Handling LDS fee?

[formernuke]

Reread what I posted.... many large online stores are or have started from someone’s physical LDS that has figured out how to eCommerce.... and not just point to a manufacturers website... or the horrible ‘call for details’ about absolutely nothing, or online inquery/submission form that doesn’t work ...


_R

Think in context, a place with lower overhead can sell for less and make equal profit. If all have to price the same them a lower overhead will make more profit.

 

[Superlyte27]

Me and one other person can handle about 100k a week in online sales. That’s taking orders, shipping, follow up, everything. Guess how many employees it takes to run a storefront with 25% of that sales volume? What’s that payroll, Workers Comp, taxes? I can tell you. Lol

 

[runsongas]

@Superlyte27 even if MAP holds for the legacy brands, there is still significant price pressure from house brand gear (aka DGX), smaller brands selling direct to consumer (deep 6), and overseas (seaskin).

 

[Superlyte27]

Those smaller brands aren’t an issue yet, if ever. I’m not worried about them.

 

[Marie13]

Someone mentioned that overhead is the same for online vs LDS because both need space electricity etc. Not true, I can sell my house here and buy twice the house in other parts of the country for the selling price.

With MAP and price setting levels the field a little bit. How does a LDS stay in business. Look for the long term customer not the short term sale. My favorite up here (I have I few a deal with).

Will take the time when asked gear advice to match best gear with future time.

Trys and sometimes beats online pricing, especially once they realized when I call and ask pricing if they give me with tax I show up with exact amount in cash (figured that out first time)

The shop is almost like a hangout for us costumers.

Will throw little freebies in, they pay for the pool no matter how many are there. So if there is space (total occupancy limit by the pool) costumers can get in practice without charge.

Be willing to send costumers elsewhere if what they have isn't right instead of pushing a sale.

Advice on sites, gear etc.

Resource for local dive buddies.

In short costumer service.

@formernuke

Costumers?

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

There are two competing shops that work this way in my town. No surprise, they're both by far the largest dive shops in the area. Both sell scuba stuff and (oddly) snow ski stuff. One sells firearms, fishing, and camping stuff in addition to scuba and ski. Both are constantly full of customers. On sale days, there's a line an hour or more long to get in. I've been to one of the two during covid and they were STILL busy.

The only sporting goods chain I can think of that's still around is Dicks. Afaik they don't do scuba.

No Dick’s doesn’t do scuba.
Years ago scuba and diving in general was a lot simpler. Nowdays diving involves a lot of training and know how snd a lot more gear. Sporting goods stores would have to have a dedicated section with knowledgeable people. The problem is somebody in diving will call in sick and someone in hiking or weights would have to fill in and wouldn’t know anything about diving.
Foot traffic would certainly be there and the diving department could be supported by the rest of the store if it was a bit slow. I think you would get a lot more people interested in diving if it was in a high visibility location like being in a large sporting goods store.
Sport Chalet in SoCal had this model. They went out of business but it had nothing to do with their scuba department as I understand. It was a general decline in sporting goods sales due to the recession.

 

[Glenn Williams]

I travel frequently on business. If I am by the ocean or going to be, I bring my dive gear with me. Don’t know about you, but isn’t is funny that when your in Florida everything is cheaper compared to land locked states?

For example. I bought a wetsuit (semi) that back home in Fort Worth would have been around 150 dollars or so. I paid around 35 dollars on a premium name brand that was “last years” model. Everything to include all diving equipment is less expensive in Florida. Love going there for deals.

As far as tank fills. My local shop charges 7 dollars a fill. My old shop was 10.

Glenn

 

[formernuke]

@formernuke

Costumers?

Auto correct

 

[rob.mwpropane]

All this is great stuff.

