I have written a few articles on Edgars over the past year all fairly negitive regarding its future. In summary the business is drowning in debt and has completely lost focus and direction on its core function, which is to be a retailer.
In its current state it simply cannot compete with new up to date retailers such as H&M/Zara etc arriving in Edgars back yard and making them look like amatures. Taking market share from Edgars is so easy for the new kids on the block as Edgars simply has no vision or ability to defend its turf.
A friend of mine told me this week his wife went into the Edgars in the V&A Waterfront to buy a pair of shoes she had seen on a previous visit to the store. She spoke to three sales associates in the shoe department to request her size in the shoe she wanted. Each time she was told by the sales associate, sorry I can’t help you I don’t work for the shoe brand you are asking for.
How ridiculous! A customer with cash in her purse willing to purchase from this store and give Edgars an urgently needed sale but no one can go and fetch the pair of shoes from the stockroom.
How can this happen! Edgars have adopted a model of allowing brands to rent some space on the shop floor with the arrangement being the brand will own the stock, not Edgars, and pay for the sales associate to sell that brands merchandise. For example Aldo shoes will put its own merchandise and its own staff into the store to sell Aldo shoes only. This will be repeated by Steve Madden shoes and again by Converse shoes etc etc.
When the customer arrives and wants to buy a pair of shoes from the Dune range, she is refused service by the Aldo sales associate, and the Steve Madden sales associate and again by the Converse sales associate. Edgars have reduced its own staff to a level where they are never available to serve a customer. So after three refusals, the customer walks out and Edgars loose out again.
Only this week British Home Stores in the United Kingdom announced it was going into administration putting 11,000 jobs at risk. This is a very old company and in its hey day was the number one competitor to Marks and Spencer’s. So don’t think it cannot happen to big companies. Edgars your time is fast approaching…….. You have been warned.
enjoy your shopping.
