West Marine now matching online pricing

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

Allow me to flip the coin and inquire as to what marine retail outlets are favored by members.For general marine items I have two goto online sources. Defender Marine is usually my first stop. I have been a customer of theirs for probably 40 years dating back to when they were a simple parts counter in New Rochelle, NY and I lived in the northeast. Newer to me, but a source I like is Hodges Marine in the Clearwater, FL area.BTW, a new WM replacement store just opened about 10 miles from me, but not for me. My favorite local business was Roy's Marine, a small family business, that got surrounded by two WM stores (New Bern and Morehead City, NC) and shut down. I am also not a "price match" buyer. If someone offers me a good price, why should I give my business to someone who did not in the first instance?Pete

For me, I support the oil companies. I get hoses and clamps from the local supply house and rebuild electrics at the local go-to shop, etc, etc. Big boxes offer a stotgun approach. I want something better and I’ll drive to get it.

[Pete]

For non marine unique specific parts I favor hardware from McMaster-Carr, and electronic parts from Mouser, Digikey, and Allied.

Pete

[krush]

It's all about moving the numbers and market share.

Large manufacturing corporations care about one thing, selling their product. Nothing else matters. WorseMarine obviously sells Garmin/etc stuff...and sells enough of it to appease garmin.

Whenever I need something, I always search eBay. Quite often there is a mom-n-pop small business that has product listed. No store is close to me, so location is irrelevant.

Oh, and Furuno will always give free tech support on the phone....I think they are privately held, too.

[JLR]

Just a follow up. Went into to West to buy a gallon of oil since I was in the middle of an oil change and needed to top off the genset. Their gallon of Rotella T 15-40 was $28.99. I said that is a ridiculous price and quickly pulled up the Adavance Auto Parts price of $14.99 a gallon. No problem- we will match that price. So, they now will match any price, or so it seems. My question is why their prices are stupid high to begin with.

[racclarkson@gmail.com]

Just a follow up. Went into to West to buy a gallon of oil since I was in the middle of an oil change and needed to top off the genset. Their gallon of Rotella T 15-40 was $28.99. I said that is a ridiculous price and quickly pulled up the Adavance Auto Parts price of $14.99 a gallon. No problem- we will match that price. So, they now will match any price, or so it seems. My question is why their prices are stupid high to begin with.

Stupid high for stupid people.

[jim rosenthal]

Exactly. Their prices are high based on the fact that some folks will just walk in the door, pick up what they want, and go to the register.

WM have never, to my knowledge, carried Furuno. For what it may be worth, Furuno are one of the biggest players in the commercial marine industry. They make a lot of high-end stuff for commercial fishing boats that most of us never look at for our own boats. I am not sure how much of their sales (dollars) are to recreational boaters. Perhaps they don't need WM.

Based on the experiences of friends of mine in the manufacturing business, I would be leery of a company like WM. I have a friend (an acquaintance, really) who makes guitars, and for many years one of his best customers was a national chain of retail music stores. They bought so much of his factory's output that they began demanding special models, exclusives, preferential pricing, etc. Essentially, the end of that road was that he would have been so dependent on them that they would have called all the shots. Instead, he reduced the number of units they could get and looked for other outlets for his instruments. And stayed in charge of his own company that he had built with his knowledge and work. Sometimes too much of a good thing is way too much of a good thing... if I were in the marine manufacturing business I would be quite cautious indeed before doing business with West Marine.