Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Hilton on January 14, 2011, 01:02:36 pm
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Here's a comforting thought for the start of the new year,
Tesco have been trialling a Home Repair Service for the past 3 months out of their Swindon branch, they leaflet dropped 180000 homes in the area offering everything from Glaziers to Locksmiths, they have admitted they aim to roll this out country wide and go into direct competition with British Gas Homeserve and the AA.
As Tesco have their own home insurance I suppose it was the logical next step to offer a one stop shop for all your needs, you even get double points on your card when you use the service. So Mrs Shopper will have her plumber in spend her money get points on her card then go back and shop in Tesco to redeem the points, what a blinding bit of marketing.
A friend of the family is a Tesco area manager and he has told me that there has been discussions about adding a
Soft Furnishings Cleaning Service if this happens and with their marketing power and loyalty brand shoppers, it would blow a lot of CC away for ever you simply could not compete.
Comforting thought is it not ?
By the way they have just launched 'Tesco Tyre's' to go in to competition with Quik-Fit
Tesco really are taking over the world.
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A friend of the family is a Tesco area manager and he has told me that there has been discussions about adding a
Soft Furnishings Cleaning Service if this happens and with their marketing power and loyalty brand shoppers, it would blow a lot of CC away for ever you simply could not compete.
A couple of thoughts:
1. Would this be on a sub contract basis to approved people or are they going to create their own Chemdry?
2. There will always be a place for sole trader types (otherwise there wouldn't be any small shops left in the country) but Chemdry, Rainbow, SM etc need to be a little concerned, if they go nationwide because high prices will be a part of history.
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and in responce to your post Hilton,
Where do youdo your shopping , Tesco,s i guess or some other big supermarket, i hate the places ,biggest rip of going and i get fed up of people complaning about supermarkets when in fact it is themselves who created the problem,
geoff
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I wish I had created Tesco.
Yes we shop at Tesco, and Morrisons and M&S with some local shopping as well.
Whats that got do with the threat that will come from Tesco should they decide to operate a Carpet Cleaning Service, if you are worried that I might use them, rest assured I wont. ::)
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In the future (far future0 there will be amajor global rebranding:
earth will be Tesco's
Moon will be Tesco express ;D
Martin 8)
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Hilton Just woken up from a snooze and cant agree more with this thread Tescoland is here and all of us need to get used to it aaaaaaaaaaaaaagh we re all doooooooooooooooomed Regards Alan(Swindon aka TESCOLAND WEST)
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This has been tried in America , and flopped , the ex MD of Chem Dry has just gone over to try and do it again for Homeserve.
The main reason it wont work is that there are too many variables and things that an emplotee can do wrong in someones home. Managing such an operation is too costly.
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My bro in law works for the,he is a manager of one of their express stores,it`s all he ever talks about,Tesco this Tesco that,i hate the place.
But like it`s been said already,we created the monster,we were the ones who didn`t want to go to lot`s of different shops,as it was much easier to just do all the shopping at one
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As I understand it and I believe that they have been doing this in Swindon,
They will use 'approved' local contractors not directly employed . Of course this could end being Chem-Dry or Servicemaster but not necessarily so.
With Tesco Tyres they have a couple of local tyre business's in the area who they appoint, the customer picks which one they want to use and also choose the time and date.
Double points all round.
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Hilton I will await the call from the Swindon branch then Regards Alan(swindon)
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My local Tesco's are getting rather concerned with my new Green Grocer's venture ;D
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Tesco considering offering soft furnishing cleaning?
That's not a company I would be wanting to go head to head with.
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i tried the Lloyds bank home repair service when my heating brokedown
It was not fixed in four weeks
Got british Gas
If Tesco whent into home-cleaning it would be in conjunction with a leading franchise
Just noticed Chem dry is back in my areas=
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Is homeserver still cleaning carpets?
They used to as they took all the work in house and one of my staff left to join them, he's now doing pest control so guess they aren't anyone hear differently
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Did another company try it in the late 90s ???Remmember seeing something in cleaning and higene mag years ago..
