Jessops News

[fly my pretties]

Wanted to get myself one of those hi-lite backgrounds yesterday. Looked on warehouseexpress.com: £250

Jessops: £300

That's totally unacceptable.

 

[miurasv]

Some of their staff though, I don't think can be bothered.

My attitude to shops/shopping, I look online, and try and get advice as to what is suitable.
Then when I get to town, I try and go in whilst it is busy. I don't like being bothered by a salesman, whether they want to be there or not. I check the prices and decide whether I am going to buy or not. Most of the time I don't mind paying a bit extra.
So today, I went to town, I wanted to get a spare battery and an eyepiece extender for the 7d.
One salesman caught us in Jessops, asked whether I needed any help. I asked about the battery, he knew which one it was, but not the price, he went to scan it, and I bought it, even though I could get it postage paid cheaper elsewhere. I was there, I don't want the hassle of getting it somewhere else.
Then as I left, I remembered about the eyepiece. So I went back in, waited by the till, and another gentleman asked whether he could help. I asked for an eyepiece extender for the 7d. He continued his conversation with his colleague briefly, He then turned back, asked whether the 7d was a new camera, and if so, did it have a different eyepiece to the standard Canon ones. I answered yes, and he suggested I bought it online instead.
I am surprised that he didn't even try to look it up on their sales system. If he had tried, I might have purchased from them. Now he has advised I look online, so what incentive is there for me to purchase from Jessops?

If he worked for me I'd sack him.

 

[parkmoy]

said that he could get it £30 cheaper on the internet ( this was an item that was £1000) I appologiesed and said that I could not match the price ( was only making £50 on it at our price)

So was it better to leave it on the shelf for goodness how long than make £20 then and there?

Where I live I don't have the luxury of a camera shop to visit without travelling a fair distance, so I tend to buy online having done a lot of research. If I did have one I would still do my research, visit them, look at the item and ask for a price match. I can't see anything wrong in that.

Some people have said they wouldn't bother for 'a few quid' on a more expensive item but I take the view that the money is better in my bank account than the shop's

 

[petersmart]

A lot of people seem to be talking about buying online - but Jessops actually does sell online - they just aren't competitive online compared to other online retailers.

I suspect this is due to them not wishing to compete with their bricks and mortar stores.

But I also suspect that the day may come when they are forced to close down all their stores and sell solely online.

 

[JimLin1965]

If you check on the big items - bodies, lens, and flash for example, they're normally competitive if not the best - including online, but for accessories then online seems to have them beat every time. The staff support is often, although not always, about as useful as online shopping.

Hugh

I was really surprised with their prices - In the middle of Sept I bought a D90 and 18 - 200 Nikon lens and they were the most competative pricewise, even Kerso couldn't beat them.

 

[Davec223]

So was it better to leave it on the shelf for goodness how long than make £20 then and there?

Where I live I don't have the luxury of a camera shop to visit without travelling a fair distance, so I tend to buy online having done a lot of research. If I did have one I would still do my research, visit them, look at the item and ask for a price match. I can't see anything wrong in that.

Some people have said they wouldn't bother for 'a few quid' on a more expensive item but I take the view that the money is better in my bank account than the shop's

It would not stay on the shelf for goodness knows how long, at the time we were selling about 3 or 4 a week, what is the point of basically selling something at a loss by the time you take overheads into account. I have to ask if you were in business would you be willing to sell things at a loss? I very much doubt it.

As I have said before and I will say again, the first people to complain first when a specific shop or type of shop shuts down are the same people who complain about the shop being a little more expensive and sayt " where am I going to look at things before I order online" I very rarely order on line as I want local businesses to be there when I want to buy things.

 

[bindex]

I was really surprised with their prices - In the middle of Sept I bought a D90 and 18 - 200 Nikon lens and they were the most competative pricewise, even Kerso couldn't beat them.

That's the odd thing about Jessops. They can be the best price available at times. No-one would expect them to be the best in everything, in fact I'm happy to pay a little more for convenience sometimes. But unfortunately most of the time they seem to defy logic.

 

[prjohns]

Visited Jessops last month and overhead a brief conversation between staff and customer, it went like this:

Customer: (Holding Canon 450d) How does this compare to that camera? (pointing to Sony cameras).
Staff: Ooh! That's just the same (then walked away.)
Customer: Handed back Canon and walked out.

Jessops have no direction, they have lost consumer impulse purchases to the supermarket et al, and they are not providing professionalism for the serious photographer. They need to find there direction.

