So now Debenhams is closing down joining so many other high street retailers, and creating another huge surge in UK unemployments statistics, over 25,000 jobs lost in one shot.
Who is to blame, is it in this case the Management of Debenhams, was their pricing policy too high their product offerings out of date, I think in both questions the answer would be NO.
Maybe an element of blame can go to them for not keeping up to date with consumer spending trends, but then again if they did that surely they would have just closed down and started an on line service a la Amazon?
It’s a classic catch 22, screwed if you do and screwed if you don’t.
So who else can we point the fickle finger of blame at?
Maybe us the consumers?
Isn’t it the case in todays throw away fast food world we want everything yesterday, in fact we want it before its even been invented, it’s no coincidence that two “services” have thrived in this environment and continue to grow, one being Amazon and Jeff’s bank balance, (I’ll come back to that in a moment) and the other is food delivery services.
Take these delivery services, the reality is, it is absolutely not possible to receive a meal in the same quality as being served where it was cooked , fresh food does not compare to being cooked stuck in a big bag and then on the back of a moped rider for 15 minutes travelling through rain sleet hail snow traffic fumes, smog and maybe an occasional blast of sunshine.
It really is impossible, but what do we do, we just keep on ordering more and more because quite frankly we have become lazy, tired and thrive on convenience, even when the product is second rate.
The other factor that amazes me is when so called “Celebrities” take to Social Media to blast the poor service of “Just feet” “Deliverpoo” or Macdonnies” and whoever else is providing the service, of course its rubbish and cold when it arrives to you at 123 Nowhere St. Suburbia, how do you think it gets there? Lear Jets?
Elon Musk hyper-loops aren’t in popular use yet, and even then it will only help you if you live on the tracks….
So basically instead of us taking time to go out and eat quality, we sit in and eat rubbish, and lots of it.
Now to Amazon !!!
You order something on line from a picture, clothes would be my personal favourite and don’t you just love those fitting guides, so easy to use, as a quick aside, recently I ordered from one of these made to measure T Shirt companies, I used their guide and sat back and waited to receive the best T shirt I would ever buy, well it took 4 weeks to arrive and when it did it may have been made to measure but it certainly wasn’t made to measure me….
How many times have you done something similar, order something and then that classic expression kicks in “Anticipation and Reality are not words born as twins”
Hey presto some package arrives and its rubbish the best torch ever with a 50,000 candle power, fine except they must have all burnt out, because I can’t see a thing with it.
The highest power zoom lens where you can see people eating on another continent, well not quite, maybe in next doors garden on a light evening, familiar?
We’ve all done it, go on admit it.
You have a package somewhere that you ordered, its rubbish and yet you couldn’t be bothered to send it back so you threw it in the cupboard where it still sits today, maybe waiting for somebodies birthday to give it to them as a hugely personal gift.
You know you have.
Instead of getting up and going to the high street where you can physically touch things and check them, you can try on clothes before you buy them, no we sit on our backsides and use our phone to shop, AI, hahah really.
So why is Debenhams closing, why are High Streets disappearing, why are small independent restaurants going bust?
Because of us, we have become lazy and convenient, and then we compound these wonderful qualities with accepting rubbish and the wrong product, and paying in full for them.
Farewell Debenhams, you have now become yet another statistic, you will be missed.
Sadly I don’t think you actually had a chance, it was only ever a question of when.