PB Tech - All Stores are now "Express", and you can't browse them...

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#2897199 5-Apr-2022 13:58

Most of the things I and probably a massive portion of their customer base/target market would buy from PB Tech are ideal candidates for click & collect or deliver; and PB Tech's stores were absolutely awful to shop in anyway, so this doesn't impact me. I can see less retail sales from the mums and dads and grandparents of the world, but lets be honest - they were probably going to Noel Leeming/Harvey Norman/JB Hifi anyway.

PB Tech will obviously miss out on some sales through this no doubt temporary change, but probably less than you might think. As an ecommerce person the one thing that would worry me is that in the business I work for, our click & collect customers tend to buy an average of $20 of extra stuff (ie things they didn't order online and just saw when they went in) when they collect their online order, so obviously if PB are anything like us that's a pretty significant chunk of change to go missing.

quickymart

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#2897208 5-Apr-2022 14:34

Why were their shops so terrible to go to?

Inphinity

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#2897226 5-Apr-2022 15:32

quickymart:

Why were their shops so terrible to go to?

Wasn't my comment originally, but I agree with it - whether my reasons are the same or not I have no idea.

Generally, they felt poorly laid out, cramped, and uninviting, and half the stock was locked away so you had to hunt down a staff member to even look at it. It used to be really good, but deteriorated over the years, perhaps due to growing theft and other such concerns.

elpenguino

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#2897227 5-Apr-2022 15:40

quickymart:

Why were their shops so terrible to go to?

Pre covid I realised I need to avoid their shops on weekends due to the customers who tie up cashiers with lots of questions. It's very frustrating when you have the thing you want to buy in your hot little hand but you can't pay for it and leave because a customer is performing research that TBH could be better done online.

So, not enough cashiers on weekends is their problem or alternatively, not separating cashiers from customer service staff.

But now they're queuing customers on the footpath I'm avoiding them full stop.

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neb

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#2897271 5-Apr-2022 18:10

Geektastic:
B&H is similar, although they do have display stock you can get the assistants to show you first. once you have ordered and paid, your order is bagged up in the bowels of the shop and travels by a marvellous mechanised system to the collection point. Once you have paid you take your ticket along to the collection point, hand it over and get your stuff in return.

B&H is a weird experience, it's designed entirely for the convenience of the staff rather than the convenience of the customer. You go there because they have a vast range and generally beat anyone else's prices, not for the shopping experience.

KiwiSurfer

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#2897292 5-Apr-2022 19:39

Interesting to see the comments against browsing in this thread. For me I find some purchases I prefer to just research online and then buy from whatever online retailer is the cheapest--which is not always PB Tech. But there are certain purchases I prefer to go in store and see things for myself and for that I liked the pre-covid Manukau, Penrose and Queen St stores. I also read with interest the comments about the cramped stores--that was certainty not the case for Penrose nor Manukau. They offered a better experience than many of their more expensive competitors. Even Queen St wasn't too bad but then again they didn't stock everything so it wasn't too 'full'.

I find the sympathy for their staffing issues remarkable. In Manukau, every other shop I've been to in the last month has operated normally or as close to normality as possible. Generally I find many shops have signs up saying 'please be kind we are short-staffed' but generally I've not seen much impact from the so-called short staffing issues. PB Tech is literally the only place I've visited in the past month which seem to be experiencing the staffing issues to such extremes they have to close their store to walk-in browsers entirely. Either they've had very bad luck with staffing issues (which I doubt given things around here has improved a lot lately) or they're just using COVID as a smokescreen to get away with changes they've really wanted to make anyway.

I wish them luck for their change of strategy. If I have to shop online then might as well just go elsewhere.

Geektastic

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#2897308 5-Apr-2022 20:07

neb:
Geektastic:
B&H is similar, although they do have display stock you can get the assistants to show you first. once you have ordered and paid, your order is bagged up in the bowels of the shop and travels by a marvellous mechanised system to the collection point. Once you have paid you take your ticket along to the collection point, hand it over and get your stuff in return.

B&H is a weird experience, it's designed entirely for the convenience of the staff rather than the convenience of the customer. You go there because they have a vast range and generally beat anyone else's prices, not for the shopping experience.

