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| SkullandBonesSkateboards.com Forum Index » BUSINESS, SHOPS & RETAILERS » First issue of VOICE OF THE SHOPS |
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| skategeezer |
 Posted: Thu Sep 14, 2006 8:45 am |
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Joined: 03 Jul 2003
Posts: 1227
Location: Toronto
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Welcome to the first installment of VOICE of the SHOPS...a newsletter that allows independent skate shops to share the good, the bad and the ugly of what is happening out there.
Being an independent skateboard retailer is not easy. By shining a light on what is REALLY taking place out there, it is hoped that the independent shops will be able to not only survive, but really thrive.
You will note - we are not naming names. We are simply letting shops voice their experiences. The opinions expressed in this newsletter are those of the contributors. Please feel free to distribute this newsletter to those folks you feel might find it interesting...and if you feel like contributing something, just email [email protected].
On a final note, I am not sure where things will lead with this newsletter. For one thing, many shops have told me that they are very nervous about complaining about some of the industry practices, for fear of reprisal. However, many shops I have spoken with agree that they are concerned about things and they welcome a forum to share their thoughts.
I am sending this newsletter out to a number of shops and one or two other parties that I believe will find it of interest. I am sure there will some of you who will not read it, but I strongly believe a number of folks will pass it on to other shops.
Let's see what develops....
Ready? Let's go!
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So I decided to open a skateboard/snowboard shop just about 2 years ago. I never realized how important, and frustrating, minimum orders were going to my new shop. I quickly find most companies have MINIMUM first orders of $2,500 - $10,000. Can't afford the minimum? Sorry. Terms? Nope. Haven't been in business for a year? Call me back next season.
I began to realize that certain brands are so big that they will sell based on the name alone. The problem with that, is that the brand KNOWS THIS. They know that they have a product that our customers want. They know that if we don't get their product in, we probably won't survive. I actually had one company that wanted me to fill out a paper that explained why my shop is "good enough" for the brand!
Big brand motto: "Ask not what you can do for the shop, but what the shop can do for you ... If they can't afford it, another shop will."
I have found this to be the worst in shoes and BIG name snowboards.
Do these companies realize what their reps are doing (or being told to do)? Is it that they don't know? Or is it that they don't care?
For snowboards, I have decided NOT to carry those brands that won't work with a small, new shop. Luckily, this practice isn't industry-wide. There ARE brands and reps that are WILLING to help, and support, a small shop... offering smaller minimums and flexible terms. With these brands, I can create a niche and offer customers a CHOICE beyond the big 3. I am GREATLY appreciative to these companies and will continue to back them up 110%.
But with shoes, it seems industry-wide. How can you turn elsewhere, when there is no where else to turn?
I guess this just eludes to a bigger aspect of business: That once a company (or industry) has a product that is in high demand, they can choose to lose touch with their support base and make their own rules. They begin to filter who and where they sell their product based on high minimums (meaning, most likely, shops with big pocketbooks ... or MALLS) or where they will sell the most. They forget about the first shops that took a risk to carry their product. They forget about how it was to be a small, struggling business. They turn their back on the people that helped make them who they are.
In the past, skateboarders and snowboarders have been VERY brand loyal. But recently, I have noticed a change in this loyalty. They are starting to see brands lose touch. They are seeing brands being sold in big-box stores that have nothing, or little, to do with their sport. Yet the local shop gets turned away. They are seeing their interest being sold out.
So what is left for the shop to do? Talk to your reps. Let them know you're unhappy. When I did, it normally fell on deaf ears .... or I get a "Sorry dude, that's what they make me do". But maybe, just maybe, if there are enough us us voicing our concerns, things will change. And they will see that by supporting the retailer, they are actually supporting themselves.
Dave S.
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I have been skateboarding for over 30 years and have run a skateshop for almost 20 years. The more I know about the skateboarding industry the more I realize that many companies (not all) take unfair advantage of skateshops that are run by skateboarders that may not understand the cutthroat business practices that are now commonplace.
