Buy from NZ? I tried but come on...

[gammaguy]

How's this for an idea?

All you bitches winging about how much local suppliers charge and the massive margins they're "obviously" making, are all now openeing your own wholesale franchise with a few to making millions.

I look very forward to your posts about your new Bentley and what tyres you should buy to fit your Lambroghini.

mate,its not the retailers driving bentleys

but the importers,now theres another story......

[scumdog]

How's this for an idea?

All you bitches winging about how much local suppliers charge and the massive margins they're "obviously" making, are all now openeing your own wholesale franchise with a few to making millions.

I look very forward to your posts about your new Bentley and what tyres you should buy to fit your Lambroghini.

The spelling
The grammar.
Are you pissed?

[steve_t]

Actually, Katman, you might be in a position to comment on this.

I was discussing with someone the other day that I'd be happy to buy from an established shop who bought over the internet:

i.e I want frame sliders and a hugger, which I could buy online much cheaper than the local dealers. I'd be prepared to pay ~10% (more than cost) than the online price more for a local dealer to handle the guff (ordering, paying, Customs Clearance etc) and make it available for me to pick up (or delivering to my door)

Anything I bought that I wasn't happy to fit, I'd pay them to fit as well. Plus they should be able to get cheaper freight on multiple shipments (and maybe a cheaper buy price from a preferred supplier)

The only reason I can think of why this wouldn't work is if local dealers had a deal with the official importers not to do that. And the shitty service levels as well (lads, if you advertise an e-mail address, have someone actually looking at and responding to e-mails - I prefer e-mails cos I can send them whenever I get two minutes.)

Any thoughts?

10% more than what we could pay thru ebay or online from the US is definitely nowhere near enough to cover wages, rent, utilities, taxes etc.

PS. Yes, I know my name's not Katman

[Mully]

10% more than what we could pay thru ebay or online from the US is definitely nowhere near enough to cover wages, rent, utilities, taxes etc.

PS. Yes, I know my name's not Katman

I started asking Katman, but I figured anyone might want to take part.

Local retailers have more that 10% on the parts they sell?

Especially if they aren't holding the stock?

[White trash]

Mully.

Ten fucken percent? Are you joking man?

Example. I have 5 staff in my spares department to deal with phone calls, walk ins, and general timewasters, that's FIVE. At minimum wage, I have to sell three thousand, two hundred dollars worth of shit at EVERY opening hour at your ten percant margin just to cover them being there. Don't get me started on power, floor space rental for the dept. and many more charges Joe Blogs has no idea of.

[ukusa]

local retailers need to pressure the importers on price. Point out a few facts to them, point them to these forums. Tell them what the same parts can be imported privately for, and tell them if they don't start to do something about the prices, soon they will have no business.

As for a fair price, if a part could be bought locally at no more than 15% higher than a private import price (including exchange rate, shipping etc), then I would probably buy it here. As it stands, I personally prefer saving 40 - 50% by buying overseas. Most of the stuff I do buy, if I couldn't buy it at the price ex overseas, I probably wouldn't buy at all.

[steve_t]

I started asking Katman, but I figured anyone might want to take part.

Local retailers have more that 10% on the parts they sell?

Especially if they aren't holding the stock?

I'm not in retail but was under the understanding that in industries with relatively low product turnover, the margin needs to be at least 100%. Obviously, if retailers pay the same as, if not more than, we can get products from the US, they're either going to need to sell a shitload of goods at lower markups or basically rely on those who can't be bothered getting stuff in themselves. It's a lose/lose situation.
In saying this, I have no idea how computer retailers are making any money cos I know their margins a very low

[Mully]

Mully.

Ten fucken percent? Are you joking man?

Example. I have 5 staff in my spares department to deal with phone calls, walk ins, and general timewasters, that's FIVE. At minimum wage, I have to sell three thousand, two hundred dollars worth of shit at EVERY opening hour at your ten percant margin just to cover them being there. Don't get me started on power, floor space rental for the dept. and many more charges Joe Blogs has no idea of.

OK, calm down. Was just putting it out there.

In this case, if you could sell items that you don't normally sell (cos there's no point in you carrying them) using your current resource (i.e one of your guys on a PC), isn't that better than everyone going online and cutting you out altogether?

It's no skin off my nose either way - I just think retail shops need to be embracing on-line ordering and drop-shipments rather than complaining that everyone is cutting them out.

[Blackflagged]

Think you have the wrong end of the stick. Did you Read the first page.Who`s complaining about being cut out?Think he was just trying to explain the basic costs involved. You can make millions , and go broke if you have to spend millions.

[Jantar]

...

i.e I want frame sliders and a hugger, which I could buy online much cheaper than the local dealers. I'd be prepared to pay ~10% (more than cost) than the online price more for a local dealer to handle the guff (ordering, paying, Customs Clearance etc) and make it available for me to pick up (or delivering to my door)...

