Computer Fairs down the pan....

"AMO" wrote in message
...

It basically coincided approximately when PC World and the other large
stores starting to be competitive with their pricing and driving local PC
businesses out of business.

As most of the more reliable traders at computer fairs are local computer
makers, then it was logical to assume that as they diminished, this would
have an adverse effect on the computer fairs.

This is not to say that it was a turn for the worse. Most people prefer
to buy from a large store where they know that they can go to to complain
if something goes wrong and not worry about dodgy one man bands. Now that
the large High Street stores are competitive, there is no longer a need
for small local PC makers.


The local small pc maker where I used to work is thriving, has regular sales
and support with several large local customers (business, colleges etc) and
thrashes pc world prices on consumables and other things. Plus, the staff
know what they're talking about ;-)

Customers of all sizes (corporates, home users) know they can just pop-in
for advice when they're passing by, they go back for the good service.

Andy

"andy" wrote in message
...
The local small pc maker where I used to work is thriving, has regular
sales and support with several large local customers (business, colleges
etc) and thrashes pc world prices on consumables and other things. Plus,
the staff know what they're talking about ;-)

Customers of all sizes (corporates, home users) know they can just pop-in
for advice when they're passing by, they go back for the good service.

Andy

Well, all the best to him as he is a dying breed for the most part. Still,
taking everything into context, its a supply and demand thing. There will
always be demand for the local trader, just not in such large quantities,
and hopefully its the best traders that survive.

You mention another point. You say that the staff know what they're talking
about. That's good. However, most of the time, you know that they know
what they're talking about because you're tech savvy. That being the case,
regardless of whether the staff know what they are talking about you already
know what you want. To most people, like the Dell adverts (I think its
Dell) numbers of so many GigaHertz mean nothing to them and going into
technobabble means less than nothing.

Different shoppers are after different information represented in different
ways.

There are a fair bunch of people that know their stuff in PC World etc these
days. Whilst not quite as die-hard knowledge as your local trader, many of
these in todays world were bought up with PCs. Some of them are at uni and
work at the local PC World but do have the technical expertise - at least
far more than the average person, as they build their own PCs for uni work,
scanning the latest micromart for knowledge on good value components etc.

Its a changing world. A lot of people in todays world have this knowledge
as second nature. It is the way computing technology has changed the world.

Whilst I don't doubt that your local trader will be the better bet if asking
many questions, to get by with advising people on most PCs that fill todays
homes, the staff at PC World are more than competant for the most part - or
at least if they become stuck will tell you to hold on and get someone
working at the moment that is more tech savvy.

AMO

"AMO" wrote in message
...

You mention another point. You say that the staff know what they're
talking
about. That's good. However, most of the time, you know that they know
what they're talking about because you're tech savvy. That being the
case,
regardless of whether the staff know what they are talking about you
already
know what you want. To most people, like the Dell adverts (I think its
Dell) numbers of so many GigaHertz mean nothing to them and going into
technobabble means less than nothing.

They get lots of first time buyers in, not all the staff are "techies",
there are separate sales staff who give good advice.


Different shoppers are after different information represented in
different
ways.

Yep, which is why there are good sales staff as well as the "techies"

Whilst I don't doubt that your local trader will be the better bet if
asking
many questions, to get by with advising people on most PCs that fill
todays
homes, the staff at PC World are more than competant for the most part -
or
at least if they become stuck will tell you to hold on and get someone
working at the moment that is more tech savvy.

You have strange ideas sometimes ;-)

The staff where I used to work have a wide range of experience, not just in
technical matters,but with giving advice too, to a wide range of users. PC
World staff need to go get someone else, lol, we rarely needed to do that.

Andy