PC Retail

DSGi's international operations...What a joke!

Anyone been to a PC City recently?...you can almost guarantee it will be empty becuase everyone is across the road in Media Markt.

We'd all just like to see DSG show it's vendors a little respect, and for a change actually bother to execute properly on all the ridiculously expensive promotions we are obliged to run, instead of just screwing us for money (particularly now at the end of their financial year)

DSGi needs to PARTNER with their PARTNERS versus threaten them....awkward strategy to say the least!

It's not really though is it? All they're saying is that someone isn't willing to be sold in as many channels as possible, then why should they be stocked at all... It's all about economies of scale...

Media Markt Man/Tesco Kid,
It sounds like you are vendors, yet you clearly are subscribed, or nailed your mast to said Media Markt- Tesco, nothing wrong with that , it's a free EU?.
If you are 'independant' software vendors, I'm more than happy to buy you a coffee at Hemel, and see what we can develop together.
Dave

Dave, All hats off to you for coming on an open forum as such... I can see what you believe you are trying to do, but surely by threatening partners that you deal with, they may decide to same well to hell with you then...

I am sure that some of us Indy's would love to work with the partners that you cast to the side.... I know that a few work with you in "Techguys" disguise now....

The problem i can see is that if you are talking about the smaller ones then just get rid anyway.... give us little guys a chance....

The Multiples like yourselves, Stressco's oops sorry tesco etc still do not and cannot give the service that an Independent can give support wise... this is not me just trying to knock down you guys but it has been proven in a Which report and is shown time and time again when i have customers bringing into me the pc that they have purchased from multiples 3 months before to get fixed....

We unfortunatley at the moment do not have the clout to go to our suppliers and demand anything from them... I wish we could, but with the like of Brigantia and PCA then we have a forum to vent from and to try and get us the deals that can help us compete in the market....

Mr Independent

They used to call it the "Dixons Iron Boot". Very painful and nothing you could do about it when as a supplier you were booted with it. Times are a changing though...
Check your share price, and the 2nd profits warning.
Seems like the boot may be coming back the other way...

Hi Independent sales guy and Voice of the people.
I know Iain Shaw from a previous life and i applaud the guys like you who run your own business, clearly you have a lot to offer, and a healthy independent retail sector is good competition for everyone.
I'm a little concerned at references to Iron Boots and getting rid of little suppliers.
DSGI is no more a macho agressive culture, we are high performance and partnership driven.
It's really not my, or DSGi style to operate in that old school manner.
It's more about choosing partners who have like minded channel strategies, and focussing on the positives and where through collaborative partnerships, ' we' , retailer and vendor can work together to acheive our mutual objectives.

Resources are tight for everyone in this credit crunch world and its about concentrating our resources with those partners who want to work with us,parting of the ways with those that don't and trying to make our way, the best we can.

The Old Boot style is just that, -Old and it's not appropriate in todays' dynamic and challenging market place, the technology markets we operate in, are helping redraw everything, who had heard of Facebook 5 years ago and in this new world partnerships and collaboration are crucial.
Was it Darwin who said (paraphrase: it's not survival of the fittest, it's the most adaptable species who survive-adapt or die).
Have a good weekend

I am a mystery new vendor and we are in the middle of talking to DSGi about stocking a few of our products for the first time. I think the reason that DSGi and other major high street stores are suffering at the moment is that they demand very unfavourable terms of trade from suppliers, things like 120 days credit, SOR, stock rotation and inflating SRP's to fit their margin targets just means that compannies like ourselves are put off from even trying to knock on their door......quite frankly I wonder if it's worth dealing with them, especially as everyone knows the future of electronics and software is the net and people like Amazon can get a p/o to you in a matter of days....DSGi has taken 4 months to even get terms of trade on the table!...markets change well before Retail can act and give you an order......I read this article and thought nothing else but..'same old Dixons'....shame as if they cut out the red tape they could stage a come back and get people back in shops

Hi Mystery Man,
Unveil yourself for us all to see, then call me 07841 220659 and i will sit down with you face to face and work out a potential deal.
I'm not sure you are a software vendor though as the terms you state aren't anywhere the level of detail we discuss for tems.
Dave

Dave, I can't say too much at the moment for obvious reasons....I'm not saying we don't want to deal with the big retail chains but I can see why a lot of vendors would be put off. I get the feeling that DSGi want vendors, especially the smaller ones to grovel and beg for their products to be put on the shelf. 10 Years ago it was the only way...but with e-tail chains increasing market share and the ease to get your products selling fast its tempting to put 2 fingers up to retail when they demand so much red tape.....I'll get of my soap box now

Go for it then mate. If you can get your product infront of as many people across the UK and Europe as DSG can, then why are you even bothering to think about dealing with them?

I find David Johnson's comments quite amazing really.DSGi is not as powerful as it used to be,Suppliers in the past were constantly told that Working with DSGi was all about a partnership.To me a partnership is 50/50 , thats where it all fell down,It was always a one sided partnership and the suppliers constantly got beat up by DSG when things are not going their way.
It is also far harder to do business with DSGi because they cannot make a decision to save their lives,they are so slow in giving you any feedback,they make false promises on deals and opportunities.
At the end of the day there is no Risk to DSGi because most of the product lines they stock are either on SOR or on consignment,yet they still drag any decision out.Unless you are an EA,Symantec,Microsoft etc you will struggle doing any meaningfull business with these guys.
It is a shame because they used to be a pleasure to do business with when they were a proper trading,wheeling and dealing type of company.

Dave
Tried ringing your phone to see if I could get a cup of the free coffee as we are an independent software company that would love the opportunity to work with DSGi in all areas in the UK and Internationally but could not get through. I guess you have had a good number of calls recently.
Yosemite Technologies has a great new product, FileKeeper that is getting some rave reviews and would sell extremely well in all of your channels so I would welcome the opportunity to discuss this with you. Plus I was pleased to read that heavy iron boots are out and 120 day payment terms are not the norm

My number is 07714 227693 if you get time between all those cups of coffee.

Peter

Let’s face it; Dixons has no longer a competitive edge on the High Street Market because they are not doing anything different.
Consumers used to love shopping in Dixons because Dixons provided them with second to none service and new Gadgets, this is no longer the case.
Consumers have to now struggle to find someone to serve them and when they do the level of interest is somewhat disappointing as well as their knowledge. Especially when you’re at the checkouts and no one is there to take your money.
This is precisely why so many people are purchasing products from the internet because they would rather find out about the products themselves, rather than having all the hustle and bustle buying from a high street store.
I can not see a future for Dixons on the high street in the next 5 years because they have let the consumers down. It is a great shame, because Dixons has been more of a friendly family business and when they used to invested time and money on their staff.
It shouldn’t be all about money!!!!
This is why most manufactures know this; however DSGI still think they are a big player in high street electronics. It’s about time DSGI looks at the bigger picture and not as far as hand in front of face.