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

[WarrenZ]

I admit I do consider the owners of my LDS friends and I will spend a lot in there every year (>$2000 this year) but I also buy from one of the online SCUBA shops. However I do check out any dive shop real or online against the manufacturer dealer list before I buy from them. If the price is within about $50 of the local shop I will gladly spend it there but if it is more I will order it from online. Competition rules...

By the way I buy from BOTH dive shops in my local area.

 

[Debraw]

Ok, Dive shop for sale , All inventory ,website, and I will cover the costs of the Dema Padi seminar on how you will make it all work. SERIOUS ! I will start with a 150 K offers Just think of all the cheap gear you can buy then. or maybe a new outlet for some of you huge on-line sales guys . pm me your bids , Heck I may try ebay aswell.

Oh man me too, my shop is for sale, I would take $150,000 in a heart beat. Come one come all, buy your gear at cost and sell to all your friends at cost. No kidding, consider this a contract, write me a good check, that I can cash, and I would sell today. No sarcasm, I am serious.

I had a bad day, can you tell? ( now that was sarcasm)

I think Phil may have hit the nail on the head with PADI. They must insure the success of the LDS in order for their business model to work.

 

[Darryl Bowerman]

Debra!

Say it aint so! My kids need new shoes!!!

Darryl

 

[ReefHound]

Deep South Scuba Ridgeland MS Located on County Line Road
601-957-DIVE
The owners name is Walter
The whole package I purchased was

Oceanic Probe LX
Oceanic Reg with slimline octo/Gauges
Soft weights

$800
Cash

JBL Gulf Magnum XHD with breakaway tip fully rigged $260

The deals are there if you pay cash not credit cards

But I don't want a whole package. Sure, if you let them rape you on a few items they'll give you a break after awhile.

That speargun is on LP for $230 plus $13 shipping (less than the sales tax) but that's close enough. Now is that indicative of their product line or an exception?

Credit card processing costs a merchant about 3%. Unless a manager is pocketing the cash and not ringing it up, there's no reason paying cash should be the catalyst to dramatic discounts. BTW, Scuba.com and LP prices are good for credit cards.

 

[tedtim]

But.... how will you get fills?

Come on, don't you have a STF (scuba tank fill) port on your computer? I guess that you must own one of them down right backwoods PC type of computers and not a Mac. Heck, when PADI finds out about these they will have a specialty for it right quick.

 

[Firefyter]

In these online/LDS discussions there are inevitably a handful of posts such as this that mention their LDS matching or beating online prices. However, I have never once actually seen one of these phantom shops and I've been in many. Whenever I'm in a new area I like to hit a LDS or two just to check things out. Maybe once in a while there will be the oddball accessory that an LDS is trying to close out but I'd sure like to get a specific name and phone number of one who matches (or even comes within 10%) of online prices for the better part of their inventory.

Surface Interval Scuba in Arlington. DebraW here on the board. She advertises it on her website, and in my experience, is as good as her word. Other LDSs could take lessons from her.

 

[Web Monkey]

The whole thing is really about economies of scale. If you look at the sales of most local LDS, their sales are not usually high enough to get the best wholesale pricing from the manufacturers. Therefore, they don't really have any savings to pass onto the customer. On the other hand, an internet dive shop usually generates a lot more sales and buys at a lower price from the manufacturer. This gives them the ability to see equipment in many cases below the price the LDS is paying.

That only works for a little while.

Once all the small dealers are gone, the the big dealers beat up the manufacturer for price until the manufacturers go out of business.

In the end, only the manufacturers who maintained pricing are left.

This is why you can still buy a Sub-Zero refrigerator, but if you buy a Frigidaire, Tappan, Kelvinator, Westinghouse or Gibson, you're just buying a nametag on a machine made by White Consolidated Industries. The factories, people and products are all gone, crushed by the demands of buying groups and big chains in the 80's and 90's.

Sub-Zero maintained their pricing and dealer network, and stayed out of the pi***** match.

Free-market competition is really only good for the consumer in non-specialty markets.

Once the shakeout is over, people that bought one brand or another because of a particular proprietary feature will be out of luck. Maybe you won't be able to get the reg that bubbles to prevent freeflows, maybe you won't be able to get the one packed in grease. Maybe you won't be able to get anything rated for more than 50% O2. The specialty products with smaller markets tend to be dropped.

Be careful what you ask for. You might get it.

Terry


Terry

 

[Carribeandiver]

LDSs have high profit margins because they are in a very seasonal business. Even down south where it is generally warm enough to dive most of the year, dive gear sales are only enough to sustain a "brick and mortar" dive store about 8-9 months out of the year. Most stores that are not in this warm climate lose money for 5 or more months a year meaning they MUST make their money when sales are hot.
I must admit that I am happy to see products available online, I will also suggest that this is a very bad thing for the LDSs and it will be very difficult for them to remain in business as they are. I suspect that the emphasis of the LDS will no longer be gear sales but education through seminars, trips, dive training and other means.
This is not a high volume business. A website can literally reach millions whereas a local dive shop can reach 'maybe' hundreds. (divers only) Major players in dive gear internet sales probably sell more in one week than most LDSs sell in 6 months.
I like saving money but I dread the day when there is no local dive shop in my area.

 

[Grounded]

I won't say that I live in the most "normal" area. But here are my observations:
1) It seems that online vs. LDS is a club store vs. convenience store argument. Even though I know it costs a few dollars more, I buy beer at the local store rather than Costco. It's more convenient. Similarly, 90% of the diving gear I buy is an impulse buy while I'm waiting for a fill. Could I get it cheaper on line? Probably. Will I pay $10 for shipping and wait a week for a game bag I want to use today? Absolutely not. The LDS should be concentrating on stocking many of those small dollar items that add up to a $100 trip to get the tanks filled.
2) My favorite internet retailer has two brick and mortar shops within 30 miles of my house. They both offer $2 air fills. I'll still pay $5 for air at my LDS because I don't think it's worth the price of gas to save $6 on two tanks of air.
3) wetsuits all seem to be sized differently. Seems to be quite a gamble to guess as to sizing on something that may be difficult to return once peed in.
4) It seems that, as long as people are taking OW classes, they'll always buy their snorkle gear from the LDS where thay take their OW class.
5) Taking into account numbers 1, 2, 3 and 4 above, the only big ticket items anyone really needs to buy on line are regs, BCs and computers- which no one needs to replace more often than once every ten years or so. If the LDS just sells full price classes and over-priced every-day gear, every one should be happy. For the same reason 7-11 doesn't sell salsa by the gallon.

 

[Carribeandiver]

dont be ridiculous, we can buy a compressor from one of those online places for around 100 bucks, who needs a LDS for fills? (this is a joke, please dont take me seriously and send me nasty notes, we all know the compressor is 200 bucks)