Instead of companies helping the support skateshops, they often try to screw over the skateshop to get a quick thousand or few, and then when the skateshop goes out of business another unsuspecting skateshop opens and the same company screws that new skateshop. It can be vicious and predatory, - but what can a little skateshop do when some major player screws them over.
A certain company shipped their most important Back To School shoe to a very large mail order company a month before they shipped it to skateshops, then after all the kids were back in school already.
The kids already got the shoe from this mailorder company because they were the only place to get it. Besides the month long "exclusive" on the shoe - the mailorder company also gets a bigger discount for ordering in large quantities.
This is not a level playing field - these two companies are stacking the deck against the small skateshops that helped build this skate company to be the big company that they are now.
If I complain and expose their practice they may stop selling me shoes altogether, and I don't want them to cut me off. I just want to get the same shoe at the same time, or possibly before this mailorder company because I have been selling this brand longer than they have.
When this company decided to sell to the mall stores last year they didn't tell the skateshops until the shoes showed up at the mall, and all the skateshops had shoes in shipment already and found out that there was a glut of this brand all over the country. Now you can get this product for $19.99 at my local discount department store, and that is way less than any skateshop paid for the same shoe.
Mike J.
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I was overcharged on my credit card for about $500 last Christmas and a certain skate company would not give me my money back for months and months. I had to get an attorney involved before I got my money back, and it took many, many hours of my time over many months to get my own money back, and I never even got a "Sorry, My Bad" from this company
Allan F.
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Why is it that I cannot get board vendors to take their work seriously? I get boards shipped in shrinkwrap and thin foam instead of boxes, and then I'm the bad guy when I complain about receiving damaged boards. It's not like the margins are so great that I can afford to eat the screwed-up ones or ones that get fubar'd in transit (because they were pre-stressed in their journey to me). I've got a memory card chock full of photos of these mangled decks, but I know it's not in my best interest to "share" them.
Peter V. |
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| auragreg |
| Posted: Sat Oct 07, 2006 8:30 am |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 2382
Location: Highland, Michigan, USA, Earth
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| thanks so much for giving shops a voice. I think it's cool to hear what other shops are going thru. Let us know if you get any feeback from it from the "big guys". |
_________________
I was born to love you. I was born to lick your face. I was born to rub you. But you were born to rub me first.
Support skateboard art/artists: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BurbSkateboards |
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| westcoastcrush |
| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:21 pm |
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Joined: 10 Oct 2006
Posts: 13
Location: Sacramento, CA
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| If you want to get your "feet wet" in the shoe market, try VK Skate... $500 min. order, free shipping. Not the latest styles and slightly higher price, but a good company to deal with and beats 5k opening order BS. |
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You're either part of the problem, or part of the solution... pick a side and don't bitch about the consequences! |
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| auragreg |
| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:23 pm |
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Joined: 31 Aug 2004
Posts: 2382
Location: Highland, Michigan, USA, Earth
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westcoastcrush wrote: If you want to get your "feet wet" in the shoe market, try VK Skate... $500 min. order, free shipping. Not the latest styles and slightly higher price, but a good company to deal with and beats 5k opening order BS.
what brand shoes do they have? I didnt see any listed on their site. |
_________________
I was born to love you. I was born to lick your face. I was born to rub you. But you were born to rub me first.
Support skateboard art/artists: http://www.etsy.com/shop/BurbSkateboards |
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| westcoastcrush |
| Posted: Thu Oct 12, 2006 5:34 pm |
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Joined: 10 Oct 2006
Posts: 13
Location: Sacramento, CA
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| ask for Nathan 800.427.1278... they get in different ones on a semi-regular basis. Great guy and their prices are pretty competive on all products with the free shipping and qnty. discounts. tell him i sent ya. -Chris -West Coast Crush. |
_________________
You're either part of the problem, or part of the solution... pick a side and don't bitch about the consequences! |
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| skategeezer |
| Posted: Fri Oct 13, 2006 6:12 am |
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Joined: 03 Jul 2003
Posts: 1227
Location: Toronto
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the next installment is brewing...if you want to include your musings
-the good, the bad and the ugly, email me at [email protected]
cheers
skategeezer |
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