I wonder if B&Q ever considered how much their website harms their brick & mortar stores. I used to check the B&Q website before going to the store to see if they had what I want in stock, but now the website is a "market place", which means 95% of the stuff on there is never available in store - its mostly sold online and shipped by third parties. There's no way to filter out this crap, so now I can't check if I'll have a wasted journey, so I go to their competitors' stores instead.
@steve we did exactly this on Sunday. Wanted a new hosepipe. Was passing B&Q so thought I'd check the website before I left. Found what I wanted but it turned out it was delivery only. Found another and that too was delivery only. Drove straight past B&Q and went to Screwfix after checking their site and seeing exactly what we wanted and that it was in stock.
I hadn't realised, until you mentioned it, that they'd turned their website into a marketplace. I won't bother using it or them again.
@NAB Of course, Screwfix and B&Q are the same company. :)
It does seem weird - seems like they have missed what people use their website for. If people want something by mail order from a random seller, I imagine they will go to Amazon, Ebay or Aliexpress first. Whereas some people will order online from B&Q because they trust the brand, some for click & collect, and I imagine the majority are just stock-checking before going to the store. Making the website a marketplace serves none of these.
@NAB Oddly enough, the website lets you filter out things that can't be delivered directly to your home, but won't let you filter out stuff that isn't in the store. Its almost like they are trying to push everything online, which completely misses what I've always used B&Q for.
@steve
As a former retail clerk/mgr/districtmgr/director, the largest expenses are real estate/wages and theft. Largest loss risk? Inside theft by employees. Profit is king, eliminate those expenses and profits increase. Yes, at the expense of Customer Service. I laugh everytime I enter a store where there is no inventory, no staff. The company just waiting for lease to expire so they can close location. Online is where it will stay. Only boutique retail will survive. Final Mile is your PC.
@Soupy51 When I'm in the middle of a job and need a tool / piece of ardware / etc right now I am not going to order online from some random supplier that happens to be selling through B&Q's website and wait a week for the delivery. I'm going to drive to the local DIY store and pick it up within a few minutes. I can either drive to B&Q, having been unable to check the stock first, or I can drive to a competitor that I know has it in stock because they have a website that tells me.
@Soupy51 FWIW, B&Q's website is actually really good for stuff that is sold in the stores - it tells me how many items are in stock at each store, and which aisle they are on. The problem is that they have turned it into a "market place" for random other companies to sell online-only, and there is no way to filter them out. All they need to do is have an option to filter out products that aren't sold in the stores.
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