To not give two hoots about the demise of BHS?

[LunaLoveg00d]

(Disclaimer: obviously very sad for anyone employed there who is now facing losing their jobs).

Couldn't really care less if BHS ceases to exist. They're not a patch on Debenhams or John Lewis, and are beaten by places like M&S in the market for knickers and school uniform. Haven't bought anything in there for about three years - and even then it was in a Wallis concession rather than in BHS itself.

All this harping on about 88 years of tradition on the UK high street is ridiculous - it's a company which has failed to move with the times, has no defined core shopper and which sells tat.

Asset stripping has always been one of the ways that shareholders get returns from their business. Especially if the model is doomed, which sadly can be the case. Not all business models can have new life breathed into them. Markets change and business models that were once viable no longer are.

The Green family are very vulgar show-offs.

Veering slightly OT here, but still on the theme of business models, consultants, and expensive "advice" from "experts", it's fascinating how many allegedly intelligent people can't read the runes.

My specialism is IT. I "divined" (i.e. saw the bleeding obvious) back in 2010, that the PC market (desktops) was dead. There was no room for innovation in hardware, as niche platforms (gaming, tablets) were becoming cheaper and better. In addition the rise of the ismartPhone was filling gaps where people didn't have desktops.

The result is the market is mature. Sales of desktops are now driven almost exclusively by the replacements, and "My first PC" markets. Dramatically smaller than (say) 2000-2010.

And yet I have read report after report predicting an upturn in sales "next year" for ages.

The whole world has changed. The moving finger has writ.

Here's a prediction for the next 10 years: Big stores (e.g. Tescos) will leverage their real estate, and expand the concessions side of their operation. A trip to Tescos will not only allow you to do your weekly shop, but visit more niche outlets (Timpsons is just the start). The inside of the store will start to look more like a covered market, with lots of small - maybe (and hopefully) local businesses. Homebrew, haberdashery, niche tech - all the shops lost to the high street. If the big players do it right, and offer their backoffice systems to the small independents, we could see online deliveries by Tesco for their partner stores. Add to the the potential for Tesco to offer Amazon lockers, and it's a bright future for those that can get it right.

That's the future stores like BHS should have contemplated. But sometimes the more you pay people, the less they risk.

The latest source of amusement to me is the decline in iPhone sales ... mature market again.

"The latest source of amusement to me is the decline in iPhone sales ... mature market again."

I agree. The market is saturated with good copycat versions, or even better versions IMO.

lurkinghusband

That sounds like my local Tesco, it has a toyrus/clarks/mothercare etc and lots of little pop up stalls in it as well as food outlets. That's also the closest I get to the high street as it has pretty much everything I want in person and everything else I Amazon.

I'm sad for the staff but it was so outdated.

With online becoming more and more the city centres will die from what we are used too. It seems the only "secure" sectors will be those in IT, delivery, warehousing. Thankfully exactly the business my dh works in.

Foot outlets will still do well but even general pubs have been going down for ages due to it being cheaper to buy alcohol in and invite friends round.

My local Tesco extra has Edinburgh wool mill/Dorothy Perkins/hotter shoes concessions as well as a salon and an optician

I have to say, that although I think Green is a shark, I also don't think he was a miracle worker.

There is only so much you can do to revive a brand and the space into which he could have dragged BHS kicking and screaming was the John Lewis and M & S which is exceptionally competitive and I think he would have been fighting a loosing battle to polish the turd up against the slick marketing of the other two who also have a certain level of brand loyalty.

BHS's niche and unique selling point was effectively to the elderly. So if you are going to make money that's where it had to stay, with the obvious consequence that its customer numbers were only ever going to decline.

The word that seem appropriate are 'lost cause'. I honestly think that no amount of rebranding or investment would of helped. M & S is still struggling to do it and I think that's a reflection of just how hard it is to reinvent yourself from that position in the market.

I am not sorry its going. I'm amazed its lasted as long as it has to be honest. It was dated 20 years ago.

Its a shame for the staff, but I do think that there are only a few brands that are deserving of a certain nostalgia. BHS was never of that ilk imho.

"with the obvious consequence that its customer numbers were only ever going to decline."

I don't understand why. If the older people are dying off surely the next generation are growing older and will replace them?

Not if they have brand loyalty elsewhere.

You are talking about the difference between taste from one generation to the next.

Why was the fashion different in 1960s compared to 1970s and how does that influence their taste 50 years later, for example?

With online becoming more and more the city centres will die from what we are used too.

The story of civilisation is the story of the city. From ancient Egypt, through Greece and Rome, to industrial Britain. Cities have sapped the rural, and sprawled and grown. What that means for the future I can't say. But it's worth noting ...

NicknameUsed - having an aging customer base does not always mean that you can replace dying customers with the newly elderly. Some products for the elderly (eg hearing aids) have a self-replenishing customer but others just wither on the vine with a dying generation.

Yea we have a bhs big store in my local town and I said a year ago that bhs should of got not only Wallis a d Dp in which they did but they should of got wh smiths in and something like accessorize and bhs should of kept their homeware bit only . Bhs clothes are too expensive because they are not high fashion. Women will spend a bit extra for the latest fashion but that was never going to work in bhs .

Phew, my 90 year old mother will not be buying any more saggy synthetic trousers and tops from them! Maybe I can talk her into a John Lewis wardrobe now.

having an aging customer base does not always mean that you can replace dying customers with the newly elderly

Sadly, not all businesses realise that (especially when they pay for advice).

I have spent the last 15 years pointing out to anyone who will listen that the 50-year olds of today are not like the 50-year olds of 2006. Which is a serious matter when you base your entire business strategy on it being true (and I can point to a disastrous decision that was predicated on this).

LHs prediction for 2016-2026 ? Smartphone/tablet technology will suddenly, miraculously discover that people have sight/coordination issues, and develop tech to enable the current 40-something iPhone addicts to continue their worship of the cult of Jobs well into their 70s and 80s. It's already happening if you experimented driving your smartphone with Siri/Google.

Ok let's go along with the theory that BHS was a lost cause, that it had been on the skids for years and that not even Sir Philip could have revived it.

In that case why did he pay himself such massive dividends?

I guess I'm old fashioned but I always thought that if a ship went down, the captain should go too. Not out of vindictiveness but because of the notion of shared responsibility. Because after all, aren't we all in it together?

Is asset stripping what made Edward Lewis rich in Pretty Woman?

Floisme - I expect Philip Green knew exactly what strategy he was going to adopt for BHS when he bought it.

It went into liquidation today. Apparently stores will trade for another 8 weeks and then they will all be closed.

Sad but I think the staff were expecting it.

Company is to be liquidated. Probably not much more to add. Just another high street casualty.

Lurking That sounds like our Asda/Gateway when I was a child - local opticians, local children's clothes maker, garden store, school uniform shop (logo'd stuff only), photo shop (Klick maybe?), dry cleaners, haberdashery and a creche all had outlets in the store. It was part of their agreement to have a huge store on the edge of the shopping centre. Shops like the haberdashery started in the big shop and then progressed onto getting their own shop in the centre if demand was high enough, but it gave them a cheaper starting point.

Sad that it's come to liquidation, but obviously nobody prepared to take on the business as it was - it has really lost its way.

Not good news for the employees though.

Lost its way? Or bled dry and cut loose? With the taxpayer left to pick up the tab.