Carphone warehouse closure in ireland

phill106

https://www.carphonewarehouse.ie/info

Sad news for all concerned.

biko

As part of Dixons Carphone’s broader transformation, of one joined up and profitable business, it has made the difficult but necessary decision to close Carphone Warehouse in Ireland, in line with its decision to close all standalone Carphone Warehouse stores in the UK in 2020.

Customers are changing the way they buy mobile devices and connectivity, replacing their handsets less often and buying them separately or as part of more flexible bundles. Although these changes in behaviour were anticipated, they were expected to occur over a longer period of time. However, the change in shopping behaviours has been accelerated by the pandemic.

Carphone Warehouse Ireland colleagues have worked hard to make Carphone Warehouse Ireland a success and have been the driving force behind its well-earned reputation for excellent customer service and support. This difficult decision is no reflection on their commitment, dedication, and professionalism.

We’ll continue to offer our Irish customers a market leading range of top branded mobile handsets and accessories through our Currys PC World stores and on Currys.ie.

So Currys are taking over.
Sorry for the jobs lost in the warehouses.

MrMusician18

Not the first and I doubt will be the last casualty of the pandemic.

There have been a couple of bad news stories on the jobs front of late. Hopefully all concerned can find alternative work quickly.

lawred2

MrMusician18 wrote: »

Not the first and I doubt will be the last casualty of the pandemic.

There have been a couple of bad news stories on the jobs front of late. Hopefully all concerned can find alternative work quickly.

I never understood how carphone warehouse made any money to be honest

pandemic or no pandemic

MrMusician18

lawred2 wrote: »

I never understood how carphone warehouse made any money to be honest

pandemic or no pandemic

I presumed they made most of their money acting like a broker, taking a cut of the contracts they sold.

What is interesting that they note people are holding onto handsets for longer.

Diairist

And the staff were lovely.

Kermit.de.frog

MrMusician18 wrote: »

Not the first and I doubt will be the last casualty of the pandemic.

There have been a couple of bad news stories on the jobs front of late. Hopefully all concerned can find alternative work quickly.

This has far more to do with online shopping and the inevitable end of the main street than it does anything else.

I find the public generally can be hypocritical on this. Most do more and more shopping online then some act surprised when this leads to store closures.

It's night following day. We can't have both unfortunately.

lawred2

MrMusician18 wrote: »

I presumed they made most of their money acting like a broker, taking a cut of the contracts they sold.

What is interesting that they note people are holding onto handsets for longer.

I know "how" technically they were supposed to make money

But their plans were rarely that competitive and handsets weren't exactly bargains either.

How could they compete with E10 per month plans with excellent value/technology unlocked Chinese phones bought from Amazon etc?

The pandemic may have slightly accelerated things but they were folding up soon enough anyway.

Atlantic Dawn

Their business model of making big commission on high end handsets signed up to 2 or 3 year contracts is long gone. People are buying handsets out of contract and shifting to SIM only and pay as you go. Additionally there's no killer feature on any phone released in the last 2 years or so that someone would be committed to spending €800 to €1000 on when their own phone does the job.

Eric Cartman

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

This has far more to do with online shopping and the inevitable end of the main street than it does anything else.

I find the public generally can be hypocritical on this. Most do more and more shopping online then some act surprised when this leads to store closures.

It's night following day. We can't have both unfortunately.

The consumer electronics sector was the hardest hit by online shopping even from the beginning, tech savy people were the first to go online and now theres no maplins, peats, etc...

Sometimes getting odd parts or little bits can be quite hard now.

Its a real shame as bricks and mortar stores were always good for having a look at products before buying.

Kermit.de.frog

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

I find the public generally can be hypocritical on this.

^This. One store less now in Rathmines and Square Tallaght, which once even had a PC World Store.

lemonkey

Diairist wrote: »

And the staff were lovely.

I always wondered did they hire nice people or drill the fact that they had to be nice to customers. Always very pleasant to deal with.

MrMusician18

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

This has far more to do with online shopping and the inevitable end of the main street than it does anything else.

I find the public generally can be hypocritical on this. Most do more and more shopping online then some act surprised when this leads to store closures.

It's night following day. We can't have both unfortunately.

You're probably right, but the pandemic has brought the reaper for them sooner than would've happened otherwise.

Retail is in a proper crisis

Mad_maxx

MrMusician18 wrote: »

Not the first and I doubt will be the last casualty of the pandemic.