 

[parkmoy]

It would not stay on the shelf for goodness knows how long, at the time we were selling about 3 or 4 a week, what is the point of basically selling something at a loss by the time you take overheads into account. I have to ask if you were in business would you be willing to sell things at a loss? I very much doubt it.

Of course not, but you did say you were 'only making £50 on it'. That suggests profit which surely is over and above overheads? You could have sold 5 that week

Plenty of businesses sacrifice some profits to get more sales and they are usually the ones which succeed.

 

[Davec223]

Of course not, but you did say you were 'only making £50 on it'. That suggests profit which surely is over and above overheads? You could have sold 5 that week

Plenty of businesses sacrifice some profits to get more sales and they are usually the ones which succeed.

You can not work out profit less overheads due to the fact you do not know how much you are going to sell in a year. over heads come off at the end of the year.

 

[parkmoy]

You can not work out profit less overheads due to the fact you do not know how much you are going to sell in a year. over heads come off at the end of the year.

We're getting off topic here but I can't resist asking. Given that is the case how do you know what price to charge per item? How do you know if you are not covering overheads or alternatively making a vast profit? How do you know if you are managing your overheads efficiently?

EDIT to say Perhaps not too far off topic, might nbe one of Jessop's problems

 

[fatphotographer]

For what it is worth, about 13 years ago I used my local Jessops for everything photographic - the service was good, their pricing was competitive, and they saw about £20k of my business’s money a year, for a number of years. Then, over a relatively short period of time, they seemed to abandon the enthusiast who wanted to trade equipment and upgrade, and the pro who wanted trade rates, and went for the "Argos" and "Dixons" type mass market, and I feel that is where they went wrong. The manager's discretion was taken away from him, and everything decision, and piece of equipment, had to go through head office. A simple replacement of a faulty product started to take 5 weeks instead of 5 minutes. Store to head office - head office to their repair centre - their repair centre to Nikon - Nikon to their repair centre - their repair centre to head office - head office to store. It was a joke.

I haven't stepped inside one of their stores in 8 years, and have no intention of ever doing so again. LCE have my custom at the minute, they have the national buying power and the local discretion to deal with you as a customer with specific needs, not a sales statistic in a board meeting.

 

[itsDave]

Digital is killing the retailer. I have a customer who spends £1000 to £1500 per year on film, they now want to buy a D700. Might make say £50 to £75 on the sale (if they buy extras like memory card, battery etc...). Won't buy lenses as they already shoot Nikon film so all the lenses will work fine.

So will make upto £75 in the sale and probably won't see them again for a few years.

Dave

 

[dinorock]

So every person who works in retail has an interest In what they sell, I don't think so.

maybe not but photography is pretty specific need to know some thing about the goods you,re selling

 

[dinorock]

I work in insurance and have absolutely no interest in the industry whatsoever.

I bought my D60 from my local Jessops (Kingston) despite the sales assistant not being at all convincing when trying to explain the differences between that and the A350 (I knew sod all other than how to shoot a P&C at the time, seems he knew even less as he sold me completely the wrong filter sizes). I was looking to buy a couple of lenses a few weeks later but they had no interest in matching a price that was just £20 less, and they came across as having a couldn't care less attitude.

i,d get a new job i drive trucks for a living why? because i love driving.

 

[jnO]

You can not work out profit less overheads due to the fact you do not know how much you are going to sell in a year. over heads come off at the end of the year.

If a company as large as Jessops cannot reasonably forecast accounts based on trading history, current pricing and prevailing market conditions then they deserve to have issues.


I actually completely understand why high street retailers charge more than alot of online companies, however they need to either move with the times and make an effort to differentiate themselves, cut themselves a niche and have some kind of usp or they'll fail. That's not a personal attack on Jessops as I have never used them but the portrait painted of their service, and pricing as a whole is not that pretty (with some exceptions).

 

[mid_gen]

I don't think you're going to find many people with sympathy for large corporate entities, particularly when it comes to ethics in the retail industry. Everyone loves to get one over on The Man...probably because we've all been shafted by a corporate at some point.

 

[swanseamale47]

I think their main problems come from poor staffing and after sales service, if a customer gets rubbish service or told something he knows to be wrong chances are he'll go elseware, same if he/she gets a load of hassle trying to change faulty good, odd's are they won't buy there again.

