Why is there so little PC Shops in Ireland?

mick.fr

PC Shops is a problem here.

I regularly need PC parts and I have to buy them online because usually has what I am looking for here, and when they do, this is an obsolete part and even more expensive to what I can find online.

Of course having a shop costs a lot (Well more or less) and oline stores might save money on their operations, but still, none of the shop I have seen here has quality material, a nice range of different case vendors, motherboards...

Why is that ? Market too young or too small ?

dazftw

Im not so sure about the market being to small or big but I must say there isn't enough shops that actually have the quality goods like online stores!

Like take pc world for example here in Waterford!

There latest graphics card is like a Nvidia 7500 or something and they got all really old ones too! They have basically no motherboards or ram! They do have a nice selection of case though(even though I have never checked the make of them) they look nice lol

It would be great if there was stores like that! They would make a fortune

business idea :rolleyes:

is_that_so

I would say the answer is Dell and the major manufacturers. They make it easy and at pretty good prices for 75-80% of the population to buy PCs ready-made. In order to compete with this, alternatives either go low - cheap and generally under-powered or shiny and high - expensive.
PCs tend to have very low margins so to compensate for this they have large markups on accessories. I personally like the fact that there are so many online suppliers for the extras.

the_syco

An online retailer buys 50 graphics cards, sells them all over Ireland, and gets newer ones in. A shop will get 5 graphics cards, take a month to sell them, and then buy more.

As for "small" shops, Maplins or Peats are good, but there's no need for them elsewhere, as most folk haven't a clue on upgrading, and those that do switched to buying online, as they got sick of having to pay the same price for a card 3 months down the line, even though it has gone down to 75% online.

dazftw

I think one option would be for online retailers the likes of komplett and overclockers if they opened shops locally they would make a fortune as there already know!

but... prices would more than likely be more expensive..

is_that_so

Yes price would be a problem which in turn would "devalue the brand". I seem to recall Tiny PC doing this in Blanchardstown and it didn't last. The problem in a bricks and morter shop is always inventory cost.

Stephen

#Elites wrote:

Media Markt (http://www.mediamarkt.de/)

MediaMarkt. They've got shops all over Germany and they all have an excellent range of stuff at good prices. (They do DVD's and TV's and hifis and stuff as well as computers)

Saruman

Ok but about 82 million in Germany versus our 4 million.... thats over 20 times our population but Germany is only about 5 times bigger than the Republic so they have a much higher density of people and so more consumers for shops like these.

Also there is little real profit to be made in computers here. the company i work for makes very little on the PC's we sell... we make it on the charges for installation etc.

Overheal

Some internet cafe's dwell into the realm of PC sales and modding: keep your eyes peeled.