It’s pretty unique, certainly!

I quite like their eccentricity.

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MadEngineer

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#2897309 5-Apr-2022 20:11

Inphinity:

quickymart:

Why were their shops so terrible to go to?

Wasn't my comment originally, but I agree with it - whether my reasons are the same or not I have no idea.

Generally, they felt poorly laid out, cramped, and uninviting, and half the stock was locked away so you had to hunt down a staff member to even look at it. It used to be really good, but deteriorated over the years, perhaps due to growing theft and other such concerns.

Their Palmy store is the opposite extreme but not sure I like that layout much either

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Kyanar

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#2897313 5-Apr-2022 20:20

Geektastic:

It’s pretty unique, certainly!

I quite like their eccentricity.

It's really not unique. Like I said, it's exactly like the Umart chain in Australia, who even go so far as to surcharge you if you try to order products in-store.

Dunnersfella

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#2897364 6-Apr-2022 00:14

The thing is... I completely understand PB's rationale behind their current approach.

On the other hand, their store-craft for organising displays, spending money on displays (or getting suppliers to) and having working demo's is pretty woeful.

Their approach of cheap and chearful is great, but they will never be the cheapest in an increasingly connected world where you can pick up items from overseas / direct from manufacturers etc.

So where do they sit currently?

Well, they have a host of expensive real estate serving as mini-warehouses through out the country, mainly in Auckland.

If the staff are commission based they'll be gone very soon... and that's when the issues really kick in.

Wellingtondave

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#2897373 6-Apr-2022 01:55

Dunnersfella:

If the staff are commission based they'll be gone very soon... and that's when the issues really kick in.

Took two of them about 10 minutes to find a $9 widget from the shelves that I wanted (showing in stock so I went in asking for item X) whilst I waited at the counter as per their instructions.

They can't be making much doing that.

neb

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#2897374 6-Apr-2022 02:17

Wellingtondave:
Took two of them about 10 minutes to find a $9 widget from the shelves that I wanted (showing in stock so I went in asking for item X) whilst I waited at the counter as per their instructions.

What's really painful with that interface is when they have a dozen slightly different but all more or less OK versions of the same thing and you can't go to the shelf and check which one of the alternatives (slightly different colour, slightly shorter/longer, slightly more expensive) is the best tradeoff.

Goosey

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#2897381 6-Apr-2022 06:38

Great Scots, shop staff having to fetch your request of goods?

- wasn't so long ago that this was the norm in every store everywhere.....

it made for better service.... the staff got to know the products quick smart.

Agree with others... nothing to see here.... nothing more than attempting to ease the pain of short staffing levels.

quickymart

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#2897384 6-Apr-2022 07:26

Goosey: it made for better service.... the staff got to know the products quick smart.

Except that isn't always the case here, it seems.

Handsomedan

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#2897424 6-Apr-2022 08:59

I was at PB Glenfield yesterday and apart from the fact that the two security guards on the door were largely unemployed, the separately-manned Click and Collect desk was unmanned and therefore caused confusion, as "Click and Collect can't be collected from in the store", (that's what the security lads told me and given their size, I wasn't going to argue).

After much faffing around and being ordered to stand in the line outside the door (there was nobody else there at this point), I was finally told to go into the shop (there was one other customer) and speak to a staffer. That staffer then told me I should be outside. I repeated that the window was unmanned and there was a closed sign up. He looked more than a little annoyed, instigated an investigation into the unmanning of the desk outside and finally agreed to take my order number. Off he went into the bowels of the (now poorly set-out and largely shambolic) store, to collect my (you guessed it) two $10 cables.

10 min later he came back looking frustrated and re-looked at the computer. Then he disappeared again. A lady came over with my cables and asked for ID, printed the receipt and then the man returned muttering in a language I didn't understand. He looked surprised that I had been served. They had an argument. She pointed at me, he waved his hands dismissively. He was still annoyed. I wasn't sure if I was allowed to leave at this point. Then the lady said "Thank you" and I left.

So..TL;DR - Did Click & Collect. Took longer than if I'd been able to browse for the goods myself and took up 4 staff's time. Wasn't a fun experience. Will likely shop elsewhere and pay more for better service.

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