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If they're going to be anything like Homeserve i would'nt worry. I get about 5-10 jobs a month from Homeserve correcting what the're tech's have made a mess of. Good thing about it is there mostly cushion covers and they post them to me so i can work from home. I actually done a job today for them- red wine stain on carpet in Fulham. The're tech had emptied tons of vanish :o into the carpet on two previous attemps, he even managed to leave some about a meter away from where the mark was.
Mark
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If Tesco whent into home-cleaning it would be in conjunction with a leading franchise
Spot on, so does it really change anything?
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I suppose the major factor would be the scale of marketing Tesco are capable of.
If they do go for it they'd be hard to compete with.
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They can't compete with me.
They can't build a personal relationship, they can't be as flexible, they can't offer the depth and breadth of experience.
All they can offer is a brand and a price and I don't compete at all on these fronts.
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Tesco etc won't go into cleaning, they may go into insurance but not cleaning, WHY you ask? because if a Tesco clean your suite and it comes up 90% of the way then people will complain and therefore the brand will be tarnished.
Shaun
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They hire out Rug Doctors at ours now, just noticed them yesterday.
John
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If they start promoting a "value" carpet cleaning service then we be fcked!! :'( lol
Seriously tho, big brand name at a cheap rate then this wont be good for most CC (putting bravado to one side) I'm sure they'll do their market research on the pros and cons of carpet and upholstery cleaning and decided not to go down this route. Getting that quality just right while paying minum wage just anit gonna happen.
Tony
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I'm not so sure Tony.
Tesco is a massive and trusted name and if they offer a low cost service they will have plenty of takers.
They've already successfully expanded into so many other markets and I wouldn't bet against them making a success of anything they do. If they did prove successful other supermarket giants might also follow suit.
Hopefully, they would take more business from those of the inclination to hire a Rug Doctor rather than "proper" cleaners.
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Who said they will be low cost?
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No, I am agreeing with you Matt. They are a massive brand and they do provide low prices. << This part might be their down fall though!
Even if they paid the person carrying out the clean a whole £10 an hour, the quailty of the work will be brought in to question on more than one occasion. Thats not mentioning all the problems you'll encounter if you rush a job i.e. drenched carpets and upholstery, smells, shrinkage, bacteria growth, colour bleed, leaving items to high a ph etc etc
The only way they could do it would be to go in to partnership with the likes of chemdry, and take a comession for every job generated. But with the prices chemdry charge.... maybe not right for your average Tesco penny pincher type customer lol
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Who said they will be low cost?
Most likely Dave. Well atleast thats what their entire marketing stratagy is with everything else they sell anyways.
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Tesco may be low cost on certain loss leaders but there prices compared to the real LOW COST supermarkets are high.
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If this is true whats stopping the other big so called 4 going into cleaning.
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It could work for them if they buy and sell in bulk, which is how supermarkets get their prices so low.
At the end of the day Tesco might be cheap but there are still enough people shopping at Waitrose, M&S etc which says people still don't mind paying extra for quality.
But at the end of the day I suspect it will be too much effort to justify the profit in what is really a small market place. Tyres are a different ball game, every house has at least 1 car if not 2, each car has 4 tyres and the law requires that they are kept to a certain standard at any given time.
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I cannot see Tesco's entering the service market unless they can guarantee consistancy in their product, there are too many variables for that to happen. Offering a Rug Doctor is a better option for them, as the product stays the same but the result is down to the customer.
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Don't worry about it, its only competition. I know 3 plumbers, 1 works for British Gas, 1 works for a biggish private company, the other is an independant. Guess which one is the millionaire.
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It's not about what the individual earns, it's about what the 'parent company' can earn, so i'd guess BG would be the bigger in your example.
Tescos might not pay their staff much but their turnover/profit is massive.
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Don't even know why be are bothering to debate this.
Tesco's sell products-we sell a service.
There is a difference.
Tesco will not be entering into the provision of a carpet cleaning service.
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Maybe Tesco may enter into the service sector. Even if they don't you can bet that there will be some big players who will in future. Look on the positive side with their marketing clout they may even persuade more people to actually have their carpets cleaned. Which in my view is the thing which could really benefit the industry.
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For the record, I'm in Swindon and have not seen or heard anything about this.
