I was slightly shocked and honoured when I was asked to write a monthly column for ERTWeekly.com

Those of us in the industry would consider ERT Weekly a 'must read' magazine and now, once a month, I hope you will consider my online column, Going Dutch, to be as enjoyable and informative of those from Anthony Clark, Simon King and Graham Knight.

I feel I have a lot to live up to, so I will try my best.

When I first started in electrical retailing, during the Eighties, it was an exciting time.

Something called the VCR had just been invented and was starting to sell in decent numbers.

Not only that, but TVs had just become remote controlled, leading to a new style of argument.

No longer was it a case of who had to get up to change the three channels over, it was now a case of who had the remote control to do so.

Of course, the war of the remote continues to this day, but now with more channels than ever.

Who would have thought at that time that the Government would be switching off the analogue signal and that technology would have taken us to where we are today.

In my time at Ketts, I learnt my trade off the older and wiser sales staff and managers.

I helped do everything from installing washing machines and TVs, to selling vacuum cleaner bags and stamping old ladies' rental cards.

There were no such things as Key Performance Indicators (KPIs), but there was commission - a subject I shall cover in one of my up and coming columns.

The recent final throes of the battle between HD-DVD and Blu-ray took me back to my formative years in the electrical retailing industry.

One of the hot questions from Ketts customers at the time was: "Should I buy VHS or Betamax?"

For those of us old enough to remember this question, the likely reply was: "Well, Betamax is supposed to be better, but VHS has more titles available."

Sure enough, after a number of years, VHS won and Betamax disappeared.

Despite the fact that Blu-ray has now prevailed, can any of the companies involved really claim to have won? Have we really learnt from our past?

The war between Betamax and VHS left many customers unsure of what to buy, and therefore many didn't buy anything until it was settled.

Some of those that bought Betamax inevitably blamed the retailer for selling them the system. And they even asked for refunds.
 
Are the retailers who took the calculated decision to promote HD-DVD players facing the same issues right now?

Will more dealers be discouraged from supporting new and emerging technologies in the future?

I don't claim to have an answer to many of these questions; however as a junior member of staff back in the early days of my career, I do know that I was not privy to the demise of Betamax until it was in the public domain. 

Therefore I now question whether I was ever informed enough to actually give the customer the advice they really needed?

In my perfect world, staff would be trained and informed of how to best service and help customers, whilst being motivated and trained to maximise both the customers' requirements and the enjoyment of the products they were buying.

Sometimes, despite all the technology, I wonder if we have truly learnt the most basic lessons from our past.

Gordon Dutch