Ignored in a bike shop

[mrjemm]

Ah, the eternal vicious circle.

Shop online and the nice shops can't survive, so the bookies, phone shops, pound shops, iceland, subway and (un)lush proliferate, which then of course deter anyone from going into town. Except those that only go there to smoke and scream at kids, or be screaming kids. Or parade their staffies.

Or go to your LBS to try on/fiddle with something before buying it online, and then complain when the LBS doesn't stock what you want.

[Brennan]

I'd much rather use a good shop online than a bad one locally. I've got the usual multi-chain shops which don't really cater for cyclists, they exist it seems to sell cheap items to people who think owning a bike is cool for 5 minutes and then give up because it's hard work. Both my neighbours bought bikes a couple of years ago, and gave up within a month.

[thirdcrank]

I don't think that the high street has been killed by online shopping; town centres - and that includes a lot more than shops - suffer because they cannot hope to provide the parking demanded by people who drive everywhere. Many of the specialist shops that people claim to cherish tended not to be on the high streets anyway, but rather in smaller shopping centres parades. Many of the true specialists have thrived since the arrival of internet shopping since it enables them to reach a much wider market; sometimes directly, sometimes under the umbrella of an organisation like Amazon Market Place. The reatilers most hurt by the internet are those selling pretty much the same stuff as countless other shops, where comparisons can easily be made online and where visiting the shop brings little more than hassle.

IMO service in shops is something different again.

[Mark1978]

When I bought my bike I did it backwards. Did all my research online but then went into the LBS to order the one I wanted.

[jezer]

I see little future for most retailers on the high street, not just for cycling requisites but for most things. The internet offers a much wider choice, and is so much simpler to use than physically visiting a shop, which usually cannot stock as much. It is rather like using email rather than posting a letter. I think we must all accept progress, and yes I am being serious

[Mark1978]

I see little future for most retailers on the high street, not just for cycling requisites but for most things. The internet offers a much wider choice, and is so much simpler to use than physically visiting a shop, which usually cannot stock as much. It is rather like using email rather than posting a letter. I think we must all accept progress, and yes I am being serious

No, you're right. There is still a place however for the supermarkets and out of town shopping centres as they have the scale to offer sufficient choice. But yes; the days of doing your shopping in town centres is pretty much gone.

[axel_knutt]

Staff attitude and competence were the most common causes of complaint

[MikewsMITH2]

As a regular Amazon user (I have a Prime account), as I hate looking round shops, the ignorant shop assistants, car park hassle etc. I have increasingly noticed the increasing prevalence of fake and counterfeit goods sold via their platform. This Christmas we received 3 pieces of fakery. Amazon are very good about it and refund the money within hours.

The most outrageous one was a cable for of £30+ where the photo was of the correct item and featured the manufacturers logo. The item that arrived was of poor quality and not in original packaging and looked slightly different. I checked on on eBay out of curiosity and the identical one was available from various sellers at under £6! If I was prepared to wait a few days for deliver from Hong Kong, it could be had for 99 pence. I complained via Amazon and the seller said it was a "packing error" and if i returned it they would ship me the correct genuine item "but it wouldn't be in original packaging". I returned it immediately, but still hadn't received the replacement (of course they didn't have any kosher ones did they?), escalated the complaint via Amazon's A-Z warranty and was refunded in a couple of hours.

Another was an iPhone case that my son got for his mate. It was a reasonable forgery, but my son has a genuine one himself and noticed the difference. Amazon shipped out a genuine one from their own stock.

I think it can be quite hard to get genuine stuff off eBay, but that is expected now, so the rip off merchants have switched to Amazon. I am now reluctant to buy from Amazon "partners" and always pay with PayPal if I can.

At least if you buy in a shop you can examine the goods first.

[thirdcrank]

From Axel knut's link:

Staff attitude and competence were the most common causes of complaint,

I think that the way a large part of the retail trade is organised contributes to this. Once upon a time, many people working in shops worked full-time, although they were long hours. It was also much more common for somebody to stay in the same type of business much longer. eg My mother left school just before her 14th birthday and began work in a paint and wallpaper shop in the centre of Leeds. At first she was a general dogsbody (including being required to perform cleaning and child care duties at the owner's house) but eventually she became a shop manageress (when such people existed) so with a break for the war (when her retail experience meant she was put in charge of a till at the Thorpe Arch munitions factory, followed by having me and my younger bro, she worked selling paint and wallpaper till she was made redundant in her mid 50's. The firm she worked for also had its own interior decorating business and there wasn't much she didn't know about her subject.

Typically, people in shops work part time - one result being that the Monday morning discussion about what happened over the weekend has been replaced by frequent update sessions as different shifts start and finish. Staff are hired and fired for de-skilled jobs like checkout operating - the barcode decides everything. Staff training is minimised and sticking with checkout operators, the till reminds them which stupid remarks they should make "Thank you for waiting. Do you needhelp with your packing?" (Even though you have only bought a packet of Polos. In a fast-changing world, the staff often have less knowledge of many products that a well-informed customer. Staff loyalty isn't well-recognised and even paternalistic employers like M&S have cut back on staff benefits.

At the same time everybody has become a lot more aware of their rights - both real and imagined.

[Mark1978]

With the Internet the need to go into a shop to ask someone what to buy has largely disappeared. As you say they are less likely to know the answer anyway and even then you are thinking are they giving me honest advice or just trying to sell what they've been told to push.

So you do your research online. Bicycle retailing is one area that high street is still holding on. Some manufacturers like Trek don't allow home delivery.

[cycle cat]

[quote=Typically, people in shops work part time - one result being that the Monday morning discussion about what happened over the weekend has been replaced by frequent update sessions as different shifts start and finish. Staff are hired and fired for de-skilled jobs like checkout operating - the barcode decides everything. Staff training is minimised and sticking with checkout operators, the till reminds them which stupid remarks they should make "Thank you for waiting. Do you needhelp with your packing?.[/quote]

If only it was that easy! The tills where I work don't decide on discounts, special offers don't work and often the loyalty card number has to be keyed in by hand.
Barcodes don't do everything. Often they don't work properly anyway. I once scanned an item only to find that I was about to sell a piano.
I take the time to talk to customers and help them. In fact, we are trained to ask if help is needed.
It annoys me that I can look around a shop and no help is forthcoming.
It wasn't clear who worked there and who didn't.

[jezer]

I spent my early working years in the retail trade, from 1964 to 1980. This was well before the internet was invented, and in those days we traded from 9am to 5.30pm Monday to Saturday. No Sunday trading and no late night opening. This meant that all staff were employed full time, including me as the store manager. I was accountable for anything that went wrong. We did not employ part time staff, except a few Saturday girls (I expect that would have to be dual gender today). This meant that any customer complaints were attended to immediately, and resolved without recourse to comment on the internet. The advantage was that sunday club runs were mainly traffic free. Those were the days!

[JohnW]

..............(Exeunt to the Last of the Summer Wine theme tune. )

Now you're talking tc.