Dick Smith up for sale

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#575588 31-Jan-2012 22:59

Skolink:
johnr: I asked for a variable capacitor once in the Takapuna store and the sales person advised me their was no such thing and I must mean variable resistor!

I went to the components section found the variable capacitor and left

Serves them right you didn't pay ;) Would have been a good opportunity to say "see! see! A variable CAPACITOR". I usually note down the product code for things I think they won't be able to find.

I've often had to bite my tongue overhearing advice being given to a customer. Occasionally I've spoken up.

The good thing about DSE though is that they are in alot of smaller towns, great when you've forgotten a cable or something you really need. And I do like wandering around looking at the gadgets on display.

It sounded like he did buy it though. Yes I have also heard them telling cusomters something that wasn't correct, and I really wanted to correct them, but it probably wouldn't have been appreciated.

johnr

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#575589 31-Jan-2012 23:04

Yes I did pay

tdgeek

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#575593 31-Jan-2012 23:24

Semigeek

]Apple: Have it their way
Android: Have it your way

Could not help this sorry!

Apple: Make if for the user
Android: Make it

Chainsaw

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#575717 1-Feb-2012 09:59

Harvey Norman, Noel Leeming, Bond and Bond, didn't have printable CD's (HN salesman tried to suggest I buy a whole lot of flash drives), Dick Smith had printable CD's - Yay, and printable DVD's - Yay. Even if they are "Dick Smith" brand.

They still have stuff the big boys don't have.

Satch

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#575812 1-Feb-2012 12:12

old3eyes: Sell it to the Chinese. Most of what they sell is made there..

I wouldn't think the Chinese sell anything that is made at DSE... :p

(English is awesome!)

freitasm

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#575814 1-Feb-2012 12:15

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#575817 1-Feb-2012 12:21

freitasm: Like this?

OMG. Runoff from the industrial process? real johnie walker is bad enough.....!

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stevenz

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#575868 1-Feb-2012 13:34

mattwnz:
michaelmurfy: Farmers Group will probably buy it, they seem to be taking over everything else..

I believe that is owned by a NZ family owned company, so in a way it would be good if they did for the NZ economy, then the profits would stay in NZ. But I doubt it will be cheap to buy, and it may not be a sustainable business in it's current form. Since they changed their website to a new dumbed down version, missing the realtime search as you type, I haven't purchased anything from them.

They're owned by the Pascoes family afaik.

Maybe they'll get rid of their meaningless "Techxperts" phrase which under the constraints of the English language is not pronounced as they want it to be.

They won't go back to being like Jaycar, there's no useful profit to be made in selling $2 components, especially given the tiny number of people who go the DIY route. Even Jaycar aren't much like they used to be, selling more and more toys and stereo gear. More power to them as long as I can still find a resistor etc. when I need one though, but I don't think there's enough demand for that much competition. One store in a 10Km radius selling components is going to do a lot better than when there's at least 5 others selling the same obscure things.

JB HiFi will be killing DSE in the areas where they compete, DSE would be better to lose those areas and concentrate on areas where they're more profitable. Given that they seem to be directly competing in virtually every department that DSE has, that could be tricky though.

@KnightNZ

mattwnz

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#575871 1-Feb-2012 13:38

stevenz:
mattwnz:
michaelmurfy: Farmers Group will probably buy it, they seem to be taking over everything else..

I believe that is owned by a NZ family owned company, so in a way it would be good if they did for the NZ economy, then the profits would stay in NZ. But I doubt it will be cheap to buy, and it may not be a sustainable business in it's current form. Since they changed their website to a new dumbed down version, missing the realtime search as you type, I haven't purchased anything from them.

They're owned by the Pascoes family afaik.

Maybe they'll get rid of their meaningless "Techxperts" phrase which under the constraints of the English language is not pronounced as they want it to be.