So lets say you want to buy $300 worth of gear online (including freight). You'd be prepared to pay $330 at a local dealer.

The dealer has to pay the overseas supplier $300, and a further $45 to the taxman for GST. You may be exempt GST for such a small purchase, but your dealer isn't. So effectively you want the dealer to spend his time and make a loss just to make life easier for you.

I buy locally at up to 50% more than I can import the item for. Over 50% premium and I shop overseas.

[Mully]

The dealer has to pay the overseas supplier $300, and a further $45 to the taxman for GST. You may be exempt GST for such a small purchase, but your dealer isn't. So effectively you want the dealer to spend his time and make a loss just to make life easier for you.

Sorry, I meant plus GST.

Landed cost plus 10% was the figure I was suggesting.

[steve_t]

OK, calm down. Was just putting it out there.

In this case, if you could sell items that you don't normally sell (cos there's no point in you carrying them) using your current resource (i.e one of your guys on a PC), isn't that better than everyone going online and cutting you out altogether?

It's no skin off my nose either way - I just think retail shops need to be embracing on-line ordering and drop-shipments rather than complaining that everyone is cutting them out.

Waikato Yamaha are quite good utilising Trademe quite a bit.
Unfortunately, your online ordering / drop-shipment model doesn't work at the moment either. Let pretend you're a retailer. As a retailer, customers expect you to carry stock. A product you sell 1 of in a year needs a higher margin than something you sell every day to make it worthwhile but normally it ends up the other way. The product you only sell 1 of in a year probably isn't worth stocking but you may not have known that at the time you ordered it, or a customer ordered it and didn't follow through on the purchase leaving you lumbered with it. As a retailer you're going to have a lot of importing as opposed to the consumer who only imports a few things a year. This will flag you to NZ Customs and you will almost always be stung for duty/GST vs the consumer who will often get through without paying any (less often these days though). So you take your cost plus freight plus taxes and put on a 10-15% margin. Not only is your product still reasonably more expensive than what the consumer pays via the internet, but you're not making enough to cover expenses. I guess this is where people chime in and say "something's better than nothing".
Probably, the worst thing for retailers is that identical items are available from overseas meaning that people go to shops and try on things for fit/size and then buy online. I'm sure there'd be a massive backlash if bike shops started charging their non-regular clientele a few dollars to try on gear a la wedding dress shops but it wouldn't be a surprise if that became the case in the future
So, what's the solution? No friggin idea.
The other thing I have to mention is that both Boyd MC and Waikato Yamaha gave my missus great deals on gear after we had a yarn to them. Not only did they offer great service and useful advice, but got (at least perceived) good value. Sure, the gear may have been cheaper online but we were happy to buy from the places that had good, friendly service and we were able to support local business too.

[Mully]

Unfortunately, your online ordering / drop-shipment model doesn't work at the moment either.
Probably, the worst thing for retailers is that identical items are available from overseas meaning that people go to shops and try on things for fit/size and then buy online.
So, what's the solution? No friggin idea.

Great post - only snipped for space. And my bolding, of course

I agree that it may not work at the moment - but I think the shops have to proactive cos the internets aren't going to go away.

I don't know what the solution is either.

We deliberately didn't buy new lids when we went to Melbourne (despite the Shoei range being much bigger over there) because we want to buy them locally. The pricing wasn't dissimilar, but we could claim the GST back when we left Aussie.

[rwh]

Mully.

Ten fucken percent? Are you joking man?

Example. I have 5 staff in my spares department to deal with phone calls, walk ins, and general timewasters, that's FIVE. At minimum wage, I have to sell three thousand, two hundred dollars worth of shit at EVERY opening hour at your ten percant margin just to cover them being there. Don't get me started on power, floor space rental for the dept. and many more charges Joe Blogs has no idea of.

I must be missing something in the maths there. I accept that your costs may be well over 10%, just not that simply.

5x minimum wage is 5 x 12.75 = 63.75/hour.

3200/10 (your margin) = 320/hour - big difference.

Divide that by 5 and you get $64 - perhaps you took the factor of 5 twice?

Richard

[Virago]

Sorry, I meant plus GST.

Landed cost plus 10% was the figure I was suggesting.

There is as always a strong belief in this country that any sort of margin added by retailers is a rip-off, and is perceived as pure profit. The "I'm generous - I'll tolerate 10% maximum" approach is quite common.

The reality is that even with 100% or more added, the retailers struggle to cover wages and overheads. Some give up the unequal struggle.

If you think it can be done at 10%, go ahead and try it - put your money where your mouth is.

The reality is that retailers CAN'T compete with overseas internet sales - to expect them to do so is short-sighted. As mentioned earlier, bike shops aren't closing in increasing numbers because they're sick of making too much money...