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Dead British Brands

January 27th, 2009
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No. 1 in an occasional series – MFImfi_quality_built_in

Where we try and stay away from the nostalgia that swamps an occasion like the closing of Woolworths and think of a few words to say about the brand and how it conducted itself in life, as well as in death, and if there are any lessons we can take from that.

My only dealings with MFI were buying a kitchen from them a few years ago. It was a disaster. You go in and choose a kitchen and then they send one of their ‘recommended fitters’ to come and price putting it in. What happened with us was that our fitter went down with appendicitis a day into fitting our kitchen and none of the replacement fitters who MFI sent would finish the job (or fix the crap job the first guy had done) for the same price. MFI couldn’t care less and spent 3 weeks trying to distance themselves from the fitting process.

Now, I’m  not suggesting that poor customer service is the reason MFI went out of business, but I certainly told everyone I knew how bad they were.  Bad service sticks in your customer’s minds for longer than good service. Four years after the kitchen fiasco and MFI closes down. We raise a glass in celebration in our house.

The lesson is this: if you are providing a service, or even recommending a service, you have to take responsibility for it. Get suppliers you can trust, empower your employees to answer customers questions and if there is a problem with a link in your chain – fix it.

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  1. Carl Morris
    February 5th, 2009 at 16:45 | #1
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    Not so fast with the Woolworths death knell. The following is taken from CMU Daily (music news). Amazing.

    WOOLIES TO REAPPEAR AS ETAIL OPERATION
    Once a brand has become synonymous with the credit crunch and the general collapse of capitalism as we know it, what better than to, erm, buy it and launch a website using its name? Especially if it’s a brand that had lost its way years ago, and which didn’t really stand for anything anymore.

    This is presumably the logic employed by Shop Direct, the online and catalogue retailer owned by slightly strange Daily Telegraph proprietors David and Frederick Barclay, which is apparently the UK’s biggest home shopping retailer. They announced yesterday that they had bought the rights to the Woolworths name in the UK, and also its kids clothes brand Ladybird, both of which will be used for new etail operations.

    It’s not the first time Shop Direct have bought old High Street brands – in 2005 they expanded their operations considerably by buying Littlewoods, though at least that company had an existing home shopping business that was of value. It’s not clear how exactly the Woolies brand will be used by Shop Direct, though perhaps they’re planning on launching a website which mainly sells things you don’t really need at prices that aren’t really that competitive compared to supermarkets and pound stores. Oh, and Ronan Keating CDs and cola bottle sweets.

    Anyway, here’s what Shop Direct CEO Mark Newton-Jones said of the acquisition: “Woolworths is a much-loved brand that engenders huge affection among British consumers and is an important part of the country’s retail heritage. In what will be Woolworths’ 100th year, we are proud to be reviving the brand for future generations”.

  2. paolodit
    February 19th, 2009 at 11:01 | #2
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    maybe the MFI brand will make a comeback in 10 years time, when everyone yearns for cheap, dodgy furniture that falls apart…. Ah, maybe not. ;)

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