Who, exactly, is selling stuff to you?

[Eric The Viking]

I was doing a bit of research after this thread prompted some thoughts about company ownership, etc., and I found this site: http://www.worksmart.org.uk/ .
It's got a lot of interesting stuff on it, whether or not you agree with the politics, but it lets you see quite a bit of company information. For example,

• Screwfix Direct: http://www.worksmart.org.uk/company/company.php?id=03006378
• Toolstation: http://www.worksmart.org.uk/company/company.php?id=04372131
• Howdens: http://www.worksmart.org.uk/company/company.php?id=02128710
  
• Search page: http://www.worksmart.org.uk/company/index.php

(hint: don't use the top search box to find companies - it doesn't work on that database!)

The site is owned by the TUC, so not unbiased exactly (but then what is?). I found a lot of the information fascinating, even if it is a bit out of date. Most of it is straight CoHo data, but comes from the bits you usually have to pay to see.

It's intriguing to find out who owns whom, especially which "brands" you see are actually subsidiaries of certain retailers. It's also slightly chilling to find how much of what's supposed to be a competitive market is actually just a few large companies behind the scenes. It's made me wonder about how little price competition there really is for things like electrical and plumbing items, and consumables like hardware, fixings and finishes.

I'm not sure "enjoy!" is appropriate, but it's useful to know whom you are dealing with.

E.

 

[Grahamshed]

It is the age old philosophy of ' if you have to have opposition it may as well be yourself'

 

[Eric The Viking]

Quite so.

Sorry, incidentally - I was tidying my ramblings when you posted, Graham, so you weren't necessarily replying to what's above.

 

[Jacob]

......
The site is owned by the TUC, so not unbiased exactly (but then what is?). ....

Where is the bias?
Either the information is correct (or the best available) or it is not. Are you suggesting it has been manipulated in some way?

 

[Eric The Viking]

No, not the company information. The rest of the site is not impartial however, and I simply wanted to make that clear.

 

[skelph]

Folks, don't believe everything you find on that site - I just checked the company I work for (a large and well known helicopter company) and found that the R&D and manufacturing section is a wholesale supplier of crustaceans and molluscs (that is a bit of a surprise as they design and manufacture mod kits for brand new helicopters) and a link for another subsidiary company which certifies offshore landing decks leads to a completely different company who are wholesalers of wallpaper etc.

Methinks that the T.U.C. needs to do a bit more work on that database!!

The rest of the info about my employer was interesting though and Eric's links do make you wonder who owns what nowadays.

skelph

 

[Jacob]

No, not the company information. The rest of the site is not impartial however, and I simply wanted to make that clear.

Well it is a TUC site so you'd expect it to be a bit partial towards the TUC! All sites are like that (partial to themselves that is, not necessarily to the TUC).