Shops on iona

[Bin man]

I can never understand how these shops work in terms of making profit .They have watches upto £10000 ago .Who ever has money on a p and o cruise to buy one and how do you declare that ,the electrical shop for phones,samsung pads earphones,speakers no stock looks like they are giving up on this ship compared to ventura .The p and o marked merchandise so overpriced as a concession retail outfit they don't give very good ranges what people would buy in general 

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[yorkshirephil]

11 minutes ago, Bin man said:

I can never understand how these shops work in terms of making profit .They have watches upto £10000 ago .Who ever has money on a p and o cruise to buy one and how do you declare that ,the electrical shop for phones,samsung pads earphones,speakers no stock looks like they are giving up on this ship compared to ventura .The p and o marked merchandise so overpriced as a concession retail outfit they don't give very good ranges what people would buy in general 

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Someone must be parting with their hard earned as I don't ever remember it being any different. 

[9265359]

5 minutes ago, Bin man said:

I can never understand how these shops work in terms of making profit.

 

Don't you?

 

A captive market on sea days looking for something to do and spending their 'free' onboard credit on overpriced stuff - overpriced because on the couple of times I have bought items from the shops (other than alcohol) I have had to involve either the retail manager or on one occasion the P&O manager to actually honour their price guarantee because what they were selling was more expensive than back in the UK.

 

And the occasion with the P&O manager it took three days of back and forth between P&O and the concession operators in the UK before they finally agreed to match the price - and the P&O manager was so embarrassed they offered a free meal in Epicurian to make up for my wasted time.

 

That's why most of the stuff they sell has no easy to compare UK retail price, such as the 'tat' they sell in the electrical shop, or jewellery and watches, or even most of the clothing.

[Bin man]

So who buys a watch at £10,000 do they ever sell one ? 3 members of staff in the watch shop twiddling their thumbs .I would have thought they could have a good toy shop for the kids onboard and the grandparents to spoil their grand children for birthdays , holiday gifts and Xmas presents very poor from that aspect 

[bobstheboy]

My wife and I bought a watch each, DW bought a handbag, 4 bottles of spirits and other odds and ends paid about £550 onboard Arvia in September.

 

I should add it was all OBC, so not my cash 😁

[Bin man]

Yes that's about our limit most ever had was £830 obc .So will never be in the market above this .Maybe £20 over at the most 

[Harryjacobs]

I bought 3 limited edition citizen watches in an Iona display case when we was on a cruise to nowhere.  Only 100 made and they were £500 each.  Nice momento for my 3 sons.

[9265359]

2 hours ago, bobstheboy said:

My wife and I bought a watch each, DW bought a handbag, 4 bottles of spirits and other odds and ends paid about £550 onboard Arvia in September.

 

I should add it was all OBC, so not my cash 😁

 

And would you have bought those items if you had not had the 'free' money...

 

3 hours ago, Bin man said:

So who buys a watch at £10,000 do they ever sell one ? 3 members of staff in the watch shop twiddling their thumbs .

 

The shop doesn't have a £10k watch to sell, it has a £10k watch as a 'Veblen good' to convince people to buy lower priced but still expensive items that do sell - and given the mark-up on watches they can afford to have people stood around doing nothing a lot of the time. 

[Waju]

I tend to agree that the onboard shops would be far better off selling more affordable items so that more people would be inclined to go in and browse.  The stuff they try and sell is so overpriced I never go anywhere near them anymore.  My friend who is new to cruising very nearly got tempted to a handbag - it was £350 and not even leather - just ridiculous in my opinion!

 

I don't remember which ship but recently one of the shops was trying to sell two bags of M&M's for £15

[9265359]

3 minutes ago, Waju said:

I tend to agree that the onboard shops would be far better off selling more affordable items so that more people would be inclined to go in and browse.

 

Better off for the passengers, but not better off for the profit line of the shop operators. How much do you think that £350 non-leather handbag cost them wholesale?

[Bin man]

They were on ventura last month also here on iona .I checked price on Amazon and I think they were about about £4.50 each 

[bobstheboy]

31 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

 

And would you have bought those items if you had not had the 'free' money...

 

 

The shop doesn't have a £10k watch to sell, it has a £10k watch as a 'Veblen good' to convince people to buy lower priced but still expensive items that do sell - and given the mark-up on watches they can afford to have people stood around doing nothing a lot of the time. 

Of course not that was my point. Okay ?

[9265359]

23 minutes ago, bobstheboy said:

Of course not that was my point. Okay ?

 

Wasn't your point that you spent £550 because you had £550 of OBC to spend?

[bobstheboy]

2 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

 

Wasn't your point that you spent £550 because you had £550 of OBC to spend?

Yes, it wasn't my money !! Anyway just move on

Edited November 5, 2023 by bobstheboy
Typo

[9265359]

6 minutes ago, bobstheboy said:

Yes, it wasn't my money !!

 

So it was someone else's OBC - Does that make any difference to the 'spent £550 because there was £550 OBC' story when the topic is about the shops onboard and how they make money?

[bobstheboy]

1 minute ago, 9265359 said:

 

So it was someone else's OBC - Does that make any difference to the 'spent £550 because there was £550 OBC' story when the topic is about the shops onboard and how they make money?

Well it does ! My point is, to spell it out is, I would spend P&O's money on luxury goods, not mine. Had enough now.