Just to compare what I do to what dive shops are dealing with:
I’m in the sign business.
I’m an actual “sign painter” doing hand lettered signs, one of the very few left.
I hate the way digital technology has taken over visual communications. I think computers have dropped a lot of the sign industry into mediocrity and sterilized a lot of the creativity that was once the competitive edge. Now since everybody is pretty much picking the same fonts out of the same sign programs it boils down to price. There are still a few good designers out there but by-in-large the industry has been taken over by non artists that are just looking for business opportunities. “Any idiot can do it” (with a few computer skills) has never been a truer statement than in the sign business now.
There was a time when I almost dried up and blew away due to the shift in medium. Getting mad and cursing the new technology of computers wasn’t doing any good. Instead, I had to look at what I could do with hand painted and hand crafted signs that the digital world could not do. Turns out metal leaf, gold leaf, pinstriping, artistic flair, longevity of paint, overall one-off uniqueness and artsiness, were all things that computer cut vinyl and digital prints can’t do. So this is what I focussed on.
I am busier than hell now.
I don’t dare compete with digital technology trying to duplicate perfect block lettering for some basic sign where they only want to pay $150.
Instead I hand design and hand paint the sign with all sorts of cool stuff and flair and guarantee it for at least 10 years, but it’s $600. Some people see the value, but it’s enough people to keep this one old school dinosaur guy busy full time.

Dive shops need to think hard about what they CAN do that the internet CAN’T do.
Sitting behind the counter with your arms crossed and a scowl on your face pissed off at the world because people buy stuff on the internet isn’t going to magically turn things around.
Just sitting there and hoping sell gear at 100% markup to some clueless person who doesn’t shop online isn’t going to work anymore.
The deal has to be offered in some other form since shops are bound on pricing. I saw free fill cards, service deals, free t-shirts, etc. these are good ideas.
But more important is the human interaction and friendliness, these are things that the internet can’t provide.
Also things like:
A shop dive club
Shop sponsored fun dives.
Buddy connections
An atmosphere of community.
More physical involvement in actual diving.
So many owners I’ve met haven’t been in the water in years.
If people have a reason to come into your shop other than just to buy gear then gear sales will actually become a by product of people coming in.

Also, shops need to think more about being cutting edge on gear. The wall of jacket BC’s and split fins is getting old. Some shops I’ve been into diversified into other water sports like surfing. kite boarding, kayaking, freediving, etc.
It used to be that dive equipment was sold at regular sporting goods stores. When they became exclusive I don’t know, it was before my time. Perhaps they need to go back to being included in a general sporting goods store?

I think the old model of the dive shop is at a low point right now. The future will dictate who survives and adapts, and who dries up and blows away.
The creative ones will survive.

I agree with everything you wrote. Walking into a dive shop where the people actually get excited about diving and want to talk about diving has me wanting to come back. If I walk in and all they want to do is sell me stuff probably not. Get people excited about diving and you'll have customers for life.

The shop that gave me my OW sat behind the counter, grumbled, acted like you owed them something for being there. It was not very inviting.

Sorry if this is too far off-topic, but I'm curious as to what constitutes an insane amount. From my limited understanding, many dive shops are filling tanks more or less at cost, and sometimes teaching courses even slightly below cost. These are essentially loss leaders to get people in the door to buy gear. But if they can't sell gear for much of a profit, then they have to make that profit elsewhere. Since Amazon can't fill your tank, that might be a more sensible way for them to make money.

My nearest shop charges $12 for 100cf+ for just air. $10 for under 100cf, and $17 for nitrox. Always a little short unless I leave it there which is a pain as it's out of my way.

 

[boulderjohn]

Years ago scuba and diving in general was a lot simpler. Nowdays diving involves a lot of training and know how snd a lot more gear. Sporting goods stores would have to have a dedicated section with knowledgeable people. The problem is somebody in diving will call in sick and someone in hiking or weights would have to fill in and wouldn’t know anything about diving.

A couple of years ago I bought a new set of golf clubs, and my purchase was mentioned at a social gathering. One of the people there asked me questions about the brands I had been considering. I was surprised she knew the names of golf brands because I was sure she did not know a thing about golf. She didn't. She had never swung a club and had no idea whatsoever how the game was played.

But she knew the brands because she had worked for an online sporting goods company. That company had a feature that enabled you to chat with an expert to get advice on the best possible equipment fit for you. If you clicked the button for expert help in golf (and several other sports), you got to chat with her. As I said, she knew nothing whatsoever about golf, but she had a cheat sheet telling her how to get you to buy more expensive gear than what you had been considering.