There have been a couple of bad news stories on the jobs front of late. Hopefully all concerned can find alternative work quickly.

this was likely regardless of the pandemic , they had an outdated business model and had closed a lot of stores in the UK

vodafone cut ties with them quite recently which perhaps was the straw that broke the proverbial ?

drunkmonkey

Nothing to do with the pandemic, phones lasting longer or people shopping on line it's because Vodafone pulled the plug on them a few weeks ago, their business model no longer works.
I wouldn't take it as a sign that bricks and mortar shopping is finished, it might be the opposite, I for one can't wait to get back into a clothes shop so sick of online.

https://m.independent.ie/business/technology/vodafone-walks-away-from-carphone-warehouse-in-ireland-40184286.html

CrabRevolution

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

This has far more to do with online shopping and the inevitable end of the main street than it does anything else.

I find the public generally can be hypocritical on this. Most do more and more shopping online then some act surprised when this leads to store closures.

It's night following day. We can't have both unfortunately.

I've thought similar before about the arguments put forward by the "rural Ireland" lobby. On the one hand they say physical work spaces are becoming unnecessary and everyone can move to the west and work from home etc. But then at the same time they demand physical infrastructure like bank branches be kept open despite the huge shift away from in-person work they they have already highlighted.

Floppybits

drunkmonkey wrote: »

Nothing to do with the pandemic, phones lasting longer or people shopping on line it's because Vodafone pulled the plug on them a few weeks ago, their business model no longer works.
I wouldn't take it as a sign that bricks and mortar shopping is finished, it might be the opposite, I for one can't wait to get back into a clothes shop so sick of online.

https://m.independent.ie/business/technology/vodafone-walks-away-from-carphone-warehouse-in-ireland-40184286.html

There are pros and cons to both. As much as I don't mind online shopping I much prefer being able to go into a shop and be able to see, feel and try on the product if necessary before buying, this is something that Online will never be able to do. The amount of times I had to send back clothes because the size you bought is either too big or too small and then there is the hassle of having to package up the stuff and print off labels and then go to the post office.

flazio

Ex employee here. I can tell you they used to put a big emphasis on pushing their device insurance product, was called Lifeline and was in the process of changing to Geek Squad when I left. Apparently over 50% of the money made came from the insurance premiums.

They weren't always as impartial as you might think also. Certainly when I was working there we were encouraged to seek out Vodafone ports whenever possible. (due an upgrade on O2? Did you know that Vodafone have more customers making the free Vodafone to Vodafone worth more than free O2 to O2)

gogo

Feel awful for the staff, they seemingly turned up this morning, went on a conference call and were told to go home. Any security held gone out the door, local staff were lovely and most working there years.
I believe the other networks were playing hardball once Vodafone pulled out, knowing Carphone W was in a poor position to argue.

Sad day.. nothing worse than closed shop fronts in any town, not to mention the rug pulled out from under staff with very little notice.

Fandymo

Eric Cartman wrote: »

The consumer electronics sector was the hardest hit by online shopping even from the beginning, tech savy people were the first to go online and now theres no maplins, peats, etc...

Sometimes getting odd parts or little bits can be quite hard now.

Its a real shame as bricks and mortar stores were always good for having a look at products before buying.

Jesus, Peats is a blast from the past. I used to think that place was a wonderland back in the early 90s.

Feisar

Kermit.de.frog wrote: »

This has far more to do with online shopping and the inevitable end of the main street than it does anything else.

I find the public generally can be hypocritical on this. Most do more and more shopping online then some act surprised when this leads to store closures.

It's night following day. We can't have both unfortunately.

A pub at home closed a good few years ago now. Everybody was saying "what a loss" etc. Sure if people went there it'd still be open.

pgj2015

lemonkey wrote: »

I always wondered did they hire nice people or drill the fact that they had to be nice to customers. Always very pleasant to deal with.

I don't think so. some of their staff were very helpful and nice but he last time I was on my local CPWH, one of the staff roared at me because I am not tech savvy and didn't know what she was saying to me. Delighted she is losing her job.

Pandiculation

It's sad to see the jobs go, but I think it's really a concept that's a bit lost in the past.

Even the name "Carphone Warehouse" is straight out of the 1980s. It's up there with the Fax Barn and Cassettes R Us.

The whole model for selling mobile phones and mobile phones themselves have changed beyond recognition. The days of devices being wedded to particular networks are long gone and I think a lot of people treat a mobile phone purchase more like you'd treat a gaming console, camera or laptop. It's all of those things. They're FAR more than phones.