[9265359]

4 minutes ago, bobstheboy said:

Well it does ! My point is, to spell it out is, I would spend P&O's money on luxury goods, not mine. Had enough now.

 

Sorry, but you are still not making things any clearer.

 

Was the OBC given to you my P&O as compensation for something that went wrong? If so this is still no different to OBC that you paid for with a booking as it is still your money.

 

The only way what you say makes sense is if someone from P&O picked you out at random and thrust £550 of OBC into your hand for no reason other than they wanted to, and told you that you either spent it or it vanished. Did that happen?

[bobstheboy]

27 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

 

Sorry, but you are still not making things any clearer.

 

Was the OBC given to you my P&O as compensation for something that went wrong? If so this is still no different to OBC that you paid for with a booking as it is still your money.

 

The only way what you say makes sense is if someone from P&O picked you out at random and thrust £550 of OBC into your hand for no reason other than they wanted to, and told you that you either spent it or it vanished. Did that happen?

Okay. I was given OBC, like many, as a sweetener when I booked a Select fare. I also got £150 as a share holder and £150 as  veteran, a total of £1050. Either spend or lose it. I hoped that is clear enough.

[Waju]

4 minutes ago, bobstheboy said:

Okay. I was given OBC, like many, as a sweetener when I booked a Select fare. I also got £150 as a share holder and £150 as  veteran, a total of £1050. Either spend or lose it. I hoped that is clear enough.

I wouldn't waste your time replying bobstheboy, looks like someone's got the hump today.....😒

[heatherb1958]

7 hours ago, bobstheboy said:

My wife and I bought a watch each, DW bought a handbag, 4 bottles of spirits and other odds and ends paid about £550 onboard Arvia in September.

 

I should add it was all OBC, so not my cash 😁

 

We were the same , got a nice collection of Citizen watches in different colours   courtesy of Select fare and shareholder's OBC .  Like you say , use it or lose it 😎 

[bobstheboy]

10 hours ago, heatherb1958 said:

 

We were the same , got a nice collection of Citizen watches in different colours   courtesy of Select fare and shareholder's OBC .  Like you say , use it or lose it 😎 

I've got a similar amount in January on Azura. Nice not having a bill when you finish a cruise.

[9265359]

15 hours ago, bobstheboy said:

Okay. I was given OBC, like many, as a sweetener when I booked a Select fare. I also got £150 as a share holder and £150 as  veteran, a total of £1050. Either spend or lose it. I hoped that is clear enough.

 

It is entirely clear, and entirely relevant to the original question posed by Bin man of "I can never understand how these shops work in terms of making profit".

 

By using the word "given" to the £1050 of OBC it indicates that you have overlooked that this wasn't money given to you freely, but you had bought the OBC as part of the cruise fare - you handed over money and received OBC in return.

 

And that's exactly what the shops onboard rely on - people who think they have 'free' money that they must spend, without reflecting on the point that they are actually spending OBC they bought, and thus 'splashing the cash' more freely than they would do if they were handing over pound notes.

[terrierjohn]

29 minutes ago, 9265359 said:

 

It is entirely clear, and entirely relevant to the original question posed by Bin man of "I can never understand how these shops work in terms of making profit".

 

By using the word "given" to the £1050 of OBC it indicates that you have overlooked that this wasn't money given to you freely, but you had bought the OBC as part of the cruise fare - you handed over money and received OBC in return.

 

And that's exactly what the shops onboard rely on - people who think they have 'free' money that they must spend, without reflecting on the point that they are actually spending OBC they bought, and thus 'splashing the cash' more freely than they would do if they were handing over pound notes.

Regardless of whether you "paid" for this OBC or not, and IMO the jury is out on this, the fact remains that spend it or lose it still pertains. You could  argue that having paid for it you should only buy something you really need, rather than frippery, but if you dont spend it you have still lost it.

[Fionboard]

17 hours ago, Waju said:

I tend to agree that the onboard shops would be far better off selling more affordable items so that more people would be inclined to go in and browse.  The stuff they try and sell is so overpriced I never go anywhere near them anymore.  My friend who is new to cruising very nearly got tempted to a handbag - it was £350 and not even leather - just ridiculous in my opinion!

 

I don't remember which ship but recently one of the shops was trying to sell two bags of M&M's for £15

On my Iona cruise there was a handbag for over £1000. More than my balcony cabin cost me! Never buy anything in the shops as it is mostly overpriced. 

[9265359]

12 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

Regardless of whether you "paid" for this OBC or not, and IMO the jury is out on this, 

 

I don't think the jury is out. Do you get to buy things in the shops, bars, and restaurants onboard unless you have handed over money first - no. When people choose to buy a cruise with OBC they have bought a package of a cruise and OBC. The OBC was not 'free' - and in respect of the veteran and shareholder's OBC that wasn't free either, because again you had to actually buy a cruise to get it.

 

14 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

the fact remains that spend it or lose it still pertains. 

 

And that is crucial to the profitability of the shops onboard. 

 

15 minutes ago, terrierjohn said:

You could  argue that having paid for it you should only buy something you really need, rather than frippery, but if you dont spend it you have still lost it.

 

And that is equally crucial to the profitability of the shops onboard. 

 

Convince people that they have got 'free' money, put a time limit on spending that money, and put a limit on what that money can be spent on, and the result is lots of profit for the shops - sufficient profit that you can spend money on staff stood around doing nothing for lots of the time.