Major Industry Change re: Online Scuba Sales....

[scubadobadoo]

It is such a shame the world is coming to this money for nothing and cheaper is better attitude. Do you buy your groceries on line? Lets all start doing that and push the local grocery stores out too. What started out as a good information source has turned into a beast for get rich people for nothing that are not willing to put in a little old fashon hard work and the cheap consumers have fallen for the bait.

Yes. Fresh Direct.

Do you have that intraweb thingy in Florida? Anyone who bashes the internet by posting on a messaqge board makes me giggle.

 

[Web Monkey]

This is a great example of what dive shops need to do!

We have a bunch of grocery stores here in Central NY, and for the most part, they could easily be replaced by a large central warehouse with a bunch of delivery vans, or in many cases, UPS.

However, there is one store called "Wegmans" that has absolutely top-shelf first-class everything, with amazingly fresh produce (generally looks better than the farmer's market), great meats (high-priced-restaurant-quality, not just OK), and all sorts of ethnic and deli food.

They're kicking butt, too. People are happy to shop there, and typically spend significantly more than they would at almost any place in town. This isn't because Wegmans is expensive (they're average-priced), it's because you might have walked in thinking about grilled chicken, and walked out with chicken, pine nuts, a pile of very nice 'shrooms, Parmigiano-Reggiano and a few bunches of absolutely fresh, beautiful basil, to make Basil Pesto Penne with Chcken.

Wegmans is expanding all the way down the east coast, based on doing an unbeleivably excellent job of giving people more than what they wanted. And the customers are happy to pay.

If more dive shops were like this, the internet wouldn't even be a factor. Transforming a commodity into a sought-after service makes all the difference in the world.

Terry


Quote:
Originally Posted by RJTY
It is such a shame the world is coming to this money for nothing and cheaper is better attitude. Do you buy your groceries on line? Lets all start doing that and push the local grocery stores out too. What started out as a good information source has turned into a beast for get rich people for nothing that are not willing to put in a little old fashon hard work and the cheap consumers have fallen for the bait.



Yes. Fresh Direct.

Do you have the intranet in Florida?

 

[darylm74]

A lot of people wonder whether or not this will open up the market to people who's budgets currently do not allow them to dive. I think this will happen but believe the real impact will be from those who currently dive but don't own their own gear. I know several people who rent gear because they only dive a few times a year and the cost of gear is too expensive to justify doing anything but renting. If prices come down more of these people would buy gear and perhaps dive more as well. Another impact will be from those of us that already buy gear who would upgrade more often if gear was cheaper. And what would we do with all of the used gear that we no longer use and can't sell because new gear is now cost efficient? We donate it to the boyscouts, YMCA's, colleges, etc. It would also make the switch-over from Rec to Tec much more feasible. Tec is very gear intensive and training is not cheap. It is the combined high prices that keep some people out of Tec. If you can reduce the costs by 25%, more people might try the Tec Option. I think the industry needs to think just as much about the people already diving as bringing the masses into diving. As others have said, diving isn't for everyone but there are plenty of people who dive already that do not own their own gear.

 

[RJP]

However, there is one store called "Wegmans" that has absolutely top-shelf first-class everything, with amazingly fresh produce (generally looks better than the farmer's market), great meats (high-priced-restaurant-quality, not just OK), and all sorts of ethnic and deli food.

Wegmans is expanding all the way down the east coast, based on doing an unbeleivably excellent job of giving people more than what they wanted. And the customers are happy to pay.

If more dive shops were like this, the internet wouldn't even be a factor. Transforming a commodity into a sought-after service makes all the difference in the world.

Great analogy!

My LDS is sort of the Wegman's model - you go in for one thing, come out with five, having happily spent too much on all of it.

PS - We have two Wegman's right near us here in NJ. Love 'em, but their model here is that they ARE a little bit more expensive than the other grocery store on the day-to-day items.

 

[Web Monkey]

Great analogy!

My LDS is sort of the Wegman's model - you go in for one thing, come out with five, having happily spent too much on all of it.

PS - We have two Wegman's right near us here in NJ. Love 'em, but their model here is that they ARE a little bit more expensive than the other grocery store on the day-to-day items.

They're new to your area and are probably playing with the prices a little.

Around here they tend to be very close to average pricing on almost everything, it should shake out soon.

