Support Your Local Shops

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Willie14228

Willie14228

Member
Jul 16, 2015
1,648
61
TX, United States
Okay so I have to speak up a little bit here during these hard times 

Some of you are lucky enough to have local stores and shops that sells advanced airgun products and services, ranges and so on. 

What you may not know is that when it comes to those stores they get a very very very small piece of the pie when it comes to the cost of those products, In fact for 98% of the market it is only a 30% mark up, and by the time you account for the cost of getting the product to the store, Credit Card processing fees and overhead store costs they are doing good if they get 10 to 15% of that markup compared to a normal product storefronts 50% bottom line percentage 

Unfortunately due to some shady monopolization by certain manufacturers and distributers ( https://www.ftc.gov/tips-advice/competition-guidance/guide-antitrust-laws/single-firm-conduct/monopolization-defined) These distributers that your brick and mortar stores get the products from with no other choices because of this borderline illegal activity, and the fact that 99% of those places also directly sell to the end consumer creating an unfair competition means they have even more of a stranglehold on those stores. Have a massive hurdle in keeping their doors open.

So the next time you choose to buy something online from a company that acts both as a distributer and dealer then wonder why you cannot find a local place to buy some ammo or equipment... now you know why. Or worse yet why your local store is sold out of product and cannot get any because those distributers are hording the items so they can sell it in there own storefront 


 
I always try to support my local businesses. Unfortunately for me, I don’t have anywhere close to buy air guns or accessories from. I’m interested to know who these dealers/distributors are, so I can take my business elsewhere from now on. I’ve used pyramyd air, airguns of Arizona, Utah airgun, and some others all because they were named or recommended on this site. 
 
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Isn't this the hard Truth!

I buy 90% of my stuff from AOA. Hope they aren't doing Shady bussiness practices.

Whats really got me worried is now we are going to see "Made in CHINA" guns starting to hit the market to try to compete with the astablished PCP brands. That "I WANT IT NOW" BS of lower cost CHINA crap is going to Cancer the PCP market now. Like everything else!
 
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Isn't this the hard Truth!

I buy 90% of my stuff from AOA. Hope they aren't doing Shady bussiness practices.

Whats really got me worried is now we are going to see "Made in CHINA" guns starting to hit the market to try to compete with the astablished PCP brands. That "I WANT IT NOW" BS of lower cost CHINA crap is going to Cancer the PCP market now. Like everything else!
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Not just the pcp’s. Everytime you go to harbor freight, target, almost everywhere.

start pulling out some of your kitchen appliances like blenders, toasters, etc. 

Heres something to stew on- with how the generation of kids are today, not wanting to do any physical, get your hands dirty, type of work, whose going to build our structures, and the parts for these structures in the future? Bridges, high rises, schools, etc. 

On one job, UC Davis, CA, that university demanded that everything we install had to be made in the USA. Trying to source plumbing and electrical fittings made in the USA was not an easy task.

Anyway, I’m stepping off of my soap box, sorry to derail the tread.
 
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Isn't this the hard Truth!

I buy 90% of my stuff from AOA. Hope they aren't doing Shady bussiness practices.

Whats really got me worried is now we are going to see "Made in CHINA" guns starting to hit the market to try to compete with the astablished PCP brands. That "I WANT IT NOW" BS of lower cost CHINA crap is going to Cancer the PCP market now. Like everything else!
Click to expand...

Not just the pcp’s. Everytime you go to harbor freight, target, almost everywhere.

start pulling out some of your kitchen appliances like blenders, toasters, etc. 

Heres something to stew on- with how the generation of kids are today, not wanting to do any physical, get your hands dirty, type of work, whose going to build our structures, and the parts for these structures in the future? Bridges, high rises, schools, etc. 

On one job, UC Davis, CA, that university demanded that everything we install had to be made in the USA. Trying to source plumbing and electrical fittings made in the USA was not an easy task.

Anyway, I’m stepping off of my soap box, sorry to derail the tread.
Click to expand...

You are correct and Its sad!
 
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Unfortunately I am in a small city and we don't have much if anything in the way of local availability. I think we have a lot of panicky hoarders here, so what we do get, gets snapped up like lightning. 

