makes it very hard to talk to anyone)

I seldom go into LV Martins, Smith City or DSE

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

Lizard1977

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#1097189 28-Jul-2014 15:42

KiwiNZ: My order of preference for appliance shops etc would be

Noel Leeming (especially Lower Hutt there is one guy in there that is really good)
Harvey Normans
JB HiFi ( just wish they would turn down or off the music, makes it very hard to talk to anyone)

I seldom go into LV Martins, Smith City or DSE

I have a funny story about Noel Leemings this weekend:

I went in to pick up a Macbook Air, price matching the 10% deal that DSE had. While chit chatting with the sales person, he commented "we're a better store than DSE." He then proceeded to demonstrate how wrong that statement was (not worse, but definitely not better) when he:

1. Claimed there was no product in stock (there was)
2. Claimed the DSE price was less than I was claiming (wrong product)
3. Incorrectly identified an 11" MBA as a 13" MBA
4. Incorrectly identified a 2013 model as a 2014 model.

Eventually, after showing him how to use DSE's website to find the particular product that I was after, and matching that to the specs and model number that was on the display ticket he was holding, he managed (after 5 mins) to find that it was in stock after all. In the end, I came back the following day and spoke to someone different, who verified the deal and managed to pluck one from the stock room in 2 minutes. Purchase completed 90 seconds later.

mattwnz

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#1097203 28-Jul-2014 16:07

I find DSE website better and more modern than Noel Leemings, including better search where product images popup as you type, and it is just a better design. The whole sale thing is what many retailers are now doing. The simple fact is that many people now don't buy much unless the item is on sale, or the person thinks they are getting a good deal. In the electronics market, pretty much all of them do sales rotations.
Some retailers in other sectors never have sales, and advertise, everyday low prices, although they are usually in the less competitive areas.

DarthKermit

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#1097225 28-Jul-2014 16:27

KiwiNZ: I seldom go into LV Martins, Smith City or DSE

I don't recall ever going into LV Martin. The nearest one to me is in Paraparaumu. Do they have any products to make them stand out from the crowd?

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MikeB4

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#1097245 28-Jul-2014 17:13

DarthKermit:
KiwiNZ: I seldom go into LV Martins, Smith City or DSE

I don't recall ever going into LV Martin. The nearest one to me is in Paraparaumu. Do they have any products to make them stand out from the crowd?

Short answer ....No

But one of their stores has (had maybe) a staff member that stood out from the crowd but not in a good way. Would have been the most arrogant #@$*& I have had the misfortune to encounter.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

mattwnz

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#1097249 28-Jul-2014 17:17

DarthKermit:
KiwiNZ: I seldom go into LV Martins, Smith City or DSE

I don't recall ever going into LV Martin. The nearest one to me is in Paraparaumu. Do they have any products to make them stand out from the crowd?

They used to be the main place people used to buy electronic goods from. I must say I haven't been into the lower hutt one in many years, probably not since it changed ownership, even though I do go to the harvey normans upstairs from it. They do occasionally have some good sales on though, but if you show the offer to a competitior they will usually match it and give you flybuys.

allan

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#1097510 28-Jul-2014 22:04

KiwiNZ: But one of their stores has (had maybe) a staff member that stood out from the crowd but not in a good way. Would have been the most arrogant #@$*& I have had the misfortune to encounter.

I think I met him - haha. May not have been the same guy, but there was a guy at their Ngauranga George store who was so rude and arrogant to my wife, I wondered how they could keep employing him.

Dunnersfella

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#1097511 28-Jul-2014 22:07

My pick...

DSE stores in NZ are closed.
Noel Leeming goes through their re-branding and 'Noel Leeming's @ The Warehouse' stores pop up as the electronics area of the Red Sheds... commission based sales staff in the Warehouse slowly become the norm. However, most will be employed by Samsung / Sony / Acer as 'stores within stores... within stores'.
JB's increase their numbers / reach slowly with larger stores, away from malls.
Harvey Norman's does the same.
LV's / Smiths continue for a while, Powerstore is closed to consolidate their marketing costs...
Amazon launches in Aussie, many small NZ based retailers die due to this, retailers move away from items that are easily shipped out of warehouses across the Tasman and focus on lounge suites / double door fridges.

My $0.10.

eracode

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#1097585 29-Jul-2014 01:42

KiwiNZ:

... JB HiFi ( just wish they would turn down or off the music, makes it very hard to talk to anyone) ...

Yep and while they're at it they could get a website that looks less like a comic book and that has useful info on it. I have always really liked JB but it's hard to find out from their site what they do and don't sell.

Sometimes I just sit and think. Other times I just sit.

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sbiddle

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#1097611 29-Jul-2014 07:25

Dunnersfella:
Amazon launches in Aussie, many small NZ based retailers die due to this, retailers move away from items that are easily shipped out of warehouses across the Tasman and focus on lounge suites / double door fridges.

This is the exact market Trademe see growth in, however retailers are refusing to pay the cut they're wanting.

I never use to be a big user of Amazon. Now it's become a common place to go shopping.

MikeB4

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#1097638 29-Jul-2014 08:28

I still try to shop at bricks and mortar stores especially those that pay tax in NZ . I don't want to see them disappear or we will end up with ugly abandoned malls etc that one sees in the US and very high unemployment.

Here is a crazy notion, lets give peace a chance.

trig42

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#1097640 29-Jul-2014 08:39

eracode:
KiwiNZ:

... JB HiFi ( just wish they would turn down or off the music, makes it very hard to talk to anyone) ...

Yep and while they're at it they could get a website that looks less like a comic book and that has useful info on it. I have always really liked JB but it's hard to find out from their site what they do and don't sell.

JB Australia launched a new website (I think at the start of July) https://www.jbhifi.com.au/ (does it remind you of another retailers? It does me).

Hopefully NZ gets it rolled out sooner rather than later.

richms

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#1097655 29-Jul-2014 08:50

allan:
KiwiNZ: But one of their stores has (had maybe) a staff member that stood out from the crowd but not in a good way. Would have been the most arrogant #@$*& I have had the misfortune to encounter.

I think I met him - haha. May not have been the same guy, but there was a guy at their Ngauranga George store who was so rude and arrogant to my wife, I wondered how they could keep employing him.

Because it is so hard to fire people with all the bs employment law even if you have stacks of complaints you still have to offer training and assistance and otherwise waste time keeping them on doing more brand damage to your company.

Richard rich.ms

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