Bleak news from Jessops

from what i gather their management was always one step behind. i think they were slow on the digital uptake and any retailer that didn't embrace ecommerce at the start made a big mistake. with their size and brand they should have been able to clean up online if managed well.
 
I bought both my bodies from jessops - and they were both competitively priced, and I got to take one to them when it broke, :thumbs:

That said, I was after a cable - Web said available for colelct in store - so popped along to local store, and the chap behind the ocunter was less than cluelss. Don't get me wrong, they are normally great - but asking for a canon ttl cable (their words) was beyond him. I got frustrated and said leave it.

Ordered from Calumet, and delivered the very next day, and £4 cheaper inc. P&P

Still I agree it would be a shame to lose Jessops - and PC world would potentially be a good move.
 
foodpoison said:
I'll be sad to see Jessops go, but hopefully when they do go I'll have another job.

And to all you guys who are saying Jessops staff don't know anything, **** right off.
Really, it really f***s me off when people say that.

How about you make some more assumptions based on a minority?

All black people are thieves
All Muslims are terrorists
All Catholics are baby-makers
All Jews are filthy rich
All white people are gypsies
All homeless people are drug addicts
Everyone with lung cancer got it because they smoke

Use some empathy and some common sense, not all Jessops staff are complete f***ing idiots and I think the fact that there are members of Jessops staff on TP, actively taking part in discussions on PHOTOGRAPHY, I think that says something to you.
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I have to say that when I have purchased from Jessops I have found the staff to be always polite and helpful.
 
foodpoison said:
I'll be sad to see Jessops go, but hopefully when they do go I'll have another job.

And to all you guys who are saying Jessops staff don't know anything, **** right off.
Really, it really f***s me off when people say that.

How about you make some more assumptions based on a minority?

Everyone with lung cancer got it because they smoke

Use some empathy and some common sense, not all Jessops staff are complete f***ing idiots and I think the fact that there are members of Jessops staff on TP, actively taking part in discussions on PHOTOGRAPHY, I think that says something to you.
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TBF that kinda is true.

as for jessops having staff that don't have clue that's been the case for every jessops I've been in.
 
POAH said:
TBF that kinda is true.
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_163124_roy_castle_150.jpg


:shrug:
 
Flash In The Pan said:
That's where the Sauchiehall St store in Glasgow is good, they have staff that actually know what they're talking about - in another local camera shop I was informed, (Xmas 2008), that they couldn't get me a Nikon D300 as it had just been replaced - by the 400D :thinking:
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seriously, I've found the sauchiehall street jessops to be full of idiots :lol:
 
Jessops are so hit and miss.

I bought my D300 from Jessops in Croydon. Knew what they were talking about, and reasonable friendly. Although they grumbled a bit the day before when I took my Canon mount 17-70 back after deciding the 40d was rubbish :)

I went into Jessops in Horsham a couple of weeks ago - utterly clueless.
 
Before I start let me say I can be the customer from Hell! If you screw up then I will take you apart if you show little or no interest inputting it right.

However my recent experience of two Jessops stores was one (two actually!) of the best experiences I have had in this regard.

While in Edinburgh I bought a set of Bowens Gemini's from there main city store. They were the display set so the modelling light had been used and they promised to mial me a spare pair. On getting them home to Cheshire I fired them up and discovered on didn't work. Thinking it was the flash tube that was goosed I called the store and the guy who sold me the kit arranged to send mea replacement FOC. It arrived two days later with the modelling lamps and a pair of cotton gloves to handle them.

Fitted the flash lamp and nothing so called them again and they said that it I had a local store they would help resolve it.

I took them to their Manchester Trafford Centre store and the guy there replaced the whole kit and insisted on getting them out of the box and testing before he let me take them away.

The guy in Edinburgh called me to ask how it had gone as he wanted to be sure it got resolved satisfcatorily.

Beat that for customer service!
 
Poah, sorry mate, but you are completely ignorant.
To say every Jessops store is full of idiots is undeniably ignorant. I don't know how you can say that, especially as you seem to blindly believe it.
 
POAH said:
he got it from smoke just like around >90% of other people do :shrug:
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Are you missing my point?
Yes, most people get lung cancer from smoking, but not EVERYONE.

A lot of Jessops staff are stupid, but not EVERYONE.

In fact, I reckon half the company are idiots, a quarter are intelligent, and another quarter are both intelligent and knowledgeable about photography.
 
I've bought both my bodies from Jessops, and both times (with the help of cashback sites, Jessops vouchercodes online to collect instore) and Canon Cashback, they've been as cheap as anywhere else I looked.

