On Thu, 10 Apr 2008 08:44:04 +0100, Rod
wrote:


So agreed. As the plumbers merchants (and so on) already charge a
premium - by not giving a discount on an individual transaction, not
giving as big a discount, not giving a discount on the monthly
cumulative spend, not providing credit facilities, etc. - they
effectively turn away the people who pay the highest prices.

Sometimes yes.

And what makes (or should make) good customer service important to
them is the fact that in many cases people are just looking for (say)
a plumbers merchant so don't need to go to a shed where 'everything is
under one roof'.[1]

I was just thinking on and maybe in this case the shop is just their
own store for their own plumbers, so the general public dropping in
and interfering with their day isn't actually what they want? I can't
think that's the case though, not unless they are getting pretty good
deals on their rent for a high street shop where a small unit
somewhere would do?

All the best ..

T i m

[1] Like with food shopping where you would probably want fish, meat,
bread, vegetables, beer (and cleaning products etc) all in one go.