Jessops

[Birdsnapper]

Originally Posted by en830

I use our local Jessops to have a look at a piece of kit, if the have it, and then go on line to get it at a proper price.

A good way to help them go bust - I bet that you're proud that you played your part.

[en830]

Originally Posted by birdsnapper

A good way to help them go bust - I bet that you're proud that you played your part.

OK I'll give you an example, I have my own photography business, it's fledgling so costs are everything.

At an event a few months ago, one of our flash guns went pop due to water ingestion. I took it to get it repaired but unfortunately the repairs took longer than expected, in the meantime we had a wedding to photograph in Florence for which I wanted to take two flash guns. I looked around for a Canon 580EX MkII, Jessops wanted £406.00 for this piece of kit, another local photographic supplier wanted £420.00 for it, and when I called Currys at Gatwick airport they also wanted £420.00 and this was supposed to have the VAT taken off.

I called Calumet, they had it for £351,00, I live in the Channel Islands so they kindly knocked the VAT off and I got it delivered the very next day for £320.00.

I bought two 24 - 70 F2.8 L series lenses 18 months ago for less than £1,100 for the two from Warehouse Express and Park Cameras, Jessops want nearly £700 each.

Now I'm no economist but would anyone here, with half a brain cell, pay £100 more for a piece of kit. I doubt it.

The staff members I've come across have very little idea of what they are selling, that's if the get off the backsides to actually serve you.

Jessops are a large organisation, arguably larger than Calumet, Park Cameras and Warehouse Express, therefore economies of scale should play apart in what they sell and how much they sell it for, and they should be much more competitive. Their "local" shop staff are basically untrained monkeys with less knowledge of photographic equipment.

I wouldn't shed a tear if they disappeared off of my high street.

[Birdsnapper]

You don't have to be an ecconomist or have more than half a brain cell to realise that if you stock a store with goods that people only try but don't buy then that store can go bust. Where will you try new gear when there are no more high street stores? I hope that you're not the type who will moan when the local stores are gone - but I wouldn't bet money on it.

[miketoll]

"therefore economies of scale should play apart in what they sell and how much they sell it for, and they should be much more competitive."
They do need to be more competitive but they are at a disadvantage in that they have to pay staff (however poor the staff are), upkeep of their stores and also pay business rates on each and every store. In other words they have very high overheads compared to the internet stores. Yes some of the stores you mention do have a high street presence but no where near the number of high street stores Jessops still has.

[wolfie]

Canon 7D body at Jessops £1500.

7D in store or online at RGB Tech £1300 and the staff are knowledgeable + next day free delivery if you buy online.

Guess where I bought my 7D from, sorry no prize for the first one to guess right.

Harry

[Joe]

You could have bought a 3 week old (ie unused) one from us for around £900 lol

Its a shame this thread has turned into a Jessop knocking free for all

[en830]

Originally Posted by birdsnapper

You don't have to be an ecconomist or have more than half a brain cell to realise that if you stock a store with goods that people only try but don't buy then that store can go bust.

What's your point, that I should support the store because it's there and therefore payer higher prices ? I assume you have the finances to accommodate this, I don't, and therefore choose to get the best deal and service wherever I can.

Originally Posted by birdsnapper

Where will you try new gear when there are no more high street stores? I hope that you're not the type who will moan when the local stores are gone - but I wouldn't bet money on it.

If the stores are any good then they will still get custom otherwise they will disappear. Jessops need to move with the times and become much more competitive, after all they all are also an online company and should be able to compete with the likes of Calumet and offer similar prices. Calumet also have stores, so have similar overheads.

For me, if the store disappeared, it wouldn't be much of a problem as I get to the UK or Europe regularly enough to be to research new equipment without too much problem, Jessops didn't always have it in store anyhow.

[Don Hoey]

From personal experience as an oldie, therefore a shopper for many years I can say that staff knowledge or lack sometimes of it can be tagged to a far wider range of retailers than Jessops. Electrical retailers, Hi Fi Retailers, Computer Retailers ......... the list goes on and I am sure anyone reading this can add their own examples.

As for Jessops I have made or been involved (for family) in 4 camera puchases at different branches over the last eight years. Of these one can be described as a pretty dire experience, but the others were fine. So in my case 3 out of 4 had knowledgeable and friendly staff. In my bad experience case it was after two good ones, so despite being pretty irate at the time I knew this was not a reflection of all their branches. If you are unlucky to have a poor one on your high street then you are unlucky as it is worth pointing out some have a grood one on theirs.

When it comes to prices then it should be recognised that a lot of Jessops stores have been moved into plush shopping centres which no doubt cost a lot in rent and rates, so they may have the buying power, but then their outgoings are far higher than somewhere like Warehouse Express which operates out of an Industrial Estate on the edge of town.

