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Anonymous
Guest
What's different this time from the last 10 times the industry started to take on water?
Ask the 20-year stores that went under. Probably had something to do with the one, two punch the big box store and the internet IMO. I think there are just so many places to shop now, and so much is expected from the retailers, it's just hard to measure up.
Mitch
Mitch
dizzy":30akh0xz said:
could just as easily have been mismanagement of finances on their part, or lack of higher quality/specialty product-both of which are KEY issues for ALL independents, ALWAYS, long term-you have absolutely NO idea why exactly they closed, as don't I.
you remember what i once said about you being all 'doom and gloom' and playing 'chicken little' about the bix box stores, etc. ?
i'll bet kalk is doing better than ever, after taking advantage of the internet, or at least, showing a steady rise in revenue
I don't mind drop shippers if you truely charge more then you charge retailers which I doubt that they are paying more then us based on the rock at $3 a pound being sold online, and ohh yes from a garage in PHX Az. The types are tonga fusion, great barrier reef, etc which are all SDC rocks. I kinda want to know why you sell to etailers who are in a residential area and have local customers shopping in their garage for live rock among other things. SDC should screen more tightly for this activity IMO. Just because they are etailers does not mean they should be allowed to order 100's of pounds of live rock to their residential address. Do you really think they are shipping it out from online orders when you will drop ship it for em direct to a customer? No you know that they are garage dealing and only care about the $$$$$$$ If SDC wants to keep my weekly business this needs to be addressed in a public way or I will switch to another dealer. I stopped using Quality since I learned they are Dr FS. I know I am small alone but eventually all LFS's will learn this info too.
I think its simply time for all retailers to boycott wholesalers who take part in this (pretty much all of em) and start group tranships direct from the overseas suppliers.
I think its simply time for all retailers to boycott wholesalers who take part in this (pretty much all of em) and start group tranships direct from the overseas suppliers.
So your saying they managed the finances fine for 20 years and then one day woke up stupid and messed up? I probably think they were able to get the prices they needed to pay bills prior to the wholesalers moving online direct to customers via backdoor websites and dropshipping for low profits. It is super expensive to run a B&M and there is no room to lower the prices in most cases. All a hobbyist sees is the price of the coral or fish, not the cost of putting it in front of their face.
vitz":17yz1vtp said:dizzy":17yz1vtp said:
could just as easily have been mismanagement of finances on their part, or lack of higher quality/specialty product-both of which are KEY issues for ALL independents, ALWAYS, long term-you have absolutely NO idea why exactly they closed, as don't I.
you remember what i once said about you being all 'doom and gloom' and playing 'chicken little' about the bix box stores, etc. ?
i'll bet kalk is doing better than ever, after taking advantage of the internet, or at least, showing a steady rise in revenue
I can tell you that the local retailer (and I visit nearly all of them regularly) here in Los Angeles area that is doing the best has both etail and retail going strong. I won't mention names just in case they don't want to be mentioned in my post....
This company has earned a good reputation for shipping quality livestock, and uses that to successfully run his retail B&M. He has a great advantage over the "20 year old" retailer who has little idea what "Superman" is or "Purple Monster", etc....and he sells the crap out of "nitch" items for good money.
His retail shop is small...maybe 1200 sq. feet, but laid out very well with impressive displays and livestock. Nitch dry goods....good foods, and good advice. Setups and installations on new systems too. I don't now for sure if they are doing maintenance, but I know he has a few employees that are capable and have done service for years.
He ships livestock daily, and gets big crowds on the weekends.....
I see him use his internet business to keep his livestock moving, which keeps his customers coming in all the time to see new product. How many times have you had customers ask you, "When is your next shipment"? And that happens the day after you just got in your saltwater shipments...Argh! Heck...we get that in wholesale all the time too.
Anyway.....a progressive shop, is a successful shop IMO.
Split thread here seems to be in order. New thread...."Progressive Retailers - How to keep up and make more money"!
This company has earned a good reputation for shipping quality livestock, and uses that to successfully run his retail B&M. He has a great advantage over the "20 year old" retailer who has little idea what "Superman" is or "Purple Monster", etc....and he sells the crap out of "nitch" items for good money.
His retail shop is small...maybe 1200 sq. feet, but laid out very well with impressive displays and livestock. Nitch dry goods....good foods, and good advice. Setups and installations on new systems too. I don't now for sure if they are doing maintenance, but I know he has a few employees that are capable and have done service for years.
He ships livestock daily, and gets big crowds on the weekends.....
I see him use his internet business to keep his livestock moving, which keeps his customers coming in all the time to see new product. How many times have you had customers ask you, "When is your next shipment"? And that happens the day after you just got in your saltwater shipments...Argh! Heck...we get that in wholesale all the time too.
Anyway.....a progressive shop, is a successful shop IMO.
Split thread here seems to be in order. New thread...."Progressive Retailers - How to keep up and make more money"!
Southwest Saltwater....
I totally agree with you that we need to screen more carefully about our accounts and what kind of activity they are actually doing.
We will not sell to people that have business licenses outside the aquarium trade. We have seen licenses that say stuff like, "Cindy's Flowers" and crazier than that. We definately weed those out right away.
There have been many times when our retail customers have notified us of bogus companies that buy from us, and we stop that business dealings immediately in most cases. If it's hurting the retailer, and they are not legitimate or selling stuff so cheap...like $3.00/lb rock....then we just stop selling to that company.
