[SIZE=4][B]Cloud hangs over high street electronics retailing after failure of Jessops[/B][/SIZE]

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Although the signs haven't been good for a long time the news that [URL="http://dpnow.com/9082.html"]Jessops was going into administration[/URL] last Wednesday was a shock. Perhaps even more surprise was the sheer speed at which things went down hill after that. By Friday it was clear to the administrators that the entire Jessops business could not be salvaged and all Jessops stores duly closed their doors for the last time, with around 1300 staff left without jobs.

Jessops has, largely, been rightly criticised for uncompetitive pricing, poor stock selection in-store, and variable quality of in-store staff. On the other hand Jessops had worked hard to integrate their online presence with stores so you could order via the website and opt to collect your order from your local store. The website was also able to tell you which stores had what you wanted in stock. Unfortunately, in my experience my local Jessops rarely had what I wanted in stock and a special order would have cost a lot more than ordering it from Amazon or eBay.

Feedback from readers suggests that many had abandoned Jessops for a long time already. The increasing rarity of really knowledgeable staff in the stores coupled with increasing price competition from online stockists ultimately combined with a stagnation in sales of compact cameras because of smartphones. On reflection, the fact that Jessops lasted this long is, in itself, a minor marvel.

The next big question is - what future is there for electronics retailing in general? Comet, the No.2 electrical product retailer went bust just a few months earlier and the Dixons Group comprising PC World (UK) and Currys has struggled with profitability for several years. Most UK towns have a wide selection of phone stores, but apart from those specialist stores selling computers and other electronic products are actually remarkably rare.

Unlike fashion/clothing and home furnishing stores where you really need to go and explore the merchandise in person, to try it on, with digital cameras and other electronic goods we are often happy enough to read some reviews - if that - before making a choice and ordering online.

In these times of austerity price is now usually the top considieration. And it's not just UK-based online retailers stealing business from our high streets; vendors from overseas can now compete strongly.

So is all this basically in favour of us, the buyers? Technology has never been such good value thanks to the intense competition. Many of us do lament the passing of the friendly, informative and helpful local camera shop. But are we being over-sentimental? Websites like ours now provide the kind of information we might have expected from an expert sales person behind the counter in a camera shop. We no longer have to trust a salesman, we can share experiences with each other and hopefully get closer to the truth than ever before.

So maybe the passing of companies like Jessops, Comet and others like them to date and into the future is just an evolutionary direction that we can put down to progress?