Masters could never shake off its image problem.
MASTERS is dead, buried, cremated.
Well, almost. The ultimate fate of the failed home improvement chain’s 63 stores and more than 7000 employees hangs in the balance after Woolworths finally pulled the pin on its four-year, multibillion-dollar experiment.
So what went wrong? If you believe the customers: the staff, the range and the store layout all contributed. That’s according to feedback from unhappy customers provided to consumer research firm Canstar Blue.
“Hard to locate what you’re looking for,” wrote one customer in Canstar’s recent hardware stores survey of 2460 consumers. “Lots of cheap and nasty rebadged brands,” wrote another.
The bottom line, however: “Not as good as Bunnings.”
Canstar’s Simon Downes said Masters had been unable to shake off its image problem from the very beginning. “There are few retailers in the country that can challenge the popularity of Bunnings,” he said.
Woolworths will wind up its home improvement business saying the divisions losses are unsustainable.
“It seems to be an accumulation of different complaints, although in terms of overall satisfaction it actually does fairly well for value — better than Mitre 10, better than Home Timber & Hardware.
“It just can’t shake off its image problem, which [could be] the Woolworths factor.”
He said the biggest shame was that customers who actually went to Masters were on the whole “fairly happy”. “The problem is not enough of them went there. That’s what killed it — they didn’t get people through the door.”
Market research firm IBISWorld said the collapse was due to fierce competition in the $18.5 billion sector.
“The significant start-up costs associated with setting up and expanding Masters, and high wage costs generated by new store openings have affected the profitability of Woolworths’ home improvement segment over the past five years,” said senior industry analyst Spencer Little.
Here’s why Masters failed, in the customers’ own words:
“Bunnings seem to do it better.”Source:News Corp Australia
‘THE STAFF ARE UNHELPFUL’
• Staff can be very vague about products and where they are in the store.
• It is sometimes hard to find staff to help you in our local store.
• Staff unhelpful and don’t know their products
• Staff are not that helpful, can be hard to find things.
• Mistakes at check-out with a mistake made on most visits.
• Some of the staff in the gardening section need horticulture experience, especially to give advice about plants.
• It can be hard to find staff for advice on hardware products.
• Customer service is poor. Not as helpful or available as Bunnings.
• Not enough staff in the late afternoon, evenings.
• Not enough staff.
• No staff to help you.
• Couldn’t find a salesperson to help for ages.
• It was difficult to find what I was looking for and no staff were available to help me, so I had to roam around until I found what I needed.
• The staff there are not helpful. They are good at talking or consulting but don’t help to lift or move the goods I bought. They are so lazy. At last I have to move the BBQ and furniture I bought by myself. Nobody helped me. They gathered together talking and chatting. They are so lucky to get this kind of job.
• Not a lot of assistance.
• Checkout operator was not particularly friendly.
• Trying to find a staff member to help took a very long time.
• Some of supervisory staff are autocratic.
• Was hard to find a staff member.
• Staff service is very poor below standard.
• Service can sometimes be slack.
• Staff rude — don’t understand sizing.
• Sometimes difficult to find a staff member.
• Not enough floor staff help.
• Have had a problem with click-and-collect once because staff couldn’t find the order. Would have been much quicker to find it myself in store.
• Occasionally can be hard to find someone to help me.
• Sometimes check-out service is not so good.
• The item was delivered at 8pm at night after several phone calls to see where it was — put on the wrong truck.
“Very long queue at the check-out.”Source:Supplied
‘THE RANGE IS LIMITED’
• Poor quality of vegetable seedlings especially during the early part of the week as if they have sold out over the weekend and re-stocked.
• They sell too much Asian made poor quality things.
• Can’t find items, as they are not in a sensible order. Too many products that are out of category for a hardware store.
• The garden section needs more staff to keep the plants at premium. More variety of plants.
• They didn’t have everything.
• Limited range.
• Hard to locate what you’re looking for.
• It’s a little pricey with some items, it could sell a lot more plants if they weren’t so dear. And there are no trees planted in the car park, so there will never be any shade.
• Limited range, limited counters, not well organised, limited staff.
• Poor online catalogue with terrible ‘search’ system.
• Plants a bit dear.
• They had the wrong price at the self-service check-out.
• Lots of cheap and nasty rebadged brands.
• Items are not grouped together.
• The store layouts are terrible and they don’t feel like a proper hardware store.
• Limited range of product.
• There is not much choice with cleaning products and equipment.
• Some stock was out.
• Limited product brands.
• Prices are a bit steep.
• Many products more expensive than main competitor.
• Not all brands stocked.
• Some everyday items are very expensive compared to other retailers, garden range is bad and expensive.
• Range is rubbish overpriced and not really a hardware store where you can get real tool which will last a lifetime and not need to be replaced every six months or year so you come back and spend more money.
• Lack of product range and quality of some of the brands.
• Limited products compared to competitor.
• Range of products could be expanded.
• Don’t seem to have enough sales and promotions.
• Limited range.
• A bit expensive.
• Range of products could be better.
• Little more expensive than Bunnings.
• Prices slightly higher than opposition.
“The car park is hard to get in and out.”Source:News Corp Australia
‘THE STORES ARE CONFUSING’
• Cafe/rest spot is small.
• Locations not so convenient.
• Feel lost when you walk into a big store and nothing is labelled.
• The lack of delivery options to outlying areas.
• Is a little more expensive than its competitor, store layout is difficult to navigate.
• Wished their stock was where it should have been, as they said they had another four lights there but couldn’t find them.
• Very long queue at the check-out. Very annoying and frustrating.
• Too far to travel.
• Needs to have more signage/larger signage to indicate aisle numbers, etc.
• Trying to find the article searched for is hard as the store is huge and where I would expect to find something is not always in the area expected.
• Layout is hard to manage.
• The check-out at the garden shop is often closed earlier than the rest of the store meaning that you need to push your trolley full of garden items down to the main cash registers.
• Do not like store layout.
• The car park is hard to get in and out.
• Not always conveniently situated.
• So big and a lot of walking if you need something at the other end of the store.
• I thought that the flooring in the store felt slippery it made me nervous to walk around.
• Website almost impossible to find what you want.
• There are not enough stores — I have to drive for 30 miss to get to one.
• Too far from the place that I live.
• Not enough stores around.
• Items show in stock in store when checking this online, but are out of stock when you visit the store straight after.
• The website isn’t very functional and sometimes the products are more expensive than Bunnings.
• Distance to store — Bunnings closer.
‘BUNNINGS IS BETTER’
• Not as good as Bunnings.
• Bunnings remains my personal preference.
• It’s just another Woolworths finger in a pie.
• Not as good a range of products and brands as Bunnings.
• Bunnings seem to do it better. Not sure what it is but the atmosphere and stock is better.
• Not as good as Bunnings. Plant selection poor and often in need of water. Disinterested staff.
Source: Canstar
Woolworths says it?s going to either sell or wind up its Master home improvement business. The retail giant has suffered substantial losses from Masters & conceded it would take many years for it to become profitable.
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