Another familiar high street store is dissapearing. Jessops had gone into administration several days ago, however they could not find a buyer for the troubled company. 187 stores are said to be closing, with a total of 1,370 job losses from retail staff and there could be further jobs at stake at the HQ in Leicester. The chain has had finacial difficulties for years with the rise of the internet and much more competetive prices online. They’re sending all their stock back to suppliers so those in hope for reduced cameras and accessories are out of luck.
Similarly other specialist companies such as Comet closed down on December 18th last year, due to finacial difficulties. Play.com also recently annouced that they will be shifting their attention toward the ‘market place’ of their site, where consumers would purchase from individual sellers, similar to eBay, this is due to a change in the tax law for products under £20. This is a shame as Play.com had been a very good alternative to Amazon in the UK where they had been broadening their range to cover many product categories to meet consumer needs.
The companies mentioned above may have fallen due to the increased competition on the internet combined with the fact that people are ever economising more and more. Then again they all had better marketing strategies than perhaps Woolworths, which if you remember was a shop that initially speciallised in sweets and broadend it’s range, however was never really associated with anything thereafter and that was most likely it’s downfall.