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| location_city = [[Northamptonshire]]
| area_served = [[United Kingdom]]
| key_people = Neville Barry Kahn, Nicholas Guy Edwards and Christopher James Farrington (administrators for [[Deloitte
| products = [[Major appliance|White Goods]], [[Small appliance|Brown Goods]], Telecommunications, Information technology, Home Entertainment
| owner = UK Computer Group Limited (2020)
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The company was formed in 1933 by George Hollingbery as a business charging batteries for customers on a weekly basis.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} The business grew and diversified into radio rentals, and the first store opened in the 1950s. Comet expanded during the 1960s and 1970s, and became a publicly listed company in 1972.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}} The company was purchased by [[Woolworths Group|Woolworths]], owned by Paternoster Stores (later [[Kingfisher plc]]) in 1984.{{Citation needed|date=January 2020}}
In 2003, Comet was spun out of Kingfisher Group to become part of [[
==History==
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===Recession and consumer crisis (1990–97)===
[[File:Comet - Park Road Retail Park - geograph.org.uk - 1168645.jpg|thumb|right|A typical Comet outlet, in [[Pontefract|Pontefract, West Yorkshire]].]]
In November 1990, following the merger of [[British Satellite Broadcasting]] (BSB) and [[Sky Television
In January 1995, market analysts began sounding warnings over the viability of Comet and its sister group Woolworths. Comet had made strategic errors with its home computer business, and its decision to stop selling computer games had allowed competitors to corner the market. Trading at a loss, and with considerable leasehold commitments, analysts suggested that both Comet and Woolworths, with "weak retail strategies" of "cheap and cheerful", might be sold by Kingfisher.<ref>{{Cite news|title=Exploding Comet |work=The Times |location=London |date=19 January 1995 |page=28|issue=65168}}</ref>
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===KESA Electricals (2000–06)===
In September 2000 Kingfisher revealed its plan to demerge into two listed companies, separating the "poorly performing" Comet and B&Q groups (provisionally called '''New Kingfisher''') from the [[Superdrug]], Woolworths and Big W chains ('''General Merchandise''').<ref>{{Cite news|title=Kingfisher stuns City with demerger plan|first=Sally|last=Patten|work=[[The Times]]|location=London|date=14 September 2000|page=23|issue=66932}}</ref> The demerger of the electricals business, including Comet and French chains '''Darty''' and '''BUT''', delayed in part by "indecision and management infighting," eventually took place in July 2003, with the group renamed [[
The rapid growth of [[online shopping]] during the period 2000–2003 had surprised many analysts. A 2000 report, published by the United Kingdom's [[Department of Trade and Industry (United Kingdom)|Department of Trade and Industry]], "''Clicks and Mortar: The New Store Fronts''," had forecast that United Kingdom online shopping for 2002 could range from £1.2 billion to an optimistic £6.3 billion. The actual figure for 2002 was £7 billion. During 2001–02, [[e-commerce]] electrical retailer [[dabs.com]] made sales of £116 million, which one analyst pointed out was the equivalent trade of 25 Comet stores. As dabs.com employed only 185 staff, this was described as "a rate of productivity which the mainstream retailer can only dream about."
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==Administration and closure==
On 1 November 2012, Comet announced it was filing for [[Administration (law)|administration]], and entered administration the following day. [[
After the announcement, the Comet website became unavailable to visitors<ref name="Comet website down as chain confirms administration">{{cite news|title=Comet website down as chain confirms administration|url=http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gadgets/comet-website-down-as-chain-confirms-administration-50009668/|work=CNET|author=Trenholm, Rich|date=2 November 2012|accessdate=9 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121103232211/http://crave.cnet.co.uk/gadgets/comet-website-down-as-chain-confirms-administration-50009668/|archive-date=3 November 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> until 3 November 2012, when a ''liquidation sale'' promotion was published.<ref name="Comet website">{{cite web|title=Comet|url=http://www.comet.co.uk|publisher=Comet Group|accessdate=9 November 2012|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121031075026/http://www.comet.co.uk/|archive-date=31 October 2012|url-status=dead}}</ref> The new website gave details of store locations, but the [[e-commerce]] system was no longer available. On 8 November 2012, at 09:00, Comet stores started their final liquidation stock sale.<ref>{{cite web|title=Comet gears up for 'fire sale' |url= https://www.theguardian.com/business/2012/nov/07/comet-fire-sale |author1=Schimroszik, Nadine |author2=Wood, Zoe |newspaper=The Guardian |location =London |date=7 November 2012|accessdate=8 November 2012}}</ref> Also, as of 8 November, Comet was accepting again all of its own gift cards excluding corporate customers.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://storage.comet.co.uk/www/splash/html/vouchers.htm |title=Comet Gift Card Status |publisher=Comet Group |accessdate=8 November 2012 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121110031744/http://storage.comet.co.uk/www/splash/html/vouchers.htm |archive-date=10 November 2012 |url-status=dead }}</ref>
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[[Category:2003 mergers and acquisitions]]
[[Category:2011 mergers and acquisitions]]
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