I do try to patronize local stores whenever I can, though, and am willing to pay a mark-up over what I would get at, say, Amazon by mail or Walmart locally. I do agree that it's important to keep your own community alive by doing so. Even if you don't care about your neighbors and local community, it sometimes happens that big stores set up shop and then close down. If they've wiped out the local stores first, then you have nowhere to buy anything. To me it's well worth paying a reasonable premium to keep family businesses and an actual economy going locally, one that doesn't have nothing but part-time, no-benefit jobs and/or pays so little that workers have to go on welfare or get food stamps to keep their heads above water.
 
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Amen to that. The thing that really grinds my gears, is when people go to a store with an item in stock, try it on, try it out etc, then go home and order it online for a few bucks less. 

Absolutely agree with this. I would like to patronize my local brick and mortars but as is the deal with many here, there are none in my neck of the woods! For some reason, airguns don't seem to be as popular on the west coast!

Click to expand...


 
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Before everyone gets their shorts in a knot about this distributor/dealer relationship, take a deep breath and think. AOA is a good example, as it acts as both a retailer and distributor, but I would never refer to it as a shady dealer. Most air guns come from Europe. It isn't practical for those manufacturers to supply each retailer individually. That would be inefficient for the maker, and might remove warranty services here in the US. Wholesale volume is not sufficient to attract a pure distributor relationship, so it has to be allowed to sell to the retail customer. This is in exchange for it providing the capital investment in parts and service that the public demands. I've never read any of the underlying documentation, but I would guess that the distributor/dealer is usually prohibited from selling to the public at wholesale prices. Just my opinion, but I believe it is a simple result of the dynamics in the market. These master dealers, or distributor/dealers provide necessary services in both the wholesale and retail markets. Things may change if other makers follow the FX model and create dedicated US distributors that also act as warranty centers. Apparently, the US sales volume is sufficient to make this viable for FX. Or, it may be an experiment that fails. One way or other, the market always rules. 
 
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Any Distributer / Dealer that sells below MSRP for one, 

It is common practice for suppliers to provide a market place for buyers who has no stores in their area however to help insure they are not competing with those brick and mortar stores the prices are set at the MSRP of said product. 

Many manufactures set a MAP price for products this is the lowest price a product can be openly advertised for, When a distributor sets its end consumer prices at MAP they are cutting the dealers throat 

When a Manufacturer who has their own location in the United States and sets a minimum of 15,000 dollars as your first buy for products to make it almost impossible for a storefront to carry that line... 

When the Markup is 30% to match what the distributer/dealer prices are advertised for online and then these Distributor/dealers offer a 20% off code they are cutting the dealers throats 

Sorry but If I post names this post will be pulled, But a little homework and I promise you will find them 

here is an example real price point 

the Umarex Airbow CO2 

MSRP 199

Map 169 And online retail price before discount code

wholesale cost &127 plus $20 Shipping 

this is a distributor price list not direct from UX this same Distribution Center also sells to the public and offers a 10% discount code to the end user making the retail cost $144.00 

if this isn’t below wholesale I don’t know what is 
 
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I don't quite follow your example. If wholesale is $127, and the sales price is $144, that doesn't seem to be below wholesale, but rather includes about a 12% margin. What am I missing?
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Add the $20 dollar shipping fee makes it $147. 
add in 2.5% credit card processing, store overhead costs (employees, utilities and so on) and a store is about 15% loss if they try to match price
 
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I don't quite follow your example. If wholesale is $127, and the sales price is $144, that doesn't seem to be below wholesale, but rather includes about a 12% margin. What am I missing?
Click to expand...

Add the $20 dollar shipping fee makes it $147. 
add in 2.5% credit card processing, store overhead costs (employees, utilities and so on) and a store is about 15% loss if they try to match price
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Got it. I'm not sure there is enough parity of overhead and bank fees in your comparison but, no matter, your point is well taken, in that the retailer in this example makes no money at that price. But, can we blame the consumer for taking advantage of better pricing? I have seen this same market dynamic in other business segments, and it always takes the same path. The small retail shop has to build value to survive. Sometimes that can be done through custom work, high level personal service, cross selling to higher margin complementary products, etc. I know of a couple of small gun shops that couldn't make it on pricing, so they opened indoor ranges, and brought in class and individual training. They still sell guns, but don't make enough money on them to stay in business on those sales. As much as I like to support local business (unfortunately not an option for me on air rifles), the ones that chose to compete on price are on a fool's errand. 
 
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