The United States Department of Commerce estimates that each man, woman, and child in the United States has approximately $758 to spend during the December holiday season. As you know, this time of year is a boom for many retailers, making the difference between yearly losses and profits. Everywhere you look, there are advertisements for 10%, 20%, 30% 40%, and even 50% off on the most desirable merchandise available....skiis, televisions, clothing, electronics, sporting goods,...almost everything. Sales are everywhere. Retail advertising is at it's highest during December.
The scuba industry (most major manufacturers) continues to believe that restrictions on retailers.....ranging from complete bans on price advertising and discounting to bans on the lowest retail price allowed in advertising....will keep the industry "strong" and keep their brand "valuable". What actually happens is that these artificial restrictions simply block the scuba retailer from being able to participate, in any meaningful way, in the sales boom of the season. Don't get me wrong, scuba stores will have holiday sales and will discount some items, but the core name brands that make up the majority of their inventory, sales, and profit will be available to the consumer at EXACTLY the same price that is offered any other day of the year. This is unfair to the retailer and unfair to the consumer. As an operator of a local scuba store AND a highly visible online store, I do everything possible to include my business in the shopping bonanza of December. I have already changed my business model, so I, along with a few others, are less affected by these policies. But many, in fact most, scuba retailers view December as another winter month they must weather until the "diving season" arrives anew. This is so unfair.
What is the result of these policies? The scuba stores and the manufacturers they represent get VERY LITTLE of this excess, disposable money consumers have to spend. What consumer would go out of their way in this busy season to buy a regulator at EXACTLY the same price that it will be offered to them in June? What scuba retailer would spend vaulable advertising money for a sale offering "Our same old regular price, today and everyday!" How can a local scuba store attract new diver into the store, adding more divers to the roles for the future, if they can't participate in the LARGEST retail season on earth? This is so unfair.
Without calling out any particular company, wouldn't you think that at least ONE of the major manufacturers would be headed by someone who studied the same economics 101 that all of us did during our learning years? Wouldn't you think that at least ONE of them would understand the "real" plight of the local scuba retailer, dying with low sales, in a season of plenty from a disposable income perspective? Wouldn't you think that at least ONE of them would understand that the local guy who invests hundreds of thousands of dollars in a scuba business might need to be free to run his or her business as they see fit and compete, head to head, with the other merchants in the area offering great bargains and sales to it's local consumers? Apparently not. This is so unfair.
At my store, we made the choice to change our business model almost three years ago. It was a tough decision. We decided to take control of our own future by changing our price policies and expanding our market through the internet. We decided to fight restrictions and restrictive policies and do the basic things WE KNEW were necessary in a free market. I will let you know years from now if it works. What I do know is the old way DOES NOT WORK! In recent months, three rather large and established scuba retailers in my area have decided it's no longer worth the trouble. They didn't change their business model and they are suffering from that decision. I know that businesses come and businesses go....but please let's let it be because they gave it their best shot in changing times. God, the thought that they closed their once successful stores because of the VERY RESTRICTIVE POLICIES DESIGNED TO PROTECT THEM is almost sickening.
Much has been made about how the internet is ruining scuba retailing in the United States. I fear that everyone who claims that is dead wrong. If all of the internet scuba stores.....me, Larry, and the 2000 others...disappeared tonight, the plight of the local scuba retailer would be EXACTLY the same. They are locked into a business model designed in 1960's, protected by lawsuits in the 1970's, that limped along in the 1980's and 1990's, and is finally coming home to roost in the 2000's. Most stores locked into one or two restrictive manufacturers couldn't change now even if they wanted to and knew they needed to! This is so unfair.
This thread should not be turned into a debate about online v LDS, or a discussion about the LDS being run by a bunch of jerks, or whatever else normally occupies such discussions. If there are any responses at all, they should be about the possbililty of success of a retailer, completely tied up in restrictive policies by manufacturers who have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AT STAKE IN THE STORES SUCCESS OR FAILURE, actually succeeding in our wide open free enterprise system in the coming years. Each day I am amazed that there is very little discussion about this issue. It is so central to our sport and so central to the future of our industry. So, I thought I would step out of the pan and into the fire. Anyway, just my view.
