Fuel on the fire

[hromberg]

And that's the point so many were trying to make here. Once that competition is gone then you set your own pricing. If you think that opens the door to more competition I'd say ask those that went out of business how likely they are to poke the giant. A few years back we bought a play set for our kids. This thing retailed for over $6K. We were buying it from a local shop for $3800. Price included set up and delivery. I got an email from Sam's Club offering the same set for $2700 including shipping. Going rate for set up was $400-$600. I called my local guy who said he would call the manufacturer and see what he could do for me on price. His price from the manufacturer was higher than Sam's Club's retail price. When he explained the situation to the manufacturer they still wouldn't give him the same price as they give to Sam's Club. His advice to me was to buy it from Sam's since he couldn't come close. To add insult to injury, the set would be shipped directly from the manufacturer regardless of who I bought it from. Sam's club could have it in 2 weeks and the local guy had to wait 6 weeks. Kind of tough to compete with that when you're selling a seasonal item.

Yep. Economies of scale and all that. That's one of the main reasons companies expand over time.

[bostonhatteras]

Low prices are important, but they're far from the only thing people value if this thread is any indication. Lots of areas to compete other than price or all stores would be Walmart. Thank goodness we're not all price hounds to the exclusion of all else.

I can't believe the life of this thread! It was just a simple FYI. Anyway I agree with Hromberg on this one but I will pull one trick when I go to defenders sale. Instead of paying the extortionary sales tax in Connecticut I will simply buy the unit right there from my phone, online. For 5000 spent the tax would be 350, the sales tax free shipping expense will be 60! That's easy math and I can delay my gratification for a few days. Lol. A lot of different philosophies presented in this thread and its a beautiful thing that we live in a country where we (for now) have the ability to have these choices and opportunities. The founding fathers where truely great men.

[bostonhatteras]

And that's the point so many were trying to make here. Once that competition is gone then you set your own pricing. If you think that opens the door to more competition I'd say ask those that went out of business how likely they are to poke the giant. A few years back we bought a play set for our kids. This thing retailed for over $6K. We were buying it from a local shop for $3800. Price included set up and delivery. I got an email from Sam's Club offering the same set for $2700 including shipping. Going rate for set up was $400-$600. I called my local guy who said he would call the manufacturer and see what he could do for me on price. His price from the manufacturer was higher than Sam's Club's retail price. When he explained the situation to the manufacturer they still wouldn't give him the same price as they give to Sam's Club. His advice to me was to buy it from Sam's since he couldn't come close. To add insult to injury, the set would be shipped directly from the manufacturer regardless of who I bought it from. Sam's club could have it in 2 weeks and the local guy had to wait 6 weeks. Kind of tough to compete with that when you're selling a seasonal item.

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This is very true however no one beats the leader exclusively imitating the original business model. All successful upstart companies have a new and different angle that resonates with the buying public. Hatteras is a great example of this. Slane came along and built a better boat. But it was more than that. It was a different animal altogether. Henry ford....different than what anyone else was doing, google....different and far superior to what anyone else had. Wm doesn't have an eternal lock on the boating market. They will get knocked off eventually. What the challenger will offer I don't know but someone out there someplace is thinking about it right now. I am a small general contractor and I work in some pretty expensive places for some quite well heeled clients. I have competition that has far more guys, can get the job done much faster and maybe cheaper. But, what they can't deliver is the one on one interaction with the customer that I can. They can't offer the intense ability to produce exactly what the customer is dreaming of...on the micro scale. This is what sets me apart and has kept me busy all the time. I don't want to try to compete with those other companies head on because that is what is called the 'rat race'. I have some thing no one else has and that's money in the bank for me. So when that company has a better plan than west marine, then things will change.