DIY trying to find B&Q info

Capri

Just researching materials for a project, went to my local Woodies and sussed what I needed but decided to go on-line to compare with B&Q - B&Q don't seem to give a fiddlers about Ireland, all they have are 3 lousy brochures http://www.diy.com/diy/ireland/ ,but if you go to the UK site they have everything you could want http://www.diy.com/shop , and I suppose their prices are higher too down here. They'd have been better staying up in 'Norn Iron' and let the punters go up the M1. I don't know why UK co's come here and then only provide 50% of the service they give to their UK customers :mad:

slimjimmc

Simple economics.
Ireland has a population of 4.5m, UK has 64m people and 10 times the population density. It's natural they can afford to carry a wider range of items in the UK when they have 14 times the market on their doorstep.

You'll most likely get a better price on many materials if you deal directly with the likes of timber yards and builders providers rather than the likes of Woodies / B&Q.

DublinDilbert

If your looking for prices on hardware for projects Goodwins website is a good place to start: http://www.goodwins.ie/

If your not near goodwins, locate a proper building providers near where you are, they should be much the same price for most stuff. Also plumbing supplies will always be cheaper from a plumbing wholesalers and electrical from an electrical wholesalers.

lgk

B&Q sell most stuff here they do in the UK, most of the exceptions are where the use Irish sources equivalent products. They just don't waste too much money on a fully functioning Irish site as the scale of the Irish market means it wouldn't pay. Anything not in store can be ordered for you. They can be pricey enough as it is without having to charge more to subsidise a site of that scale on top of some stores already struggling to survive.

As others have said, you'll often be better off going to a proper builders providers, plumbers merchant or electrical wholesalers, you won't find too many of them have much at all in the way of online catalogues though.

Jimmy_M

Brooks (brooksgroup.ie) have a half decent website now.
As mentioned - goodwins.ie ive also used.

And build4less.ie i have used aswell - i could be wrong but i think they piggy-back onto existing builders providers. I ordered off it before and got a chadwicks delivery truck and docket.

Being a DIYer and kind of knowing what you want or knowing what you want looks like..... without knowing what its called or the "standard" proportions it comes in....I often use the online stores to research and get an idea of price.
Even if you dont intend using the site, It makes it easier to ring around or go into a place when you know what its called or what size it comes in

Capri

lgk wrote: »

B&Q sell most stuff here they do in the UK, most of the exceptions are where the use Irish sources equivalent products. They just don't waste too much money on a fully functioning Irish site as the scale of the Irish market means it wouldn't pay. Anything not in store can be ordered for you. They can be pricey enough as it is without having to charge more to subsidise a site of that scale on top of some stores already struggling to survive.

As others have said, you'll often be better off going to a proper builders providers, plumbers merchant or electrical wholesalers, you won't find too many of them have much at all in the way of online catalogues though.

That's the 'Catch 22' isn't it, instead of traipsing around for most of a morning going to A,B,C etc., B&Q / Woodies etc put it all in one place in a big warehouse,you can get plenty of ideas walking around the place and it saves you time and money driving around/cancelled out by their higher prices (E7 for 10 disposable gloves/E3 for 100 from a catering suppliers !). I'd love to buy local IF the smaller places put themselves on-line but ....:(

rolion

Capri wrote: »

That's the 'Catch 22' isn't it, instead of traipsing around for most of a morning going to A,B,C etc., B&Q / Woodies etc put it all in one place in a big warehouse,you can get plenty of ideas walking around the place and it saves you time and money driving around/cancelled out by their higher prices (E7 for 10 disposable gloves/E3 for 100 from a catering suppliers !). I'd love to buy local IF the smaller places put themselves on-line but ....:(

Spot on...

The beauty with retail shops is that you can walk and find materials for an idea of yours. Personal, i found myself that I don't know what I want / need, but I surely find in the above mentioned shops, on the shelves.
The websites or specialised trading shops, you need to know what you order, otherwise they will threat you as a "Saturday customer" !

Prices reflects that...

Any way, have fun...

lgk

The problem is the smaller local places can't afford to put themselves online in any meaningful way. A full eCommerce website is a very expensive animal to run. There's no small local places that can afford the hundreds of thousands per annum plus to do so along with increased processing fees as well.

For product research, try the manufacturer websites to get an idea of what's out there.

grogi

lgk wrote: »

The problem is the smaller local places can't afford to put themselves online in any meaningful way. A full eCommerce website is a very expensive animal to run. There's no small local places that can afford the hundreds of thousands per annum plus to do so along with increased processing fees as well.

For product research, try the manufacturer websites to get an idea of what's out there.

Full blown eCommerce site that allows orders etc. is expensive. It needs warehouses, people to pack the stuff up, logistics etc.

A simple catalogue that reflects the prices from the registers is not.

lgk

grogi wrote: »

Full blown eCommerce site that allows orders etc. is expensive. It needs warehouses, people to pack the stuff up, logistics etc.

A simple catalogue that reflects the prices from the registers is not.

You're still talking hundreds of thousands a year just to do that. The few who have tried it have given it up as it didn't cover the cost. How many staff does it take to enter in tens of thousands of stock lines, with full descriptions, images and specifications, and keep all that information up to date in an industry where the manufacturers and distributors don't make it easy?

Most of the ones who still do it, (take a look at Woodworkers for example), have scaled back what they offer and now only cover a small fraction of their stock lines on their websites.

grogi

lgk wrote: »

You're still talking hundreds of thousands a year just to do that.

You're clearly right - but we're talking about two different things clearly.

I was talking about only following things to be listed:
* EAN - which a seller has for barcodes scanners
* Name - same story - it needs to be listed in the receipt/invoice
* Price - they definately know that
* In-stock status - half decent warehouse will know that as well already

All the data is already in their systems, would need to be transferred to the on-line system.

That's far than enough for saving them loads of phone calls asking for prices, availability and save customers loads of trips as well.

lgk

My point is that it will still cost a lot more to even to something that basic for a non-national chain DIY / builders merchants that it will earn. If that wasn't the case, they'd all be doing it and the likes of Woodworkers and Decwells wouldn't have dramatically scaled back or abandoned doing it.

Let's face it, the bread and butter of any proper builders providers is commercial builders, they already know what they want and have personal relationships with their local providers. General DIYers who want to shop or browse online are more likely to be guided by price, smaller providers can't compete there.

Bonzo Delaney

+1 on the Goodwins site great detail , selection , and fairly on the ball pricing in line with other major hardware suppliers. It my go to site for pricing work and I try and give them the business when I'm local to them.
I often wonder how they run such a detailed site with only 2 outlets. To cover the cost if it.

DublinDilbert

Bonzo Delaney wrote: »

+1 on the Goodwins site great detail , selection , and fairly on the ball pricing in line with other major hardware suppliers. It my go to site for pricing work and I try and give them the business when I'm local to them.
I often wonder how they run such a detailed site with only 2 outlets. To cover the cost if it.

Yea its a good website, I'd say its definitely worth their while. Remember the website is open 24/7, so if someone is pricing a job they can look up everything they need. The site is tied into their stock system, so possibly much of the information is pulled from there.

There is probably only one employee looking after the web end of things. I know in mulhuddard they made the store bigger to have more on display and get more of the general public in.

Calahonda52

Capri wrote: »

I don't know why UK co's come here and then only provide 50% of the service they give to their UK customers :mad:

I presume u meant product and not service, which is zero in the British Isles