They won't go back to being like Jaycar, there's no useful profit to be made in selling $2 components, especially given the tiny number of people who go the DIY route. Even Jaycar aren't much like they used to be, selling more and more toys and stereo gear. More power to them as long as I can still find a resistor etc. when I need one though, but I don't think there's enough demand for that much competition. One store in a 10Km radius selling components is going to do a lot better than when there's at least 5 others selling the same obscure things.

Yeah but the emargins on those small components is big and does it really cost that much to have the trays of components? Not only that, people shopping for those bits may then buy something else. It is about getting people in the store. The same thing happened in building and hardware where these retailer have also become dumbed down, they used to sell all the screws, nuts and bolt individually, but now their selection is poor, and those they do sell are in packets.

crackrdbycracku

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#575876 1-Feb-2012 13:49

So can anybody come up with a good reason for doing something other than selling off the remaining stock, making the staff redundant, shutting the doors and that's the end of Dick Smith?

The only unique asset I can think of that they have is the brand and even that is probably not worth the asking price. Brand value is extremely hard to quantify and sellers always think it is higher than buyers.

They have a network of shops; so what. There is plenty of retail space for lease everywhere, the tills and pay terminals can be got other places.
They have relationships with suppliers, which can be set up. Suppliers want their stuff sold, they don't care who does the selling.
They have trained techxperts, enough already said on that.
They have house band products which are rubbish, batteries included.

This is not very encouraging.
If I was JB Hi Fi I would get a map of the DSE stores, wait for Dick Smith to die and look for retail floor space to lease in nearby locations.

Why pay the cost of buying it when it will die for free?

Didn't anybody tell you I was a hacker?

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#575881 1-Feb-2012 13:59

ZollyMonsta:
simon14: Should be more like Jaycar again.

+1

If I want consumer goods, I'll go to one of the other chains.

Bring back DSE with kits, components, wires and books... leave the consumer electronics to the others.

Woolworths never really understood that business model. I would have run training classes for school kids in electronics - either directly or by working with a community of enthusiasts.....(though anything to do with kids these days seems to need vetting for paedophiles.....)

Woolworths didn't really have a clue what business DSE was really in....

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#575882 1-Feb-2012 14:01

mattwnz: It sounded like he did buy it though. Yes I have also heard them telling cusomters something that wasn't correct, and I really wanted to correct them, but it probably wouldn't have been appreciated.

I used to regularly correct them and you're right it wasn't appreciated by the sales guy. I had few complaints from the customers though.

Especially when the sales guy is trying to upsell them to something they don't need when the thing they do need is sitting right there in plain view at half the price.

One guy mumbled a few words at me one day and I told him if he was doing his job properly I wouldn't have to say anything.

FT.

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#575886 1-Feb-2012 14:04

Yep when you are comparing DSE growth against JBHiFi its clear to see JB has canabalised DSE's market as shown in the this stuff article.

http://www.stuff.co.nz/business/industries/6301690/Speculation-over-future-of-Dick-Smith-stores

Dick Smith had a sales issue, the report said, and cited competitor JB Hi-Fi and its superior performance. JB Hi-Fi had just 157 stores, a difference of around 200 per cent yet it's sales per store of A$18.8m versus Dick Smith's A$3.9m reflected a "massive gap''.

"In profit terms Dick Smith's Australian and New Zealand ebit has fallen from A$64m in FY06 to just A$22m in FY11,'' said the report.

"In contrast, JB Hi-Fi's earnings have grown from A$45m in FY06 to A$196m in FY11.''

Cyril

stevenz

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#575887 1-Feb-2012 14:05

They have house band products which are rubbish, batteries included.

Actually, I've found most of the DSE branded stuff to be pretty reasonable. I got a DSE router which turned out to be an extremely reliable rebranded TP-Link unit. Given it's a house brand most of it is still over-priced, but there's some gems to be had.

@KnightNZ

jbard

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#575888 1-Feb-2012 14:06

stevenz:
They have house band products which are rubbish, batteries included.

Actually, I've found most of the DSE branded stuff to be pretty reasonable. I got a DSE router which turned out to be an extremely reliable rebranded TP-Link unit. Given it's a house brand most of it is still over-priced, but there's some gems to be had.

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