mexbungalows wrote: Retailers pay astronomical rents to front their sales efforts in "The most desirable location". They maintain restrooms, potted plants, designer furnishings and pay someone to mow the lawn and fertilize the petunias. They advertise heavily, and have to pay salesmen, and someone to polish the linoleum at night.
Internet sales operate out of a cinder block warehouse, stuck between the pawn shop and tattoo parlor. The person who accepts your online order may not have shaved in four days. The place has a large loading dock for the delivery trucks to back up against, and high bay lighting. The kid that snags your order down on a pallet may have never heard a generator run in his life.
You might be mostly correct here, but why would you care if a 'salesman' hasn't shaved in four days? Does that void the warranty?
mexbungalows wrote: Retailers pay astronomical rents to front their sales efforts in "The most desirable location". They maintain restrooms, potted plants, designer furnishings and pay someone to mow the lawn and fertilize the petunias. They advertise heavily, and have to pay salesmen, and someone to polish the linoleum at night.
Internet sales operate out of a cinder block warehouse, stuck between the pawn shop and tattoo parlor. The person who accepts your online order may not have shaved in four days. The place has a large loading dock for the delivery trucks to back up against, and high bay lighting. The kid that snags your order down on a pallet may have never heard a generator run in his life.
Not this place. It is basic and more like a warehouse. No where near a mall. I am not asking him to match the internet price but somewhere in between. The help there knows very little about generators. No potted plants or petunias. Not even close to a desirable location. He has minimum wage kids working there. I can't tell you how many places I have been to purchase an item and no one stocks it and they always say "I can order that for you". Well so can I. I try hard to keep the money local but they stock very little. They didn't even have the bridal that connects two of the 2000's together so I could see it. They would have to order it. I don't think I should have to pay an extra 280 bucks to see petunias while making a purchase. I even offered to meet him half way on the price.
mexbungalows wrote: Retailers pay astronomical rents to front their sales efforts in "The most desirable location". They maintain restrooms, potted plants, designer furnishings and pay someone to mow the lawn and fertilize the petunias. They advertise heavily, and have to pay salesmen, and someone to polish the linoleum at night.
That may be true, but there is no obstacle to that brick and mortar retailer setting up an internet operation to increase his sales. In fact, it would be the intelligent thing to do. That's a NO overhead sale if you ask me.
Far too ofter you hear the B&M operators complain about how the internet is killing them. If you can't beat 'em, join 'em!
Agreed. But volume is the magic element when low price meets good service versus chapters 7, 11, and 13. It isn't easy. Not in this day and age, with folks insisting on Wal-Mart Prices and Fantastic Fan, service.
mexbungalows wrote: Agreed. But volume is the magic element when low price meets good service versus chapters 7, 11, and 13. It isn't easy. Not in this day and age, with folks insisting on Wal-Mart Prices and Fantastic Fan, service.
True, but consider this. If you set up an internet operation in your back room with a couple of additional employees that resulted in even a 25% increase in sales, you probably have improved your bottom line. Then comes the occasional time when your front end operation gets busy, you pull your internet people to the show room floor providing superior service to the in store customers at little additional cost. Your internet customers don't know that their order was delayed by an hour due to a customer rush up front, but your showroom customer sure would! Again, win-win.
Far too many times I have seen small business complain that they are being killed by Wal-Mart or the internet, yet they continue to do business as usual until they chapter and then blame others for their demise.
Times are changing. Like dinosaurs, either adapt or go extinct.
Customers are pretty quick. They'd walk out of the showroom, go sit in their living room pop a brewskie, and order up online. Only punitive shipping costs for home delivery assuage this trend. Retailers that have tons of different stuff on the shelf can avoid this pitfall. But concentrate it and things change. Look at Amazon.Com versus Barnes & Noble. All books. The internet is killing off book sellers by the score. In five years B&N will be a kiosk selling the Nook, I fear.
Chinese containers off-loaded on a shipping dock are in your purchasing future. This business is going to get so cut-throat that on time delivery gets snatched out of a shipping container and carted next door to the UPS, and delivery service dock. The "office" will be a rental construction office trailer. All will be within some international seaport.
Life on the Serengeti Financial Plain Of Retail Business is going to get brutal.
mexbungalows wrote: Customers are pretty quick. They'd walk out of the showroom, go sit in their living room pop a brewskie, and order up online.
Nothing says you have to use the same name as your store. Many people do their "review" of items on the sales floor and then go home and order online. At least you would still be in the online pool for sales.
bgum wrote: I think what he is saying is that should you buy it from somewhere else not to bring it to him for warranty service. and that is only fair
I want to buy it from him. I don't see why he couldn 't meet the price halfway. I am making an effort to buy local but when the price is set higher than any other dealer I don't feel I need to do business there. He had his chance and told me an untruth. Is what you are saying is that if you are a thousand miles from home on vacation and your generator breaks it is only the dealer you bought it from who will do the warrenty work? If my chevy breaks down I can take it to another dealer. If you buy a car off the internet does it not have a warrenty?
If he lied to you in the beginning, he'll lie to you when you take it in for service. Just my opinion, but I would go for the online deal as Yamaha and Honda gennies are very trouble-free in most cases.
I had a Yamaha 4600 that I bought used and ran for about 7 years and never had it so much as hiccup. Now, my son has had it for a couple of years and uses it in his construction business.
I probably put around 100 hours a year on it at most and found it to be just about bullet proof although I did have to put fuel in it and change the oil every couple of years. Oops, forgot I had to replace the starting battery every few years. Even when I had to pull start it it always fired on the first or second pull.
I don't recall in my 73 years ever getting anything repaired under warranty, because they usually don't break until after the warranty expires.
Roger
1991 - 38" American Eagle - 8.3 Cummin's w/Allison 4spd
(Purchased 4-15-10 w/5,600 miles on it)
99 Dodge Durango/SLT 4X4 - Toad
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