Lenses/accessories? You've got to be kidding :)
 
foodpoison said:
Are you missing my point?
Yes, most people get lung cancer from smoking, but not EVERYONE.

A lot of Jessops staff are stupid, but not EVERYONE.

In fact, I reckon half the company are idiots, a quarter are intelligent, and another quarter are both intelligent and knowledgeable about photography.
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no and fair point, but I have to admit the stores local to me (both of them) most of the staff give the impression of couldn't care less and seem liek they'd be as happy working in the Next next door

Hugh
 
Disclaimer: This is a bit of a rant and is from my experience with probably a dozen or so different Jessops branches. You may have had different experiences. Lucky you if you did!

Lensflare said:
A few quid extra for a product from a reputable, UK, dealer is actually far better value, just a little dearer.
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I totally agree but, in my experience, Jessops is not one of those dealers.

Their staff are neither knowledgeable nor experienced. I'm a (semi-serious) hobbyist photographer and I know far more than the Jessops staff I've spoken to in many shops across south-east England and London. Their incompetence is staggering.

Add to that the fact that their prices aren't even remotely competitive. Anyone who has checked camerapricebuster.co.uk will know this. I'm all for supporting independent high-street camera shops with knowledgeable staff and competitive prices; I bought my last lens from Camera World in London as opposed to from an online retailer. I wanted to discuss the lens, it's pros and cons, try it on my camera and take a few samples. The staff there knew far more than I did and were incredibly helpful - I would go there again any time.

Jessops are a million miles from that. The polar opposite, in fact. As the article mentions, they even bought up independant camera shops to expand, replacing what were probably fantastic places like Camera World. I wouldn't miss Jessops one little bit.

George.
 
foodpoison said:
Are you missing my point?
Yes, most people get lung cancer from smoking, but not EVERYONE.
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nope, the fact that >90% of people get lung cancer from smoke suggests to me a pretty high risk of getting it if you smoke. others may die of other smoking enduced diseases before they show onset of the cancer
 
Overall, the lack of knowledge holistically is the problem (be it management or otherwise). Same problem blighting DSGi.
 
BadgerLover said:
Disclaimer: This is a bit of a rant and is from my experience with probably a dozen or so different Jessops branches. You may have had different experiences. Lucky you if you did!

I totally agree but, in my experience, Jessops is not one of those dealers.

Their staff are neither knowledgeable nor experienced. I'm a (semi-serious) hobbyist photographer and I know far more than the Jessops staff I've spoken to in many shops across south-east England and London. Their incompetence is staggering.
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I appreciate your disclaimer, 'badgerlover'.

I'm a Jessops employee. I hope that from my website and the photographs on there you appreciate that I am both knowledgeable and experienced.

My photographs aren't outstanding, but they are good enough.
 
I've found the staff in the Trafford Centre store (Manchester) to be quite knowledgeable from my dealings with them. Admittedly I'm not as experienced as most of the people in this thread, but I never picked up on any lack of knowledge. Unfortunately their price for a 70-200mm F/4L was £35 more than another highstreet retailer and £80 more than a certain eBay retailer. As a poor student I can't justify wasting that much money.

As mentioned above it seems to be a lack of understanding, training and diversification across the board that will ultimately lead to their downfall. However, I don't think it would take much to turn their fortunes around.

A consolidation back to fewer stores to reduce overheads, an overhaul of top-level management, staff trainnig to ensure everybody is at the same level and research into what people are actually buying and they'd be on the road to recovery imo.
 
IanFlaherty said:
I've found the staff in the Trafford Centre store (Manchester) to be quite knowledgeable from my dealings with them. Admittedly I'm not as experienced as most of the people in this thread, but I never picked up on any lack of knowledge. Unfortunately their price for a 70-200mm F/4L was £35 more than another highstreet retailer and £80 more than a certain eBay retailer. As a poor student I can't justify wasting that much money.

As mentioned above it seems to be a lack of understanding, training and diversification across the board that will ultimately lead to their downfall. However, I don't think it would take much to turn their fortunes around.

A consolidation back to fewer stores to reduce overheads, an overhaul of top-level management, staff trainnig to ensure everybody is at the same level and research into what people are actually buying and they'd be on the road to recovery imo.
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If only mate! If only!
That's exactly what they need.
 
foodpoison, if Jessops do go under, can I put in a request for you to bagsy me a Sigmonster in Nikon fit please? They always seem to be in stock ;) :D

Just kidding. I like having a local store where you can walk in and get the feel of a (camera :naughty: ) body. I hope they survive.
 
