Reply to: PC World rip off merchants

[cojak]

I lurve the shops on Tottingham Court Rahd - I go into the shops and stare at the shelves for hours, until I ask if they've got a short usb cable and the little Indian chap says the shortest they've got is 1.9m.

Sigh...

[expat]

A much better bet is RS Components , especially for things like cables and peripherals.

My goodness! Good old Radiospares still going?

[OwlHoot]

Had to walk into PC World yesterday as I was short of SATA hard drive power converter (PSU had old style sockets)

PC World is for lazy ignorant chavs who can't be bothered to research or buy online or find a small PC shop (although I must admit to buying a few bits and bobs there over the years, including a couple of PCs - but I curse my laziness and ignorant chavishness each time I walk through the door!)

A much better bet is RS Components , especially for things like cables and peripherals.

[Francko]

"test please delete?"

Is this supposed to be a very long thread with lots of useless posts just to help us increasing our quota?

[Churchill]

Only an idiot would consider shopping there. Alas, that is where you went wrong Alexei!


Now did I ever tell you the old story about these hostages??

Yes SB, you did. And guess what, you were spouting tulipe about things you knew nothing about then, too.

[Fungus]

I just love the way that these threads go.. they start off with ATW moaning about the price of sata cables (what ever the **** they are) in PC world and go on to disecting the whole theory of economics, monopolies and the Dixon group....

Glad I didn't start a topic on the price of a pint

I think someone should come along, grab you by the ear, and pull you away from the forum. She's done it before. Not knowing what a SATA cable is. I mean. What is the world coming to.

[AtW]

I guess you just have to ask. Manufacturers like this idea of having different model numbers for the same item, it makes them seem bigger.

Tim I worked with a number of people who worked for Dixons - the reason manufacturers would setup new SKU just for Dixons was because of Dixons twisting their hands so much that they had to give them ridiculous discounts noone else will ever get, that's why they would setup a special SKU for products they would sell to Dixons.

[tim123]

Do you know what it takes to get a supplier to setup special SKU of the same product just for a given company?

I guess you just have to ask. Manufacturers like this idea of having different model numbers for the same item, it makes them seem bigger.

OK so there's a cost, but the items in question are large and relatively expensive, the extra cost of rebranding is tiny, compared to the other costs.

tim

[~Craig~]

I've actually bought a few things from PC World, their 'web exclusives' are really good. You order through the website and pickup at the store.

I bought a linksys wireless router and a belkin wireless card far cheaper than i could have got it from ebuyer, plus i picked it up an hour later. It is true that their normal instore prices are a ripoff.

[n3il123]

I just love the way that these threads go.. they start off with ATW moaning about the price of sata cables (what ever the **** they are) in PC world and go on to disecting the whole theory of economics, monopolies and the Dixon group....

Glad I didn't start a topic on the price of a pint

[AtW]

Unfortunately the free market is not just a consumerist control mechanism for ensuring low prices!

But there is no free market here - Dixons is a monopoly! They barely escaped official investigation by relevant Govt agency!

I am certainly for free market, but I don't like non-free market of monopolies!

Say in DYI I can easily say that there is B&Q, HomeBase and someone else - they are all big and clear competitors.

Say in supermarkets we have Tesco, ASDA, Sainsbury and Morrisons - all fighting for customers, they are clearly competitors.

But name me any other similar to Dixons/PC World shop on high street? There is not one! That's why Dixons get huge sales and that's why suppliers have to create special SKUs just for them!

[woo]

I'd rather go to pc world than dabs.com

[expat]

Main Entry: mo·nop·o·ly
1 : exclusive ownership through legal privilege, command of supply, or concerted action
2 : exclusive possession or control
3 : a commodity controlled by one party
4 : one that has a monopoly

There is no legal privilege, there is no command of supply and there is no concerted action.

The prices, including the prices at which suppliers sell goods to Dixons, are regulated by the free market.

Trouble is AtW has a demand-side idea of the market, whereas we from free-market countries have a supply-side understanding of the market.

We think it's a free market if people are not actually prevented from competing by government, whereas he seems to think that it's not a free market if it doesn't produce low prices.

Unfortunately the free market is not just a consumerist control mechanism for ensuring low prices!

[AtW]

Thus, there is no command of supply.

Do you know what it takes to get a supplier to setup special SKU of the same product just for a given company?

[Skeptical]

Command of supply happens when a company owns for example all oil refineries in a country, restricting access to oil other than through this company. Dixons in no way controls the supply of silicon, computer chips or hard drives. In fact they buy all of their wares from other companies. There are no forces preventing you from going to the same suppliers and buying the goods yourself. Thus, there is no command of supply.