RIP Wickes

Well, let's be realistic here. It's a bit unlikely that anybody would pay several hundred pounds for a 100m reel of 2.5mm T&E.

Therein lies the problem. Wickes is a retail store. The great British public expects to pay the price that the retailer chooses to ask without questioning it. Moreover, staff at retailers are not really expecting that anyone would try to ask for a better price and don't know how to deal with it. They can price match because there's a defined procedure but that's about it.

In effect, they are tucking up the unaware on a grand scale because people for whatever reason find it embarassing to reject the offered price and ask for something better.

OTOH, trade outlets in one sense are what it says on the tin - i.e. for trade customers. However, they speak out of both sides of their mouths because they are also willing to sell retail.

If the seller sells at list price and the customer is willing to pay it happily then nobody has been tucked up because both were happy about the transaction.

However, if the customer indicates that he will only do the deal at a price of List-40% then the supplier has the choice to accept or not. As long as he is making some margin and achieving minimum margin and revenue guidelines defined by his company, both can still be happy about the situation. Generally I find trade counter staff very easy to ask for a better price. On a collection of items, I focus on the higher ticket items and let them go nearer to list on the smaller ones.