A lot of interesting points brought up in this thread. These are the fun ones to read. The more we know about how the scuba business works, the better off we all are. I would like to respond so several of the comments made here.
ReefHound:
Let me give you my perspective. I just don't like to play that game. If you (generically speaking) want to run an auction, run an auction. As far as I am concerned, you had a chance to post your best price. If I go to your site (again, generically speaking) and see xyz reg for $299 and LP has it for $229, I'm probably not going to see if you will match. This isn't a Mexican mercado where I expect to haggle. If you wanted to sell it for $229, you had every opportunity to list it for $229. Nobody twisted your arm (well, maybe the manufacturer, but not me) to list it for $299. I'm going to assume the price you put on the tag is the price you need to get. I don't like it when people are fishing in my wallet for what they can get. It feels like buying a new car. It doesn't matter what anyone else's price is, your best price is your best price, offer it upfront.
It also slows down the transaction, requiring me to send emails asking to price match and then awaiting a reply. I'm not sure how checkout would be done. Call on the phone? Not a chance. I may be shopping at 5am before going to work, or at midnight. Or even at work, where I can type in privacy but I don't really care to pick up the phone so everybody in the adjacent cubicles can listen to me discuss a scuba purchase. Phone calls are designed for 10 minute transactions. I like to work at my own pace. The shopping cart lets me, will you?
As you all should realize by now, I am a free trader. I favor letting a dealer purchase the material and offer it for sale at whatever price they choose. Unfortunately, that is not the way it works. As an authorized dealer, you must work within the agreement signed with the manufacturer. As the law currently stands, mandating minimum advertising prices is legal and most manufacturers take advantage of that status. Leisure Pro often is not constrained by that dealer agreement, because they are not authorized dealers. For those items for which they are authorized dealers, they also conform to the minimum advertised price.
LDS operators who also maintain online sales sites typically spend their day doing things other than tending the internet. We are filling cylinders, inspecting scuba gear, and doing the other things that walk in customers demand. They are not always able to track the sale prices all of the online dealers might be offering TODAY on any particular item. The price match offer is provided so you can get the best price from us, if we are your preferred online dealer, even if it is an item that is temporarily on sale at a different online store. Obviously, our posted price is the best possible price we can offer, day after day, for an item, based on our business model. On occasion, when another dealer offers a sale, we want you to be able to get it from us and we don't like to lose your business to another online operator. It is not intended to be an auction. It is offered for customer convenience. All it takes is a simple note in our Additional Comments box a check out specifing the price you would like us to match. We do so with no questions asked.
ReefHound:
I understand that, nobody can track all the prices out there. I'm not talking about that, I'm talking about places (i.e. LDS) whose posted prices are significantly higher across the board and they know fully well they are not even close.
I have never critized Leisure Pro for any of their business practices. I think their business model is genius. However, there is one area where I think they play considerable games......that is pricing. They offer the same item for 5 or 6 different prices, depending on HOW you find them. Their advertised price on a particular item at shop.com may be different from the price they offer at amazon, which may be different from the price they offer on overstock.com. They also often lower the price of a hot moving item (based on today's search inventory on the search engines) simply to cash in on the traffic; only to raise it back to the normal price tomorrow. I personally don't have the time to play those games. I set my internet and instore price where I think it is very competitive and in line with my competition. The price match simply prevents Leisure Pro (and others that play the same games) from taking search engine business away from me. You may not like that, but it is the way it is.
Heffey:
Why should Leisure Pro's cost of doing business be less than authorized scuba stores?
Mostly, as others have stated, it is a function of volume. For years and years, they had an exclusive franchise for low prices upon which to build customer volume. The scuba companies simply did not permit online sales from their authorized dealers, all the while allowing Leisure Pro to somehow get their merchandise with little interruption. This gave them a gigantic head start to build an online shopping clientelle for volume levels that most of us will never acheive. While I understand that their real estate in Manhattan is VERY expensive, that real estate is primarily supported by several hundred million dollars in camera sales and unknown dollar volumes of jewelery and diamond sales. FROM SCUBA OPERATIONS ONLY, other online stores (scuba stores) have considerably higher costs of operation, especially when viewed as a percentage of sales. We maintain direct full-time employees to do training, service, merchandising, and other things associated with local trade. I know may will say that Leisure Pro also does these things, but that is not really true. Their investment for "customer service" as a percentage of sales, is much lower than the typical scuba store. They don't maintain employees to plan and schedule travel...a break even service...like most scuba stores do. There is a difference. Simply walk in their store and look around. Walk in mine or Larry's or Jim Herndon's and you will see the difference.
Closing comments. We try hard to compete as a genuine on-line scuba retailer. We also maintain a COMPLETE full-service local dive store. We provide a toll-free phone number for our online customers to actually discuss, in depth, any pending purchase. This is another difference you will notice between the new LDS/online combinations (divesports.com, scubatoys, scuba.com, 123scuba) I challenge you to phone LP and get the kind of advice and discussion you can get from the combinations. Now, if you don't like to ever make a phone call, then maybe Leisure Pro better suits your shopping preference. Many do, however, like the ability to get someone on the phone that can help them with their purchase decisions. Anyway, thanks for your time.
Phil Ellis
