PC Retail

What's the best thing about working for an internet retailer?
Play.com itself is a great place to work, a growing, privately-owned British company where you can have a direct impact on the business.

Having worked for DSGi and Woolworths before Play.com, the best thing about internet retailing is that you've only got one shop and one warehouse, and you know who all your customers are.

Gone are the issues over slow selling stock in the wrong stores, never mind the costs of having to distribute across multiple warehouses. Internet retailing is very dynamic and responsive, my team can directly control the experience the customer has, be that through imagery, product description or pricing.

Every change we make is immediate. If a manufacturer launches a product or repositions in the market we can implement the necessary changes with immediate effect.

What has been the most popular type of technology at Play in the last year?
Play.com is a straight-up entertainment retailer, we got into electronics and PCs and such so that our customers could get something 'great to play it on'.

So outside of the stock answer of laptops, LCD TV and MP3 players which have seen huge growth with us in the last couple of years, we've seen a huge uplift in external hard drives and the latest graphics cards.

People are looking to store all of their media files in a safe place, so they don't lose them when their main system fails.

Our very strong PC games business gives us a large customer base that enjoys playing the latest games at amazing resolutions and speeds. So graphics cards and memory upgrades are still strong.

Have you seen the credit crunch affecting PC and technology sales?
Thankfully no, although I'm always nervous of predicting the future.

We've heard a lot of commentary in the media, that during a consumer slow down customers will naturally migrate to a value channel and start shopping round a bit more. Hopefully, this will come to fruition and we'll avoid the worst of any slowdown.

Which football team do you support?
Arsenal. I'm currently going through the stages of Google-ing the new teenage signings that no-one's ever heard of and convincing myself that selling our best players is not a problem for next season. I mean, just look at what we've achieved since losing Viera and Henry. Oh no, that must be another team that carried on winning.

Do you feel the independent PC stores can compete with online retailers?
Absolutely. The products that we sell can be immensely complex and confusing. Independent retailers have a number of unique advantages over the internet, the best of which is great face to face advice and installation/repair services.

We simply can't get in front of our customers like that, advise them on which product will suit their requirements and then offer to install it there and then for them. The good independents are using this very well and protecting themselves from the grocers and online, which have lower cost routes to market.

Close down the sale when you've got the customer in-store and they'll win every time. Offer lousy service and customers will simply look at the product and think there's no downside to trying online.

Do you think internet retailing will eventually replace 'traditional' High Street retailing completely?
How long have we been selling books online? Although a lot has moved online, there is still a High Street books market. The internet is a great direct sales channel, for those customers that feel comfortable with it and are technically aware enough to do the bulk of the product selection.

There has been a very strong 'off the page' channel in the UK for the last twenty years, especially in the IT arena. When I was opening PC World stores in the 90s, we were always comparing ourselves to Dell and the catalogue retailers in the PC mags.

Internet retailing is just the next logical progression of the magazine retailer, it's just faster and more dynamic, as well as a lot of fun. You can never stand still in retail; if it's not the grocers or the catalogue retailers there will always be something newer and different.

As with the comment on the good independents winning on installation and advice, there will always be a need for the simple pleasure of browsing and the instant gratification of physically shopping.

However, everyone needs to adapt to match changes in the market. If even Argos and DSGi are integrating their offerings, then most retailers will need to offer different routes to market, be it online ordering and pick-up in store the same day on the way home, or buying online with the re-assurance of a physical store to back up after sales service.

How would you respond to the assertion that for large hardware purchases, consumers prefer to get a look at the physical product rather than buying from an internet site?
From my standpoint, that's simply not what's happening! I'm doing very well with design led and high-ticket large product sales.

The customer has moved on, the number of advice magazines out there is growing daily.

We always see a direct response on sales driven by magazine reviews, be that electronics or computers, and Monday night always see a sales spike driven by the Gadget Show on TV. Now try and tell me that someone's seen it in-store at nine on a Monday night and is only buying it from us because we're cheaper!

What do you think the next big thing will be in the PC/
Technology market will be?
If I knew that, I certainly wouldn't tell you here. I'd sell it to you though! What I think is the biggest trend, is that the whole online media streaming to all of your connected devices in the home is really picking up pace. Be it BT's or Virgin's TV on demand solutions, or streaming video and music from an iTunes server.

As much as Play.com are seeing our download music store growing hugely, as an industry, we're seeing the prices and robustness of this type of technology increase year-on-year. Combine that growth in ease of use and robustness, with an increase in broadband speeds/capacity and you're potentially looking at the next killer product.

The one which can 'easily' and 'affordably' grab content and stream it out to whichever device you want to watch it on. Currently that's a PC or laptop after a download delay, that's great for the technically aware customer who will put up with the wireless link failing or the screen suddenly juddering when the microwave gets turned on.

But when was the last time you accepted that when sitting in front of your TV? I'm surprised that the Sling TV product is not on absolutely everyone's agenda. Once you've used it away from home, you're in love with it.