DiveSeekers merging with Scubadelphia, Hillsborough NJ location closing

[BRT]

You say you've run a local dive shop but no longer? Doesn't make you an expert but if you closed up shop because you were not profitable it speaks volumes.

There is no doubt that internet sales have crippled local dive shops most of which would still be around generating a healthy profit if they didn't have to compete with low overhead high volume internet suppliers who can sell scuba diving equipment at costs only slightly higher than the local dive shop pays for it. It's the same with just about every other brick and mortar store selling everything from clothing to eyeglasses to sporting goods, we're seeing local stores, huge chain stores and mega malls going bankrupt and closing at unprecedented rates and it's all because of the internet offering prices for merchandise that local merchants cannot possibly match due to the overhead required to run a retail establishment and anyone who says otherwise, such as "they failed to adapt" or words to that effect is living on another planet.

Very likely the internet can sell items cheaper than the dive shop can buy it when shipping to the dive shop is included.

 

[mderrick]

You say you've run a local dive shop but no longer? Doesn't make you an expert but if you closed up shop because you were not profitable it speaks volumes.

There is no doubt that internet sales have crippled local dive shops most of which would still be around generating a healthy profit if they didn't have to compete with low overhead high volume internet suppliers who can sell scuba diving equipment at costs only slightly higher than the local dive shop pays for it. It's the same with just about every other brick and mortar store selling everything from clothing to eyeglasses to sporting goods, we're seeing local stores, huge chain stores and mega malls going bankrupt and closing at unprecedented rates and it's all because of the internet offering prices for merchandise that local merchants cannot possibly match due to the overhead required to run a retail establishment and anyone who says otherwise, such as "they failed to adapt" or words to that effect is living on another planet.

I actually do manage both an LDS and online retailer.
Brief History of Dive Gear Express | Dive Gear Express®

Some people might consider me an expert. There is this magazine article...
https://www.divegearexpress.com/pub/media/library/tek-tips/Diver_Mag_DGX.pdf

To address the point that online retailers of dive equipment have low overhead, in my opinion that is a naive assumption. In fact the operations overhead of our online store dwarfs the overhead relative to any local dive shop, including our own. I made a presentation at the 2017 DEMA Show in which I went through our financials demonstrating exactly that point in detail. But an assumption that the bulk or even significant portion of dive equipment purchases are made online is also ill informed. There is no specific data for the dive industry but US Department of Commerce estimates that online sales are less than 10% of all retail.
US E-Commerce Sales as Percent of Retail Sales

I can attest that online dive retailers enjoy no special discounts from our suppliers, nor can online dive retailers afford to sell product for cost. We must be efficient in our operations, consumers today will tolerate no less. As you point out, local dive retailers ARE able to easily profitably price match when they wish. But they must have inventory and knowledgeable sales staff that offer good customer service along with consumer friendly conditions of sale; things our online customers frequently tell us is in short supply at local dive retailers. However, the fact that consumers have access to near perfect real time information about pricing does prevent small retailers today from charging informed consumers what ever the traffic will bear.

Yes, the "Retail Apocalypse" might be happening, that's debatable and whether or not it is even an issue in the recreational dive industry is even more debatable... but if so, the cause is a multitude of factors with only a minor factor being online sales. There are plenty of others including excessive growth of shopping malls and big box stores from accelerated investment due to antiquated tax laws, and shifts in spending behavior of prime consumers away from material goods and toward experiences such as food and travel.
Retail apocalypse - Wikipedia

It is certainly not productive for our industry to continue to ignore our many problems while placing vague blame on "the internet". Online retail is not going away and consumer behaviors are undergoing massive changes. As I attend several retail and business conferences each year (no, DEMA does not count) it's clear these changes we have already seen are just the beginning.

 

[RhodeDiver]

The fear, uncertainty and doubt created by the vague "Where will you get fills if you don't buy local?" refrain that I've heard for 15 years isn't the answer, it's part of the problem.

I have to say every time I hear someone make this argument about buying local the same thought pops into my head. It is "when all the dive shops close down locally, someone with try to open another one and I can get fills from them."

As for the people that say you should ask the LDS to match the online prices, I can honestly say I don't want to walk into a store and have to haggle over every piece of equipment that is >20% over internet prices. Putting the best price forward is part of good customer service.

 

[Lobzilla]

Do Jason and Wayne continue their excellent instruction? If yes, how and where?

 

[Wookie]

just blame it on millenials for being too in debt to learn to dive

See, that's not it. I'm watching this closely now that I don't have a dog in the fight. They aren't in debt, most of them, they have outstanding jobs. They choose to live in hovels and drive crap cars and go on big trips 4 times a year, taking 12 pair of skivvies and a bottle of hot sauce in a backpack. They all know how to dive, but they don't dive like we do. They show up in Key West and go diving. They rent gear, show their card, get on the boat, and see the vandenberg. They need a guide. Tomorrow they will go on the ferry to the fort and go snorkeling. Then they will go on a seaplane ride or maybe skydiving. They will need a guide. The following day they will go to marathon and go kayaking in the backcountry. They will need to rent a gps. They have never been in a dive shop, and they wouldn't waste their money on gear.

We (the dive industry) don't get it. They would no more be stuck on a liveaboard boat for a week than they would poke themselves in the eye with a stick. They wouldn't be caught dead in a dive shop, unless it's to fill out paperwork so that they could get on the boat. They think we are weird for owning our own gear.

 

[Wookie]

You say you've run a local dive shop but no longer? Doesn't make you an expert but if you closed up shop because you were not profitable it speaks volumes.

He ran the best dive shop I've ever been in. He runs the best online store ever, although DRIS is a close second. Why do you talk when you could be listening? He didn't "go out of business", he sold for a lot of money. The buyer went out of business.

 

[Wookie]

As for the people that say you should ask the LDS to match the online prices, I can honestly say I don't want to walk into a store and have to haggle over every piece of equipment that is >20% over internet prices. Putting the best price forward is part of good customer service.

I bought 4 Scott air packs yesterday, from an online retailer, because that's how you buy them. I got 3 quotes as the total order was over $3,000. I thought I'd be nice and tell the higher quotes that we didn't choose them. One immediately came back with "why didn't you choose us"? I replied that the other place was $4k less then his place. He replied with a "we'll beat anyone by 10%". I replied back with a "Why didn't you?"

 

[Lobzilla]

I bought 4 Scott air packs yesterday, from an online retailer, because that's how you buy them. I got 3 quotes as the total order was over $3,000. I thought I'd be nice and tell the higher quotes that we didn't choose them. One immediately came back with "why didn't you choose us"? I replied that the other place was $4k less then his place. He replied with a "we'll beat anyone by 10%". I replied back with a "Why didn't you?"

+1
There are cultures on this planet where not haggling or not being able to haggle is a serious insult but the USA is not one of them. Here, price it right the first time.

 

[ScubaMarc]

Pro Divers in Neptune is still open

Pro Divers NJ

13 HWY 35 South & Boston Rd
Neptune City, NJ 07753

 

[Wookie]

I missed where mderrick sold his dive shop, but generally I listen plenty and I read more, thank you.

It's clear to me what happened. He saw the future, knew that local dive shops are closing all over the place because of internet sales despite the best efforts of the dive shop owner, he got out of the local dive shop business to focus his efforts on the prosperous internet scuba sales business, and the poor sap who paid a lot of money for his business lost out big time because he didn't realize that internet scuba sales were going to be his undoing.

I hate being right all the time.

That's very close to right, which is one of the reasons I got out too. But I didn't go out of business either. Although my business is no longer there. Either.