Also the move online is perfect for mobiles, particularly for the bigger brands that you don't really necessarily need to handle and see before purchase.

pgj2015

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfHBqGNzefM

Frankie19

Their business model has been in trouble for years. Its why phones4u went bust in the uk years ago. The networks are able to sell their own plans within their own retail stores without having to pay carphone a connection fee. They launched ID to try mitigate lost revenue from the networks but failed miserably.

Once Vodafone pulled out that was the end. All carphone did was charge the network for signing up a customer and when they walked back in 24 months later to upgrade would move them to a competitor network to get their connection fee.so essentially the benefits netted out over 24 months for the network and there was no point. They were paying carphone over the odds for a customer they could serve themselves.....cheaper. They were all just waiting for one network to be the first to go for fear of missing out.

Its a shame as I know many people who work there but even they would have told you things weren't looking good 2 years ago never mind throwing covid into the mix.

Dempo1

MrMusician18 wrote: »

Not the first and I doubt will be the last casualty of the pandemic.

There have been a couple of bad news stories on the jobs front of late. Hopefully all concerned can find alternative work quickly.

Really very little to do with the pandemic, they remained opened throughout it. The fact they lost Vodafone sales, Eir was up in the air and substantial losses for years coupled with a complete change in how people shop for phones etc led to this. They closed all their shops in the UK a year ago.

Burkie1203

MrMusician18 wrote: »

I presumed they made most of their money acting like a broker, taking a cut of the contracts they sold.

What is interesting that they note people are holding onto handsets for longer.

One of my friends is a manager in a repair centre. Says volume have risen as people get them repaired.

Not.like the naughties were a broken phone was replaced for 50 quid

Pandiculation

While I wouldn't say it's directly caused by the pandemic, the current situation is putting a lot of business models that were on their way out over the edge much more dramatically and sooner than would have naturally happened.

Unfortunately, I think you're going to see a cull of a lot of the weaker businesses on Main Street and in the shopping centres.

You're already seeing multiple clothing brands like Top Shop etc, gone and of course Debenhams, which was a huge presence in the ex-Roches Stores sites here and also all over the UK too.

We've really dramatically accelerated the change to online shopping.

There's also a significant impact of Brexit, which has caused a lot of supply chain disruption, particularly for some of the UK retailers with limited presence here. I think that's yet to be seen fully, as it's somewhat masked by the pandemic. It's possibly delayed the impact and may have also given some businesses a bit of a lifeline through government schemes. You may find that some of them have had more time to adapt over the last few months.

It's also very hard to predict how consumers will behave when the pandemic does eventually end. I could see a period of caution, both as people are a bit wary of being in enclosed spaces, the general hassle associated with social distancing, but also possibly people might be a little loathed to lash the cash if they feel times are uncertain.

We've just had more than year of retail and consumption habits broken. It may come back, but whether it comes back in the same way is a question that's yet to be answered.

I'm not sure that I will feel the same about just wandering into town for a browse. It's still going to be all queues, masks, hand washing, being concerned about everything for months to come. So, I could see myself doing most of my more utilitarian shopping online for the foreseeable future.

I'd say this summer, I'd be far more interested outdoor dining, cafes, restaurants, maybe outdoor bars and all that stuff, but I'd suspect retail's going to be hammered for several years to come.

Dempo1

Pandiculation wrote: »

While I wouldn't say it's directly caused by the pandemic, the current situation is putting a lot of business models that were on their way out over the edge much more dramatically and sooner than would have naturally happened.

Unfortunately, I think you're going to see a cull of a lot of the weaker businesses on Main Street and in the shopping centres.

You're already seeing multiple clothing brands like Top Shop etc, gone and of course Debenhams, which was a huge presence in the ex-Roches Stores sites here and also all over the UK too.

We've really dramatically accelerated the change to online shopping.

There's also a significant impact of Brexit, which has caused a lot of supply chain disruption, particularly for some of the UK retailers with limited presence here. I think that's yet to be seen fully, as it's somewhat masked by the pandemic. It's possibly delayed the impact and may have also given some businesses a bit of a lifeline through government schemes. You may find that some of them have had more time to adapt over the last few months.

It's also very hard to predict how consumers will behave when the pandemic does eventually end. I could see a period of caution, both as people are a bit wary of being in enclosed spaces, the general hassle associated with social distancing, but also possibly people might be a little loathed to lash the cash if they feel times are uncertain.