Kev M said:
I'm sure I heard recently tht Argos aren't looking too hot in the financial department either and of the stores you mention I'd bet my salary that in general their staff know even less about cameras than the Jessops staff everyone complains about.
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Argos have no problems at all, but Home Retail Group devalued Homebase by £500m which is where the percieved loss is coming from. Homebase is still making a profit and Argos were (as of a couple of months ago when I last saw) were showing growth on last year but not as much as they were forecasting.
 
I think you would have NO PROBLEM getting a job in another retailer with your knowledge, experience and customer manner. It just might not be local to you.

Grays of Westminster have been doing quite well over the years, with a world wide reputation. They have many overseas customers, even in the States, where the $/£ exchange hasn't always been great. Why? Knowledge and customer service.

They are so nice about taking your money off you!
 
Grays are super. And they have a very nice young lady working there, if memory serves :thumbs: :D
 
Personally as someone who works for a large UK camera company it upsets me when people go after jessops as aside from theyre own doing, it is mainly photographers who are killing the high st. Look at how many people have listed alternate prices on here. It is true, the evidence is here. Also, a lot of photographers are happy to use shops as a stock library and browse goods, but never put the hand in the pocket.

Jessops are endemic of most high st. shops in that they fish for CV's, often have walk in CV's and they need to staff a shop. BUT there is no need to slaughter young kids for that what so ever.

I tell you what, very few people have ay idea of what managing a camera shop is like. Books need balancing in both profit and turover, you need the right stock at the right time and to be honest, there is more money from selling 5 tamron lenses than 1 Canon L lens. I think as photographers we should all be fighting to keep shops alive, not rubbish them on the internet.

At the end of the day, misinformation is rife in every industry. I mean, I would have put out a different team to Alex Ferguson and won the cup - simple.
 
I've got to say, the two Jessops I have used are both terrible, although the staff can be pretty good. I went in to one yesterday and had a chat with one of the staff about primes vs zooms and he seemed pretty knowledgeable, then it went to trying a few primes to see what they were like, 50mm f/1.8 "in the display", 50mm f/1.4 "not in stock", 85mm f/1.8 "not in stock", 100mm f/2.8 "not in stock"... In fact with at least one of those lenses they only had one in the entire country.

I also had a look at tripods, they had about 6, 4 own brands, a gorilla pod and a 190XB, monopods they had 2. Then on to bags, they had loads for P&S but only 2 for SLR's. Their entire stock was geared towards cheap stuff, with almost nothing over around £200, now I can see that that stuff sells more but not having anything else in stock is just stupid. I also asked them about printing, and almost fainted at the price.

Almost all of these problems IMO are, as others have said, due to the size of their shops, both tiny, with just one wall for lenses (about 20 from Nikon, Canon, Sony and Sigma on display).

On the other hand I also have Digital Depot (a supposed online store) just down the road, and although it isn't the cheapest generally it has almost every lens under £3000 in stock as well as a huge range of tripods and bags.

Jessops IMO is one of the prime shops for the reason no one shops on the highstreet any more for electronics, too expensive, generaly clueless staff and not enough actual stock.
 
I buy from warehouse express online and avoid jessops for precisely the reason of quality service!
They have couriered me replacement items before, without me having to send back the faulty item first. I've always been thrilled with them.

Every jessops i've been in i've felt like i should be telling the staff what i know about their products instead of them serving me. They never have what i want in stock at their high street stores either.


Lensflare said:
It doesn't surprise me in the slightest. Many people are short sighted and look for the cheapest deal, which isn't necessarily the BEST deal.

I won't touch on line shops with a barge pole. Many are outside UK law and if you have a problem you have a problem. A few quid extra for a product from a reputable, UK, dealer is actually far better value, just a little dearer.

I was away on shoot in Ireland and had a disaster, I lost my entire camera bag overboard doing a rough water shoot, everything was lost, including that days work. Luckily the day before was safe in the fridge (this was in the days of film, so about 3 years ago). I have an account with Calumet, they are always very competitive if not actually the cheapest. I phoned my branch (Birmingham) who I have a good personal relationship with. At that time I was booking something like £500-£600 worth film a month and had made my major purchases with them too. On hearing my plight, they couriered a set of gear to me, a body and a selection of lenses - F5, 28-70AFS, 80-200AFS and a 17-35AFS and a couple of SB80DXs plus a load of film. It was with me the next day on the basis of "we'll sort the paperwork out when you get back next week".

Try getting service like that from some internet shop......how much was it worth in terms of £20 saved on individual items? PRICELESS. They saved me thousands by doing that.