Happy holidays and happy scuba buying!
Phil Ellis
Dive Sports Online
www.divesports.com
(800) 601-DIVE
The scuba industry (most major manufacturers) continues to believe that restrictions on retailers.....ranging from complete bans on price advertising and discounting to bans on the lowest retail price allowed in advertising....will keep the industry "strong" and keep their brand "valuable". What actually happens is that these artificial restrictions simply block the scuba retailer from being able to participate, in any meaningful way, in the sales boom of the season. Don't get me wrong, scuba stores will have holiday sales and will discount some items, but the core name brands that make up the majority of their inventory, sales, and profit will be available to the consumer at EXACTLY the same price that is offered any other day of the year. This is unfair to the retailer and unfair to the consumer. As an operator of a local scuba store AND a highly visible online store, I do everything possible to include my business in the shopping bonanza of December. I have already changed my business model, so I, along with a few others, are less affected by these policies. But many, in fact most, scuba retailers view December as another winter month they must weather until the "diving season" arrives anew. This is so unfair.
What is the result of these policies? The scuba stores and the manufacturers they represent get VERY LITTLE of this excess, disposable money consumers have to spend. What consumer would go out of their way in this busy season to buy a regulator at EXACTLY the same price that it will be offered to them in June? What scuba retailer would spend vaulable advertising money for a sale offering "Our same old regular price, today and everyday!" How can a local scuba store attract new diver into the store, adding more divers to the roles for the future, if they can't participate in the LARGEST retail season on earth? This is so unfair.
Without calling out any particular company, wouldn't you think that at least ONE of the major manufacturers would be headed by someone who studied the same economics 101 that all of us did during our learning years? Wouldn't you think that at least ONE of them would understand the "real" plight of the local scuba retailer, dying with low sales, in a season of plenty from a disposable income perspective? Wouldn't you think that at least ONE of them would understand that the local guy who invests hundreds of thousands of dollars in a scuba business might need to be free to run his or her business as they see fit and compete, head to head, with the other merchants in the area offering great bargains and sales to it's local consumers? Apparently not. This is so unfair.
At my store, we made the choice to change our business model almost three years ago. It was a tough decision. We decided to take control of our own future by changing our price policies and expanding our market through the internet. We decided to fight restrictions and restrictive policies and do the basic things WE KNEW were necessary in a free market. I will let you know years from now if it works. What I do know is the old way DOES NOT WORK! In recent months, three rather large and established scuba retailers in my area have decided it's no longer worth the trouble. They didn't change their business model and they are suffering from that decision. I know that businesses come and businesses go....but please let's let it be because they gave it their best shot in changing times. God, the thought that they closed their once successful stores because of the VERY RESTRICTIVE POLICIES DESIGNED TO PROTECT THEM is almost sickening.
Much has been made about how the internet is ruining scuba retailing in the United States. I fear that everyone who claims that is dead wrong. If all of the internet scuba stores.....me, Larry, and the 2000 others...disappeared tonight, the plight of the local scuba retailer would be EXACTLY the same. They are locked into a business model designed in 1960's, protected by lawsuits in the 1970's, that limped along in the 1980's and 1990's, and is finally coming home to roost in the 2000's. Most stores locked into one or two restrictive manufacturers couldn't change now even if they wanted to and knew they needed to! This is so unfair.
This thread should not be turned into a debate about online v LDS, or a discussion about the LDS being run by a bunch of jerks, or whatever else normally occupies such discussions. If there are any responses at all, they should be about the possbililty of success of a retailer, completely tied up in restrictive policies by manufacturers who have ABSOLUTELY NOTHING AT STAKE IN THE STORES SUCCESS OR FAILURE, actually succeeding in our wide open free enterprise system in the coming years. Each day I am amazed that there is very little discussion about this issue. It is so central to our sport and so central to the future of our industry. So, I thought I would step out of the pan and into the fire. Anyway, just my view.
Happy holidays and happy scuba buying!
Phil Ellis
Dive Sports Online
www.divesports.com
(800) 601-DIVE
