Topic
Topic ID 6510
09/04/2012 by spooky
How do they survive?
The week before Christmas I was in one of the gift shops ...They said they never had christmas paper they only stocked birthday paper.
Last week the print shop told me they only priint JPEGS, wouldn't do PDFs bitmaps documents etc., not sure why, my humble my printer at home doesn't have a problem... then on saturday the confectioners in Maidenhead street said they didn't stock Easter eggs - the day before Easter
I would say that the staff involved were all very nice and polite though I wonder how they make any money sometimes!
Replies
Reply ID 87238
10/04/2012 by Leo Densian
With the Easter eggs specifically maybe its a case of knowing their core business and not being suckered into competing with the supermarkets. Could a small sweet shop offer three eggs for a fiver etc? And then get caught with unsold ones that have a limited use by date and have to be knocked out on the cheap at cost price or below?
Reply ID 87239
10/04/2012 by Marilyn
I would think the same thing with Christmas Paper the supermakets do buy one get one free etc and any that a small shop has left they have to store for next year.
Reply ID 87240
10/04/2012 by spooky
quote:
Originally posted by Marilyn
I would think the same thing with Christmas Paper the supermakets do buy one get one free etc and any that a small shop has left they have to store for next year.
you could in fact say the same thing for ANYTHING but do we really want to see these shops go to the wall? Small shops generally give you better service IMHO which was why I was a bit dumbfounded by these shops.
Reply ID 87241
10/04/2012 by Spear
The way for these shops to survive is not to compete directly with the supermarkets.
I know someone who used to have a shop in Hertford and while he was (and still is) happy to get stuff in for you a major factor is minimum order size, many suppliers effectively price small shops out of it.
Better service counts for little when most customers go for cheapness.
4 replies