If you want the retailers around that give you good service, you have to keep them in business for them to be there to give the service. If you only take from them (advice, ability to try stuff out etc) then go and buy it somewhere else by clicking a few clicks...don't complain when there is nobody left to help you out.
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The number one rule in business is that you have be able to change and adapt to an ever changing market. It's no good reminiscing of the days before online shopping as that's simply refusing to accept the world is now a different place. It's not the consumers' responsibility to ensure retail chains remain in business and while I empathise with Jessops and other stores suffering the same issues I'm afraid it's a case of their having to evaluate their existing model and make changes where needed to stay in business. I would say that 90% of consumers will always be led by their wallets. You can complain it's 'not right', 'short sighted', or whatever you like, but ultimately those are the facts. To remain profitable and viable you need to compete.

On the question of service I think it's naive at best and just plain misinformation at worst to suggest you only get first class service from retail outlets. There are most definitely great online companies out there that provide excellent service, some of which I use myself. As the online market becomes more and more competitive and prices between the online e-tailers are more or less the same then consumers will seek to find other differentiators, such as the organisation's reputed customer service, warranty, even delivery costs. Competition will drive customer service.
 
Amp34 said:
I've got to say, the two Jessops I have used are both terrible, although the staff can be pretty good. I went in to one yesterday and had a chat with one of the staff about primes vs zooms and he seemed pretty knowledgeable, then it went to trying a few primes to see what they were like, 50mm f/1.8 "in the display", 50mm f/1.4 "not in stock", 85mm f/1.8 "not in stock", 100mm f/2.8 "not in stock"... In fact with at least one of those lenses they only had one in the entire country.
Their entire stock was geared towards cheap stuff, with almost nothing over around £200, now I can see that that stuff sells more but not having anything else in stock is just stupid.
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That's because cheap stuff is what sells - shelves full of £3000 lenses might look great but if most of the punters you get through the door have £200 to spend then stocking them is a waste of time.

There's no simple answer to Jessops' woes, the supermarkets have encroached on the lower end of the market and online retailers are stealing market share on dslrs and the more specialised stuff.

Staff are seemingly to be given the option to go part time or be made redundant, as part of a cost-cutting drive, but even that isn't going to make a great deal of difference.

The company will continue losing money, just like many other high street retailers, until the economy picks up.


Hopefully they can hang on that long......
 
I personally wouldn't miss Jessops at all. It'd be sad for the employees no doubt but the actual company has rarely been of any use to me and has not been competitive in the slightest. The high street died for me with the film days. :(
 
Flash In The Pan said:
That's because cheap stuff is what sells - shelves full of £3000 lenses might look great but if most of the punters you get through the door have £200 to spend then stocking them is a waste of time.

There's no simple answer to Jessops' woes, the supermarkets have encroached on the lower end of the market and online retailers are stealing market share on dslrs and the more specialised stuff.

Staff are seemingly to be given the option to go part time or be made redundant, as part of a cost-cutting drive, but even that isn't going to make a great deal of difference.

The company will continue losing money, just like many other high street retailers, until the economy picks up.


Hopefully they can hang on that long......
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Very true, but they do market themselves as a more professional camera shop, instead of a do it all like Curries and Comet so should still stock the more expensive range, even if in less quantities. However the lenses I was looking at weren't exactly £3000 ones, they were reasonably cheap (but not cheap, cheap, bigish sellers that you would expect to have in stock at all times. Not having the medium market as well as the low level market in stock is just stupid for a store like Jessops.

And let's be honest, Jessops have been struggling for years, even in the "good" times they were struggling, this recession is not the cause of their woes and when we come out the other side it isn't going to help them either.
 
I got my 5Dmk2 from jessops lol

they had it in stock at a decent price so no big deal buying it from there but for a lot of stuff they are just not competitive
 
Flash In The Pan said:
Funny, all but two of my recent cameras have come from Jessops because they were the cheapest in the country (and local). The only reason the other two didn't was because Jessops had no stock.....
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Search harder m8.. I've moved away from high street retail ages ago and never looked back.

My 1D MKIII from calumet was an emergency purchase, as my MKII died just before a month long trip to Spain and my regular online had no stock. I paid (June 2007) £3000 at Calumet (same price at jessops) .. my online store had it listed for £2600. That's £400 of real money m8.

As I buy 2 -3 pieces of equipment a year (be it a lens, flash heads, backgrounds or whatever) and I am not rich, I will go to whomever has the best deal. High street retail and professional Photo stores alike :cuckoo:, need to wake up and smell the coffee.
 
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