I note en830's and Wolfies comment re prices, but there are those of us that like to buy face to face, and although we may on one level pay more by doing that, on another level if we have a good dealer then it can make up for itself.

As we are into examples then here is one from my side of the street.
When the Nikon D200 came out I read all the reviews as part of my homework and ordered one from my local dealer. When it arrived they rang and I went over full of excitement. On having a play in the shop one thing not mentioned in any review showed itself immediately. ...... Lack of eye relief. To use it I had to press right up against the review screen, so in use that would be permenantly smeared. At the time the dealer was a Canon dealer and not a Nikon dealer, but they agreed to order a D2X for me to try as they felt in view of my wants that was possibly the machine for me. As it turned out they were absolutely right and I bought it. The point here is that they were prepared to specially order the second camera with no guarantee of a sale after I had rejected the first for the reason mentioned. Now I may have paid a bit more than the lowest internet price but for me it was well worth it. They are now a Nikon dealer and since then I have bought Stevies camera and three lenses from them.

Nothing wrong with buying off the internet if that is what you are happy with, but having read lots of forum threads on kit I am only too aware of the latest and best syndrome. The D200 was called a mini D2X in its time and it is far from it in my opinion. Now move to the D300, then on its announcement the specs looked good and previews were very good, so a huge number of D2X owners flooded the marked with their old camera to get the new ' D2X killer - the D300 ' before the X used values fell through the floor.
Even now if you read threads in DPR or Nikon Cafe the D2X is written off as old technology and the D300 is rated far higher, and a lot of these are by previous D2X owners. Not sure how many are self justifying what they did, but a few have said they regretted the move and swapped back.

The proof of the pudding as to how much waffle is posted really came home when I got Stevie a D300. As far as the net went then this was going to leave me with the D2X well behind. In fact compared to the D2X it turns out to only win on five counts. Better review screen, smaller and therefore lighter, live view, built in flash, and better performance from ISO600. For my needs the 'old technology D2X ' wins in all other areas most of which are never mentioned in those forum threads. Since we have had Stevies D300 I get a fair amount of amusement at reading those posts now.

So I feel high street dealers including Jessops, or other more backstreet dealers, have a role to play for those like me that do not necessarily believe all we read on the net, and like to actually try before we buy. If that tags me as to quote en830, " as having less than half a brain cell " then fine. All up I feel that in the long run having a relationship with a great dealer has actually saved me time, money, and hassel.

Don

[Don Hoey]

Originally Posted by en830

Jessops need to move with the times and become much more competitive, after all they all are also an online company and should be able to compete with the likes of Calumet and offer similar prices. Calumet also have stores, so have similar overheads.

Have you got something against Jessops in particular?

Worth asking as your arguement does not seem stack up, and before you think I am a no1 Jessops supporter I am not. Just trying to get a balanced view.

Stores - I have no idea how many Jessops has in the UK but Calumet has 11 and none in the high cost shopping areas like Westfield and no doubt other major city centre locations. So there is no valid comparison to be made there.

Prices - I had no real idea so accepted what you said but now I thought I would check out Camera Price Buster anyway. Now I do not see your arguement at all. On price alone you can pick on any number of other stores that are more expensive than Jessops. Depends what you look at but Calumet is sometimes more expensive than Jessops.

Link to Camera Price Buster
http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/index.html

Don

[en830]

Originally Posted by Don Hoey

Have you got something against Jessops in particular?

Worth asking as your arguement does not seem stack up, and before you think I am a no1 Jessops supporter I am not. Just trying to get a balanced view.

Stores - I have no idea how many Jessops has in the UK but Calumet has 11 and none in the high cost shopping areas like Westfield and no doubt other major city centre locations. So there is no valid comparison to be made there.

Prices - I had no real idea so accepted what you said but now I thought I would check out Camera Price Buster anyway. Now I do not see your arguement at all. On price alone you can pick on any number of other stores that are more expensive than Jessops. Depends what you look at but Calumet is sometimes more expensive than Jessops.

Link to Camera Price Buster
http://www.camerapricebuster.co.uk/index.htmlDon

My experience of my local Jessops, is that they are over priced and the staff have very little knowledge of the items that they are expected to sell. On the back of that there is a another shop not far from Jessops, that I will agree is similarly priced and staffed, so maybe I'm being a bit too general by singling Jessops out as a whole, this may not be the case all over the group.

I also concede the fact that Calumet is sometimes more expensive than others and vis versa, however, I, like many on here reserve the right to shop around. The argument that by looking in Jessops but buying elsewhere is adding to their woes, does not add up. If they had the piece of kit at a competitive price I would no doubt buy from them, because, generally by the time I come to buy something I've researched it sufficiently to undertand what it does and how well it does it, to not need the staff's input. It is then down to the price. Consistently, this is where Jessops fail.