Re: End of an era.
mark2collection wrote:
"I thought I was doing well to last in the trade until September, 2005."
That's the same for my business, up to that year I was doing quite well but after 2006 things were starting to go bad, the exodus from TV rental had started big time and I didn't get the follow up sale of a new TV set from the ex-rental customer. I was still selling TV sets, just one or two week if I was lucky, buying sets from wholesalers is not a competitive way of selling because the profit has already been taken by the middleman.
Bad marketing move by me and perhaps others was to stay loyal to CRT TV sets and large number of Samsung "Slimfit" TVs were bought for sale and rental. This was a "blind alley" product, clever engineering for sure, a 32" CRT TV set that was only 399mm (16") deep. Weight 55KG! = 121 pounds.
The Slimfits weren't all that reliable and the public weren't all that impressed with the sets, they compared the new CRT set with the latest LCD models and be honest there was no competition between the sets, what's more the pictures displayed on the Slimfit wasn't all that good either. LCD TVs are truly slim!
Received a visit from the VAT inspector in 2006. She queried why had the turnover had diminished since the last visit. Had to explain that's how it is in this type of trade. Anyway by the end of the noughties not only was the TV trade in a bad way so it was for me because I was also in a clapped out state of health. I'm OK now but the servicing industry isn't.
DFWB.
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