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I really am begining to think that the only time CCers are happy , is when they have somthing to worry about, is this debate seriously about somthing that a company MAYBE THINKING about, Heard it all now,
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The sky the sky its falling!
:D
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Now if lord Peckham with Bill Gates plus Warren Buffett (who has a stake in tescos below 3%) hope you get my drift as for SKY what can I say ;D
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If, as has been suggested by others on this forum, there isn't enough work out there to keep carpet cleaners busy - why on earth would Tesco want to get involved.
Or, just maybe there is shed loads of work around just waiting for you to capture.
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If, as has been suggested by others on this forum, there isn't enough work out there to keep carpet cleaners busy - why on earth would Tesco want to get involved.
Or, just maybe there is shed loads of work around just waiting for you to capture.
Why would you bother coming onto a forum and talking complete and utter sense?? ;D
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What happens when you buy an oven valet from curries / comet.
Is it an independent that attends?
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I have to have a chuckle at those who post things along the line of ' Its only a maybe' I bet Quick Fit were not saying that when they heard Tesco were entering their market, or Homeserve when they got wind of it. They would have prepared themselves to hit back with all manner of incentives and improved service.
Forewarned is forearmed, If they do not use the major franchisors then I suspect they will be looking towards local suppliers who would all be members of the NCCA (who will probably ignore this) fully insured of course and maybe Trading Standards Approved. I reckon if you were to get included you could probably guarantee year round custom.
Tesco's are definitely operating their Home Services in Swindon but not carpet cleaning (at present) at this stage its only a trial.
As for Rug Doctor operating out of their stores, how easy would it be for Tesco to look back over the past 3 years and see how many times the cleaners have been ordered out at any particular store, put the data together and then asses the benefits of offering their own service, with the might of their marketing machine behind them. As people do now, walk in get your shopping and then book a carpet clean at the same time or do it on line with a guaranteed date and time slot.
Tesco is the 4th biggets retailer in the world, they want the lot I would not be at all surprised if at some point we have Tesco approved cleaners out there.
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Do you seriously think every carpenter , plumber and spark, is sitting worirng about Tesco breaking into the market, And nobody knows if its even a maybe, I dont think i will start drawing up my battle plan just yet . ; ;D
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If, as has been suggested by others on this forum, there isn't enough work out there to keep carpet cleaners busy - why on earth would Tesco want to get involved.
Or, just maybe there is shed loads of work around just waiting for you to capture.
Its not that there isn't enough work... Its the fact that its getting to expensive so they won't buy. Our prices are in a way being dictated by the suppliers of equipment and chemicals. The price of the machinary now by some of the sellers is astronomical.
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Your right about the equipment prices Monty.
Been looking at buying a new Drymaster tool.
£480 including "the dreaded" over here.
From America it's less than $480 inc shipping.
That's approx £263 + £37 shipping = $300
Know where I'll be buying.
John
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I now get most of my stuff from the US as allot cheaper. I am thinking of setting up and importing equipment and spare parts etc and selling on to the end user at a more realistic price. We are not paying for just the product anymore... we are paying for the particular brand. Makes me laugh cos most of it made at the same place. For me, it's not about masses of profit... its's about the right product at a reasonable price and this inturn should create customer loyalty. If we all stick together we could infact drive the prices down here
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Sounds a good idea monty and am sure you would have a good few clients form here for a start too.
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I was thinking about this topic today and was thinking like a customer may think here goes,
"can I have my 3pc suite cleaned a pack of pork sausage please" ;D
Shaun
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I wonder if they will get double points?
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To be onest I was thinking of rounding up about 20-50 of us and each throwing in equal amounts and all becoming equal share holders importing the stuff, and we become our own supplier, and the supplier to others. When you really think about it.... not that hard to sort out.
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...And dont forget my clubcard points .
Tesco sub out all non core services, insurance is with aviva, mobile is with voda, credit card is with lloyds , etc , transport is done by Stobart , would not be any different with carpet cleaning.
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possibly go to that chemy dry thingy or is it dry chemy clean
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If everybody was happy there would be nothing to talk about.
Except committing suicide because you are the only one who is not
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I remember a few years ago some cleaners decided what they wanted from the US then put a shopping list together and then found a supplier that sold or could supply it all, how it landed in the UK and got distributed I have no idea, if I remember the £ to $ was the same as it is now.
