Magnet & reality are Poles apart

I am sure the majority of the KBB world and the buying public watched Channels 4's Britain's Secret Shoppers last night (28/02/13), this covered various tips on how to haggle for a discount when buying goods on the high street, hosted by the charming and smiling Justin Preston @justinmeatmogul on Twitter.

Most of us agree as Justin informed us that we pay more for the same goods in this country than the citizens of the USA do, I do not know how much the running costs are for business premises are in the states but here in the UK they are certainly expensive. A lot of companies may well overprice goods to maximise their profits to pay for the extortionate rents & rates and other numerous overheads that we have to tend with and then there are companies that knowingly hyper inflate their retail prices knowing that they will give a perceived massive discount, up to 60/70% off and "must end this weekend", further still "Now extended for seven days only plus an extra 20% off", this seems to be the accepted norm for our retail sectors, it must be that us as a consumer expect to see these offers before we will buy anything. What happened to the notion that we pay for goods based on their true value and perceived value for money.

Last night's Channel 4 show of "Britain's Secret Shoppers" gave a scenario of a young couple doing up the whole house and had a wish list for a kitchen that even her partner was surprised at given their budget (which we did not know yet). When Justin & his camera crew arrived even he was a little surprised of the small budget and the larger size of the kitchen than he thought it was going to be, but hey ho lets see what we can do.

The really big surprise in this for me was not the £7300 discount that Magnet gave because as we all know in this industry as I said earlier multiples stack the prices to offer big discounts the big surprise was it was not a secret shopping trip, the couple went into a Magnet showroom with Justin and camera crew and he introduced himself ad then went and sat in the car with his ear piece, so this actually under a trade the Trade Description act would probably get slated because there was nothing secret about it.
The couple picked what looked like an expensive painted wood kitchen and solid wood worktops plus a large wish list to boot. I cant really comment on the plan of the kitchen because that was very brief in the scheme of things but for then to go off to Wren Kitchens to get a like for like quote on the Magnet kitchen bared all the signs of how stupid some people can be in the misleading stakes, because the Wren kitchen that they had the like for like quote on bared no resemblance to the Magnet product nor their remaining wish list.
That is not the fault of Wren kitchens, the salesperson told them what he had similar and then went on to price their like for like plan, but this just showed how the couples perception of what they really wanted and what they thought they wanted were poles apart, but saying that Wren were being used as a price comparison only because their dream kitchen was in Magnet. The question needs to be asked why Wren agreed to take part in the show, was it just to show that they are cheaper than Magnet in which case they succeeded.
Then back to Magnet, the "Designers" comments went something like I can see you are wanting to get a lower price for the kitchen, So far OK, he then said something like, (wait for the corny salesman line) "Well that kitchen has just come on a special offer and we can bring it down to £11.5k (I think he said). This time with Justin outside they were being coerced into asking for a lot more discount only this time in a blink of an eye the "Designer" said we can do it for £6600, after telling them it had come on offer for the £11.5k. If that was me my credibility would have gone straight out of the window & I would have been very embarrassed.
Still not happy they ended up getting the kitchen for £5500, only £500 pound more than their original budget with the promise of a bottle of wine thrown in (I normally get the wine as a thank you when we finish the stunning job).
So Magnet started off with £12,800, obviously very well overpriced, then to knock off approx £1300, which is in the realms of possibility if they did have a promotion start between the 1st visit and them going back, but to then get a further massive £6000 knocked off without any haggling (which is what the show is about) was absolutely astounding.
This just shows how stupid some consumers are in believing the huge pre sale discounts in the 1st place and how stupid Magnet are for making themselves look like mugs. Not so long ago MFI went bust not for the 1st time because in the end they sold kitchens at virtual cost just to get the sale, this was to keep the cash flow coming in but it did not cover any of the massive overheads a company like MFI and Magnet have, All's that will happen now is that anybody who watched the show who is in the market for a kitchen will just try and take Magnet to the cleaners, they will also try it at other KBB retailers too, because let's face it the other multiples do exactly the same I know this for an absolute fact. The people that will be hit are the "Designer salespeople and employees of the said companies" as they will get no or reduced commission but ultimately the company will put itself in such a difficult financial position that they will end up shrinking the company and its costs by way of job losses, true the idea of the show was to haggle prices down for the consumer and that what it did, but at what cost to the reputation of the KBB market by the way the UK Government endorsed Trustmark status is clearly displayed by Magnet, so can you Trust them and other KBB retailers not to rip you off, the answer is yes, at the hundreds if not thousands of independent KBB retailers out there who offer great products, great design, advice and service at a reasonable and value for money cost and who the majority of will not make you and them look like fools.
The owners of Magnet kitchen if they watched the show must have steam coming out of their ears, I cant wait for their next annual report on sales and profits.
Russell Buckley