Bathstore: Discount Prices Online
We've been taking a look at a number of stores operating in the competitive home improvement market here in the UK. With plenty of retailers competing for your custom, it can be difficult to know where to begin your search for products.
As regular visitors to the site will know, we've been examining some of the top online retailers in the bathrooms sector. We've been looking at a number of factors, including: ease of use of the website, customer satisfaction and independent reviews.
In this article we take a look at Bathstore, who call themselves the "UK's largest bathroom retailer". Read on to see our findings in full:
About Bathstore
Bathstore aren't solely an online retailer. You may well have seen one of their stores - there are more than 160 of them dotted around the country, with plans to open more.
Their first store opened in Croydon back in 1990. Unlike some other bathroom retailers, it's clear that they've been around for a long time and are hopefully here to stay. The fact that they are a well-known brand undoubtedly offers some extra assurance to consumers. Many of us are rightly worried about some newer online specialists who don't seem to have much of a track record.
The Website Experience
So, what did we make of their website? Our team see plenty of retailer websites and it's fair to say that we see varying standards. One concern with established retailers is that they are sometimes of a traditional mindset and struggle to get to grips with the transition to internet sales.
The Bathstore site has a store finder, enabling you to quickly find their physical store locations. This is obviously handy if you're looking to see the products before making a purchase. But what about if you're happy to buy online?
Well, the actual process of making the purchase is different to some other online retailers. You actually have an online Bathroom (known as "Your Bathroom"), which you build. This is different to the usual online shopping experience, where you simply place items into an online basket.
Once you've chosen all of the individual products that you'd like, you then request contact from your local store. This is so that they can go through the details with you.
It's an interesting concept and one that we like. The key advantage is that you can browse for products without the hard-sell that you get from some bathrooms companies. But once you've selected what you want, you'll still have the expert advice on hand. It's particularly good if it would otherwise be inconvenient for you to visit the store.
Pricing
We found Bathstore pricing to be extemely competitive. Running some simple price checks, we found that they were often cheaper than online retailers and were also able to offer lower prices than many traditional, retail park rivals. Their sale products offered discounts of up to 50%.
Customer feedback
As ever, we'd caution against using the feedback that we've received about Bathstore to make too many generalisations, but it's true to say that the bulk of the replies that we've received for requests about the company have been positive. On the downside, some customers have suggested that products don't stand the test of time, although these may be isolated cases.
If you've used Bathstore in the past then we'd obviously welcome your comments - you can contact us via the usual channels here at Offer UK/
Independent reviews
At the time of writing, independent reviews do vary considerably. Users of Ciao.com think that the best thing about Bathstore is their range of services and products. The lowest rated feature of the store is the speed of transactions.
The Good Web Guide recommend the site, although reviews from Dooyoo and The Review Centre include both positives and negatives.
Conclusions
We've seen plenty of sites over the years and Bathstore compares well. The website looks good and is easy to use. While some people may see the buying mechanism as a negative, we rather like the fact that it seems to add that personal touch.
Customer satisfaction levels seem to be about average for the sector. There are some customer complaints to be found online, although it is fair to say that those unhappy with service levels do tend to be the most likely to comment - we see that across a range of retailers.
Overall, they're certainly worth checking out if you're looking for a new bathroom suite or other bathroom products. The fact that they have so many stores nationwide should offer consumers that little bit of extra confidence too.