Shaun
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I remember a few years ago some cleaners decided what they wanted from the US then put a shopping list together and then found a supplier that sold or could supply it all, how it landed in the UK and got distributed I have no idea, if I remember the £ to $ was the same as it is now.
Shaun
Sounds like they were hoping to make a CLEAN break from UK manufacturers :o
Rog
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From America it's less than $480 inc shipping.
That's approx £263 + £37 shipping = $300
Add import duty and VAT to that too.
I bought a load of snowboard gear a couple of years back.
Was saving a fortune basically the £ price was what it was in $
Got a card from Parcel Force to say that I needed to collect from delivery office.
Stung for best part of £200 before they would hand it over.
Ended up being close to the £ price after it all.
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I have already spoke to these http://www.pmftools.com/index.php
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You get vat on items wherever you buy from. Roger the 'deal' was done I think by Martin Lightbown I think probably 5 years ago.
Shaun
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It all sounds great until you actually start doing it. The carriage and finance charges are the killer. Its fine when you are just bringing the odd item over but when you start to bring more stuff the costs start to rack up.
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get the numbers right and anything works
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It's that and the hassle, who wants to run it? delivered to an address in a crate or box then individually packaged to new owner with added carriage which then saves you absolutely nowt, if you do it the best thing to do contact John then if there's a big enough order from everyone then arrange a suitable discount with him, I'm sure if there's enough in it for everyone it would work out best for all.
Shaun
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Your right about the equipment prices Monty.
Been looking at buying a new Drymaster tool.
£480 including "the dreaded" over here.
From America it's less than $480 inc shipping.
That's approx £263 + £37 shipping = $300
Know where I'll be buying.
John
thought you also had import tax plus vat
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Anyone, including Tesco, who is prepared to market carpet cleaning services on a national basis can only be a good thing for all of us, in my view. Our industry only serves around 20% of the population, if that were to increase by only a few percent then we would all benefit. One reason why the market in the US is so big is that it was mass marketed by huge corporations that used national TV ads to create awareness and yes, it benefitted the advertisers but it also benefitted the whole industry. I was there in the 1980's and visted companies that even back then had 10 truck mounts all fully booked and going out, not just to clean a lounge carpet, but all of the house and furniture with job tickets of $150 (a lot of money back then) It is awareness that we are short of in this country and just as in this topic there will be people who get the exposure to carpet cleaning marketing but think negatively about Tesco but still have the urge to have their carpets cleaned, that's where we come in.
Simon
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I'd forgotten that Sears were a major player in the carpet cleaning industry across the pond .
I have'nt checked for a while but I believe they offer low cost services to consumers and have a pretty big share of the market.
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Anyone, including Tesco, who is prepared to market carpet cleaning services on a national basis can only be a good thing for all of us, in my view. Our industry only serves around 20% of the population, if that were to increase by only a few percent then we would all benefit. One reason why the market in the US is so big is that it was mass marketed by huge corporations that used national TV ads to create awareness and yes, it benefitted the advertisers but it also benefitted the whole industry. I was there in the 1980's and visted companies that even back then had 10 truck mounts all fully booked and going out, not just to clean a lounge carpet, but all of the house and furniture with job tickets of $150 (a lot of money back then) It is awareness that we are short of in this country and just as in this topic there will be people who get the exposure to carpet cleaning marketing but think negatively about Tesco but still have the urge to have their carpets cleaned, that's where we come in.
Simon
I agree and yes they do offer double points, look at the new Tesco Tyres Site, it would be the same for Soft Furnishings.
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The price I posted was the final price including carriage.
John
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http://www.swindonadvertiser.co.uk/news/8772335.Tesco_helps_in_the_home/?ref=twt
Take a look here;
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You really are determined to depress yourself, ;D ;D ;D ;D
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,,The key phrase in that article "clear and fair pricing" A carpet cleaner is not worth as much as £100 per hour , neither is a carpet cleaner worth as little as £ 10 an hour , customers want clarity and fairness in pricing , and that is what Tescos are good at , along with some smoke and mirrors in ther 3 for £4 offers , 3 for price of 2 etc.