Something else interesting they did was to get store-brands that were better than the name-brands. For example, their pasta sauces are excellent and the canned whole plum tomatos are the best I've found yet (I tested almost a dozen brands while tuning my pizza sauce).

I have no idea why I'm rambling on, except that it always facinates me when someone walks in and just completely out-classes everybody else, makes barrels of money and makes the customer exceptionally happy.

Before they opened up, grocery stores just sat around beating each other's brains out trying to be cheaper. Wegman's didn't even bother. They spent their time being better.

Terry

 

[redacted]

I have no idea why I'm rambling on, except that it always facinates me when someone walks in and just completely out-classes everybody else, makes barrels of money and makes the customer exceptionally happy.

You mean like Divesports, Scubatoys, and Leisurepro.

 

[PhilEllis]

I have been thinking about this thread I started since I first opened that press release from PADI. I have been trying to figure out why PADI would make this change of direction now. Last night, I had a crazy dream...............

There is no doubt about it.....a local store moving to an internet strategy is a difficult move, both in the change of business model and the technology required to do it. It is not as simple as buying one of the hundreds of "shopping cart" programs. You can't pay someone $600 to guarantee you "top search engine performance", all the claims of this to the contrary. The time required to maintain an internet website is gigantic. The additional investment in inventory to fullfill the orders is massive.

So, what does PADI have planned?

Try this crazy idea on for size. Maybe PADI plans to expand their product offerings. How about this? PADI offers turn-key scuba store website construction, consulting services for obtaining search engine performance, along with a partnership deal to deliver the web solution through someone like StoreFront. Think about it.

Phil Ellis

 

[Web Monkey]

Try this crazy idea on for size. Maybe PADI plans to expand their product offerings. How about this? PADI offers turn-key scuba store website construction, consulting services for obtaining search engine performance, along with a partnership deal to deliver the web solution through someone like StoreFront. Think about it.

Phil Ellis

Seems like a messy way for them to make some money. Printing C-Cards and books is much cleaner than the rest of the business.

I still have no clue why they would make a statement supporting online sales, since online dealers don't sell PADI certs (you generally have to actully show up for class).

Terry

 

[Web Monkey]

Quote:
Originally Posted by Web Monkey
I have no idea why I'm rambling on, except that it always facinates me when someone walks in and just completely out-classes everybody else, makes barrels of money and makes the customer exceptionally happy.


You mean like Divesports, Scubatoys, and Leisurepro.

Not really. The shops you mentioned are still competing on price. Wegmans doesn't even bother. They're priced about average, but build their business on having better products and a much wider selection.

You can walk into Wegmans and buy truffles. Or fresh (live and growing) basil. Or fresh mozerrella. Anybody can have fresh mozerella, however they carry about 5 different brands. They carry more varieties of cheese than most cheese shops.

You can walk in and buy paper towels for the same price as anywhere else, however you can't walk into anywhere else in town and try some Stilton, or a few nice Roquefort's and blues or some real Procutto, or wild mushrooms

So now they sold you paper towels, which you needed, and $20 worth of cheese you hadn't even thought about buying, and maybe another $20 in mushrooms and a few pieces of excellent fruit.

The other stores are aren't competition, they're irrelevant. Once they get you hooked on their food, shopping anywhere else is just deperessing.

That's how to take over a market.

Terry

 

[mike_s]

Last night, I had a crazy dream...............

Did it have Abe Lincoln, a Beaver eating breakfast, and a brass hard helment diver in it? (I just can't figure out whoever wrote that commercial would include those 3 in a dream).

I still have no clue why they would make a statement supporting online sales, since online dealers don't sell PADI certs (you generally have to actully show up for class).

I think that PADI realizes that web gear sales are here to stay. With them being the largest certifying agencey, they want to make sure that those who are getting certified will be spending their money with PADI (or a PADI shop). Folks who dive more, buy more gear, and take more classes, so Padi can gain from that.

Also their mentatility might be if they get all their PADI affiliated stores online that they can have an edge over the other stores in gear sales. Since people most of time take additional classes at the brick-n-mortar shop where they buy their gear, it goes to say that the shop and PADI will have an advantage over other shops.

This might then support Phil's idea that Padi might be planning on helping these shops (for a consulting fee) to get them online with a storefront. What not a better way to get their Put-Another-Dollar-In running? get consulting, perhaps something on gear sales, and more class sales. If PADI shops don't stay in business, then PADI has no income off that business....