The changing Scuba Industry

[cool_hardware52]

Apparently, you don't want to understand what we are saying. If the shop that sells for $145 is willing to match price to $125, my question is: Why don't they sell at $125 all the time? Like @BRT said, all they are doing is screwing loyal customers that trust that shop and do no do a search for lowest price.

Do you actually believe every retailer is doing a price survey on every sku they handle every day?

And then use that info to generate new price stickers for the goods?

And new shelf labels?

And make sure their POS system updated perfectly?

And if they don't they are intentionally "screwing their customers"?

Are you seriously suggesting that they should stop offering to price match in order to somehow "protect" other customers who freely decided that whatever price they paid was a fair exchange for the goods and service they received?

Wow.

Tobin

 

[BRT]

Do you actually believe every retailer is doing a price survey on every sku they handle every day?

And then use that info to generate new price stickers for the goods?

And new shelf labels?

And make sure their POS system updated perfectly?

And if they don't they are intentionally "screwing their customers"?

Are you seriously suggesting that they should stop offering to price match in order to somehow "protect" other customers who freely decided that whatever price they paid was a fair exchange for the goods and service they received?

Wow.

Tobin

Yes, but you keep selling for what the individual will pay.

 

[Lorenzoid]

LDS sells DR XT's for $145. DRiS sells them for $125.

That sounded too good to be true. Looks like $159 at DRIS: XT Fin - Dive Right in Scuba

On sale for $115.96 at MY local dive shop, Divers Supply: Dive Rite XT Fins with Spring Strap

More on topic, maybe Divers Supply has the business model needed to survive: A few regional brick-and-mortar stores AND a large on-line presence. I can shop on-line and pick it up at the store, where I might shoot the breeze with the employees, fill some tanks, see what trips they have going, test out gear in their indoor pool, etc. The brick-and-mortar and on-line arms reinforce each other and build a loyal regional customer base. DRIS and Scubatoys seem like they might have a similar model, though I believe each has only one brick-and-mortar location.

 

[cool_hardware52]

Yes, but you keep selling for what the individual will pay.

Really? So some discounter buys a close out and offers XX fins for 40% price.

A retailer is supposed to:

1) Know that
2) Re price his offerings to under his costs

Or he is screwing his regular customers?

Details please.


How do I price my goods? My costs + a fair profit.

They either sell or they don't. I do know the costs associated with a program of perpetual price surveys, updating websites and price databases and dealer price lists on a daily basis would force an increase in prices across the board.

Tobin

 

[stuartv]

Not me. I want a shop that rewards the customer for their knowledge

How is that anything but a different way of saying "a shop that penalizes customers who aren't as knowledgeable"? I.e. A shop that penalizes the very people the industry needs to be putting the most effort into drawing further in?

 

[admikar]

It's a free market. People have the freedom to seek as much or as little profit as they want. They are also free to make exceptions and take losses. Not everyone sells things at the same price, nor purchase them, retailers included. A retailer that buy $1 million from a supplier will in most cases get better pricing than the retailer who buys $10 thousand, thereby allowing them to sell at lower unit costs for the same profit margin, and conversely affecting the lower volume purchaser; economies of scale. Sales contracts are highly variable. Costco is a great study on the issue from both sides.

For the sake of simplicity, the rule has generally been to sell at the maximum price that the market will bear. Which ideally places the power with the consumer dictating to the market. If the guy selling at $145 can, he will. And why not. If his sales drop due to competition he will adjust, which is where price matching comes in; adjust when necessary. Some manufacturers will regulate pricing, often with minimum, MSRP, or fixed reseller pricing. Look at prices on mobile phones for example. The prices for the phones themselves hardly vary, large corporations like clear and stiff regulations, so retailers use incentives to attract customers. A strategy in a competitive market.

I hope this answers your question.

Really? So some discounter buys a close out and offers XX fins for 40% price.

A retailer is supposed to:

1) Know that
2) Re price his offerings to under his costs

Or he is screwing his regular customers?

Details please.


How do I price my goods? My costs + a fair profit.

They either sell or they don't. I do know the costs associated with a program of perpetual price surveys, updating websites and price databases and dealer price lists on a daily basis would force an increase in prices across the board.

Tobin

Tobin, I understand your point. Like I said I will pay a premium to a LDS, within some boundaries.
Point is I expect you to keep those prices same for all customers, if market conditions are the same.
I do not know how business in US is done, but here we have customer protection laws which say that if I bought item X at price Y, they can not sell you item X at price Y+Z, unless there has being changes in their operating expenses. All customers must be treated the same, whether they've done price matching search or not.

Customer can ask for a discount, but price matching is not discount, it's trying to make a sale in any way possible. Like @stuartv said, if I found that you sold me same item for higher price than you did to him, do not blame me if I choose to buy online next time.

 

[stuartv]

That sounded too good to be true.

Yeah, I was taking the example given (XTs at those two prices) and trying to make it a little more real world by putting a name on "the online retailer". I thought the prices themselves were probably not right, but that was irrelevant to my point.

Edit: The whole time, I was thinking DR XT regs (thus why I was thinking the example prices were way cheaper than real life). I just realized y'all were talking about XT fins. LOL

 

[boulderjohn]

The factor some people don't seem to be considering is that not all stores pay the same price for merchandise. I know cases in which the local store would sell at a loss if he matched the price of an online dealer.

 

[admikar]

The factor some people don't seem to be considering is that not all stores pay the same price for merchandise. I know cases in which the local store would sell at a loss if he matched the price of an online dealer.

And they shouldn't do it. All they can do is to lower prices within their profit margin. But if they do for me, but don't do it for you, they are screwing you over. Agree?

 

[stuartv]

The factor some people don't seem to be considering is that not all stores pay the same price for merchandise. I know cases in which the local store would sell at a loss if he matched the price of an online dealer.

That is irrelevant to MY point.

If a shop has a pricing policy of "as low as we can go and still have a sustainable business - and no price matching or discounts", then the price will be whatever it is. Likely, many things will be higher than what online dealers offer the same thing for. But, also likely that it won't be SO much higher that everyone just buys online. And, that shop won't be lying to its customers by putting a price tag on an item that says "the price of this item is $XX" when, really that is only the price for suckers who don't do any research.

If a shop had that pricing policy and their prices were still just TOO high, then I would have to wonder if they have other issues contributing to an unreasonably high amount of overhead. You can't really expect a business to survive if the owner(s) has made poor business decisions, resulting in too-high overhead and then wants to just pass the cost of bad decisions on to their customers.