We've just had more than year of retail and consumption habits broken. It may come back, but whether it comes back in the same way is a question that's yet to be answered.

I'm not sure that I will feel the same about just wandering into town for a browse. It's still going to be all queues, masks, hand washing, being concerned about everything for months to come. So, I could see myself doing most of my more utilitarian shopping online for the foreseeable future.

I'd say this summer, I'd be far more interested outdoor dining, cafes, restaurants, maybe outdoor bars and all that stuff, but I'd suspect retail's going to be hammered for several years to come.

It's going to be a very different retail landscape and I fear when supports finish, an awful lot of retail outlets won't re open. Restaurants will never be the same either, outdoor concepts completely impractical in Ireland and if as is anticipated a reduction in diners, most will quite simply not be viable unless of course they double their prices. Pubs offering food might have more of a chance, mainly because most have greater open spaces than restaurants. Hotels have some chance, again because of space but will people travel? I strongly doubt either Hotels or Tourist village's and towns could survive on the Irish Market alone.

Great restrictions will end soon but I fear we've actually not really experienced the damage this pandemic has done yet, we're almost living in a false economy.

the_pen_turner

Pandiculation wrote: »

It's sad to see the jobs go, but I think it's really a concept that's a bit lost in the past.

Even the name "Carphone Warehouse" is straight out of the 1980s. It's up there with the Fax Barn and Cassettes R Us.

The whole model for selling mobile phones and mobile phones themselves have changed beyond recognition. The days of devices being wedded to particular networks are long gone and I think a lot of people treat a mobile phone purchase more like you'd treat a gaming console, camera or laptop. It's all of those things. They're FAR more than phones.

Also the move online is perfect for mobiles, particularly for the bigger brands that you don't really necessarily need to handle and see before purchase.

im suprised that phone shops are still surviving. the only benifit you get by going into the shop is you get to hold it in your hand, you cant use it in anyway because its brick and just the shell.
it is the perfect opertunity for online .

you wouldnt put up with going into a car showroom to buy a car and all you can do is sit into it, you want a testdrive and to play with the controls and experience the features.

Pandiculation

Dempo1 wrote: »

It's going to be a very different retail landscape and I fear when supports finish, an awful lot of retail outlets won't re open. Restaurants will never be the same either, outdoor concepts completely impractical in Ireland and if as is anticipated a reduction in diners, most will quite simply not be viable unless of course they double their prices. Pubs offering food might have more of a chance, mainly because most have greater open spaces than restaurants. Hotels have some chance, again because of space but will people travel? I strongly doubt either Hotels or Tourist village's and towns could survive on the Irish Market alone.

Great restrictions will end soon but I fear we've actually not really experienced the damage this pandemic has done yet, we're almost living in a false economy.

I agree, I think there's a lot more to shake out in terms of how we're going to move forward with this. The vaccines will make a huge difference, but if there's a wave of variants you're still going to have issues for some time to come.

I'd say we'll be putting toes in the water as the months roll on and the vaccine rollout gets much broader, but it'll still be just that - baby steps.

A lot of bars and restaurants relied on those few nights of being packed to the rafters with customers to survive and made relatively little money on quiet nights. I know we used to have regular group get togethers in busy city centre pubs on Monday nights pre-pandemic and they'd be pretty quiet. When you start to get down to low densities, the finances stop adding up.

I know we're all getting frustrated with the restrictions, but the reality of this thing is pretty harsh. There aren't many good solutions to it other than the technical ones i.e. vaccines and treatments.

In terms of tourism, I don't think we're going to see a rush back to normality. It will take several years for people to start coming out of their shells again and feeling safe to travel. I think we're over estimating the notion that the lack of movement is just about restrictions.

It's going to take a period of time for people to see that things are safe to do before they really start feeling completely comfortable again.

On the economic side of it, the other issue is that while Ireland, Europe, the UK and US and a few others will have very widespread vaccine rollouts largely there by mid summer, a lot of places we depend in supply chains and are economically very linked to simply won't. There's a massive outbreak rolling through India for example at the moment, and similar big issues bubbling up elsewhere.

Until the whole pandemic is under control, the global economy's potentially going to be hit with various shocks.

Ireland's been relatively well insulated, but I think there are undoubtedly bumps ahead and they may be bigger than we can see from here.

Retail is only the tip of the iceberg.