 

[Davec223]

If a company as large as Jessops cannot reasonably forecast accounts based on trading history, current pricing and prevailing market conditions then they deserve to have issues.


I actually completely understand why high street retailers charge more than alot of online companies, however they need to either move with the times and make an effort to differentiate themselves, cut themselves a niche and have some kind of usp or they'll fail. That's not a personal attack on Jessops as I have never used them but the portrait painted of their service, and pricing as a whole is not that pretty (with some exceptions).

Granted a company as large as jessops should be able to, I was talking if a one off small shop with a couple of staff

 

[Pog]

They also bought out many other photo stores and massively over expanded in just a few years. I think their stores went from about 80 to 330 in a very short time. As their former boss said they lost the enthusiast market and tried to be more like Dixons. Staff training was pitiful as they hired any young kids on a low wage getting in lots of agency staff at head office. Jessops always treated their own staff very poorly. Unfortunately I was one of them. They made me and 150 other staff redundant even before the recession and treated us like filth.

 

[jnO]

Granted a company as large as jessops should be able to, I was talking if a one off small shop with a couple of staff

The majority of retailers with a large branch count will produce projected MI, probably quarterly, it's what usually determines local sales and promotions.
Hey ho, not my shop not my problem and way off topic, just seems a bit of a schoolboy error to not have a benchmark by which to set performance goals.

 

[Dylanlewis2000]

They also bought out many other photo stores and massively over expanded in just a few years. I think their stores went from about 80 to 330 in a very short time. As their former boss said they lost the enthusiast market and tried to be more like Dixons. Staff training was pitiful as they hired any young kids on a low wage getting in lots of agency staff at head office. Jessops always treated their own staff very poorly. Unfortunately I was one of them. They made me and 150 other staff redundant even before the recession and treated us like filth.

Youll probably find most multinational companies will be like that. At the end of the day they want to have as many staff for as cheap as possible. Most who are willing to accept £5 a hour are students who have no real ties to the job.

 

[Pog]

Youll probably find most multinational companies will be like that. At the end of the day they want to have as many staff for as cheap as possible. Most who are willing to accept £5 a hour are students who have no real ties to the job.

Well there was a management buy out and the original Jessop family left. That was probably the beginning of the end.

 

[Animal]

There is a lot of Jesspos bashing that goes on in these forums. I, for one, am happy their future is secured for the time being. I have used Jessops to buy my camera's and a few of my lenses and have had nothing but outstanding service.

Good news for many of their hard working staff as well.

David

Most people would be lost without Jessops.. ok your local one may be pants, but there are loads out there that are great... So far the best one I found was in Chesterfield, Derbyshire

 

[uriah heep]

Most people would be lost without Jessops.. ok your local one may be pants, but there are loads out there that are great... So far the best one I found was in Chesterfield, Derbyshire

I can second that, my local store, I went there for my D700, very helpful.


Steve.

 

[tdodd]

I just bought a 5D2 from Jessops. In fact, due to a mix up I bought two. First I ordered for home delivery and later, when checking the order status I noticed it was backordered so I thought I'd place an order for store collection instead. On Monday I picked up my new body from the store and thought I'd go and cancel the other order for home delivery. To my amazement I discovered it had already been shipped, and sure enough it was delivered on Tuesday, so I had two bodies and two charges to my credit card. Gulp!

So today I popped back to Jessops to return one of the cameras and had an effortless experience returning the goods. I should add that the service when I picked up the original body on Monday that the service was equally efficient. Of five DSLRs that I own, this is the third that I have bought directly from Jessops. One was online from cameras2u, who I believe were part of Jessops, and one was from Hong Kong. When the price is right, as it was on each occasion they got my business, I am very happy to give Jessops my money.

 

[easylife]

I'm fortunate as we have a good store in Chesterfield that I use, tried the one in Meadowhall Sheffield and I may as well have gone to Mothercare for all the help I got,

OK I looked at a lens from Jessops, it would have cost me £235.00, plus nearly a gallon of petrol, plus £2.50 parking, and about 2 hour of my time, I ordered it from a site recommended on here, delivered next morning for £171 inc. p&p, but I still use Jessops, I don't think customer service is unique to Jessop stores, the same can be said at most of Currys, Dixons, PC World,
I went into Halfords (Derby) to buy a speed camera detector, I have two but required another, seeing a different make I asked the pro's and con's and for more information, he backed away with a blank look saying "we have an expert who knows all about these things", after a while he came back to me and said " he thinks the Road Angle is best" ...I left