PC World (retailer)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- This article is about PC World, the UK computer retailer. For the British magazine, Personal Computer World, see Personal Computer World.
| PC World | |
 |
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| Type | Part of DSG International plc |
|---|---|
| Founded | November 1991 |
| Headquarters | Hemel Hempstead, United Kingdom |
| Key people | Keith Jones (Managing Director, PC World since April 2005), Jerry Roest (Managing Director, PC World Business since 2006) Simon Turner (Group Managing Director, Computing and Communications since April 2004) |
| Industry | Retail |
| Products | Information technology |
| Revenue | n/a (see DSG International plc for group revenue.) |
| Employees | 5,528 (2005) |
| Slogan | The Best Of Both Worlds (also "Internet prices to take home today") |
| Website | http://www.pcworld.co.uk/ http://www.pcwb.com/ |
PC World is one of Britain's largest chain of mass-market computer superstores[citation needed]. It is part of DSG International plc (formerly Dixons Group plc). PC World operates under the brand name PC City in Spain, France, Italy and Sweden.
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[edit] History
In November 1991, Vision Technology Group Ltd opened the first PC World store in Croydon. When Dixons Group plc (now DSG International plc) purchased the chain in 1993, there were four PC World stores in existence. There followed a period of expansion as more stores were opened across the country. This expansion was partly driven by a series of acquisitions beginning with DN Computer Services plc in 1996, followed by Byte Computer Superstores Ltd in 1998 and, more recently, Micro Warehouse in June 2004.
PC World Business was launched in September 1997. This is a separate area of the company which is a leading specialist provider of IT solutions to business and the public sector. Since March 2001, PC World Business has been based in Bury, Greater Manchester and has its own management team.
The company employs in excess of 2,000 people and supplies products and services to more than one third of all UK businesses and public sector organisations.
[edit] PC World today
As of March 2006, there are 161 PC World stores in the UK and Ireland. Sales in 2004/2005 (including PC World Business) were £1,695 million.
The superstores offer ranges of consumer-oriented PCs, laptops, printers, software, peripherals and accessories from major brands, as well as many PC Line (DSG stores' own-brand) products.
All stores have a "PC Clinic", which offers advice and services. Some stores also have a "Component Centre" area, which contains more basic PC components such as motherboards, hard drives and cases.
PC World stores also offer consultation to business customers.
Every PC World store can trade under GCAT Terms & Conditions until September 2006. Beginning in May 2006, all PC World Stores will be able to trade under the new government framework agreement, Catalist.
From September 2006, PC World UK will assume management control of its French subsidiary. PC World in the UK is also due to undergo a style change in early 2007, including a new logo, staff uniforms and store layouts as part of its image rebranding program. The new changes have been trialled at the Brentford, Colchester and Portsmouth branches of PC World.
- In November 2006 the new style changes were implimented again, within a new store in Southampton
[edit] Collect@Store
Collect@Store is the online reservation service currently provided by PC World.
A person wishing to purchase a product from PC World can access The PC World website beforehand. Products may be purchased online (at the online price - PC World has different prices online and in-store for many items, possibly due to increase competition online) and then collected at a PC World branch. The web site checks availability at nearby stores first, to avoid the customer wasting a journey. Once the purchase is complete, the customer is asked to collect the item within 48 hours.
The use the Collect@Store service, a customer first locates the item they want online. If it has a "collect in store" check mark, it is eligable for the service. Not all items are available to collect. When at the online checkout, the customer can select the Collect@Store service instead of a postal service. The customer then enters their postcode, and is shown the closest stores to them and availability of the product at those stores. Once a selection has been made, the customer is given a code which can be used to collect the item at the selected branch. Customers are asked to leave a minimum of one hour before arriving at the store, but not more than 48.
[edit] The Connected Home
In late 2006, PC World launched The Connected Home (warning: Flash site) which aims to sell new technology and services to customers based on media centre/home entertainment PCs. The packages include optional widescreen LCD and Plasma televisions, projectors and screens, amplifiers and speaker systems as well as computers and networking.
[edit] Criticisms
PC World has attracted criticism in a number of areas. Common complaints include:
- Lack of genuine computer knowledge amongst staff [1][2]
- Sales-oriented culture that pressurises staff into promoting more expensive goods, regardless of suitability, and often with misleading or incorrect information (see false advertising below)
- Aggressive promotion of extended warranties (also known as insurance and support packages) that are considered poor value for money by many
- Poor after sales service, especially if no insurance/support package is taken. Customers are also required to use out-sourced, national rate telephone support for hardware issues or premium rate (£1.00/minute, except for set-up which is 75p/minute) telephone support for software issues.
- Lack of choice or availability of individual computer components, rendering the store of limited value to more computer savvy consumers
- Overpriced goods when compared with equivalent independent retailer or on-line prices, for all but out-of-the box PC system
- Disparity in pricing between PC World stores, the PC World website and other shops owned by the Dixons group
- The use of low-priced lures to sell high margin items, for example cheap ink-jet printers but expensive printer cables and ink.
- False advertising, PC World; in 2005 after 56 complaints from viewers, was forced to remove an advert that gave misinformation about wireless networking. [3] There have also been numerous other complaints over ads, particularly regarding goods advertised but not actually available in the stores. [4] [5]
Similar criticisms have been aimed at other retailers in the DSG group (including Dixons and Currys).
[edit] Gary Glitter
In 1997 Gary Glitter took his PC into a branch of PC World in Bristol for repair, where child pornography was found on the machine. PC World informed the police, and Glitter was subsequently charged and convicted of possession of child pornography. This triggered a debate over how the images were discovered[citation needed], as it is unclear whether the repair work that Glitter's machine required would have necessitated access to the hard drive with images being discovered by accident, or whether PC World staff accessed the contents of the hard drive when they had no legitimate reason to do so, either as a routine activity performed on all customers machines, or performed on Glitter's due to his celebrity status.
[edit] External links
- The official PC World website
- The official PC World Business Portal Page website
- "The Connected Home" website
- Customer feedback on PC World, at Ciao.co.uk
- The Tech Guys (The new name for Mastercare, PC Service Call, and Press F1 stores)