I urge you to contact your sales rep and inform him of the company undercutting the retailers...or you can email me with the information and I will investigate.
We even have to screen our local customers like crazy...it's a full time job to monitor it all...we do rely on our customers to point these things out.
I hope that satisfies your concerns for the time being...but the proof will be in our actions later I am sure.
Lastly, I can remember putting an end to group purchases through someone that became an account where many people were purchasing through that company name. A customer pointed it out, and after investigation, we stopped it right then. More of similar stories can be told over the years....ask our reps.
I totally agree with you that we need to screen more carefully about our accounts and what kind of activity they are actually doing.
We will not sell to people that have business licenses outside the aquarium trade. We have seen licenses that say stuff like, "Cindy's Flowers" and crazier than that. We definately weed those out right away.
There have been many times when our retail customers have notified us of bogus companies that buy from us, and we stop that business dealings immediately in most cases. If it's hurting the retailer, and they are not legitimate or selling stuff so cheap...like $3.00/lb rock....then we just stop selling to that company.
I urge you to contact your sales rep and inform him of the company undercutting the retailers...or you can email me with the information and I will investigate.
We even have to screen our local customers like crazy...it's a full time job to monitor it all...we do rely on our customers to point these things out.
I hope that satisfies your concerns for the time being...but the proof will be in our actions later I am sure.
Lastly, I can remember putting an end to group purchases through someone that became an account where many people were purchasing through that company name. A customer pointed it out, and after investigation, we stopped it right then. More of similar stories can be told over the years....ask our reps.
Well, as a B&M store I asked several wholesalers if they would dropship items I did not have in stock once I get the site running but I got a cold shoulder from SDC and my salesman never responded to the request since "they don't want to deal with small orders". So much for being progressive. No way can I pay shipping to Tucson and then compete online with you and the other online wholesale prices unless I buy from your suppliers. But Joe Smo in a house gets website and a dropship deal with no issues. I fail to see how that is supporting B&M stores........
sdcfish":19g8jdck said:
Eric,
Now that you're going to dropship for everyone then state the terms clearly somewhere that we can access it. I would love to get rid of most of our selling tanks and just run a couple of displays, a web site, and some color posters in the store. It costs us a lot to house a bunch of fish and corals just because someone might be interested. As long as we can dropship and be competitive with F&S, Reefer Madness, Jack's, Joe's garage, Dr. MAC, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, and now Petco it sounds good. It's hard for us to keep algae out of the tanks and the salt spray, humid environment is hell on our HVAC, not to mention the fact we have to take loses on the stuff wholesalers send us. I'm also very tired of the long drive in heavy traffic to get the stuff at the airport.
Thanks for being so open and honest about this Eric. The industry needs more honest people like you. If all the wholesalers were looking after us like you are we would all be in hog heaven for sure. I'm really looking foward to having less maintenance costs at the store. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Mitch
Now that you're going to dropship for everyone then state the terms clearly somewhere that we can access it. I would love to get rid of most of our selling tanks and just run a couple of displays, a web site, and some color posters in the store. It costs us a lot to house a bunch of fish and corals just because someone might be interested. As long as we can dropship and be competitive with F&S, Reefer Madness, Jack's, Joe's garage, Dr. MAC, etc, etc, etc, etc, etc etc, etc, etc, etc, etc, and now Petco it sounds good. It's hard for us to keep algae out of the tanks and the salt spray, humid environment is hell on our HVAC, not to mention the fact we have to take loses on the stuff wholesalers send us. I'm also very tired of the long drive in heavy traffic to get the stuff at the airport.
Thanks for being so open and honest about this Eric. The industry needs more honest people like you. If all the wholesalers were looking after us like you are we would all be in hog heaven for sure. I'm really looking foward to having less maintenance costs at the store. Thank you, thank you, thank you.
Mitch
I’ll admit it, I did it as a hobbyist. It isn’t hard; just apply for a business license and a resale license at city hall and a you’re good to go. I only had a problem opening an account with quality marine, all of the others were cake. Now that I own a store I don’t see any of my suppliers treating me any different.
OK Eric...
Even though you were a bit careless with the truth til you were confronted with the acclimation info evidence... I'll let that slide for now. I have to chuckle at the contradiction though...
And isn't drop-shipping doing just that?
You said that this practice of drop-shipping has not adversely affected your relationship with Brick and Mortar clients, but how many actually know?
Did you survey your clients to see if they'd be OK with this before you did it?
Since very few LFS owners seem to frequent this forum, and assuming this is the only place that this info has been disclosed in any sort of public way, how many of your retail clients are actually aware? We've seen one already announce that he's not happy about it. I daresay that others wouldn't be thrilled with it. I know if I was a client, I wouldn't be impressed.
And as to terminating an association with a business selling rock purchased from you for $3 per pound - do you really have a say in what retailers charge? If a retailer of any description wanted to sell their product at cost, or even at a loss - that's their business. Good or bad decision aside, that's their perrogative. If I bought from you and I charged less than you thought was appropriate, would you can me as a client? I'd bet there are quite a few variances in retail pricing througout the country, I've had discussions with people about current prices for various things, and sometimes the difference can be quite substantial. So does your stock list come with a Minimum Advertised Price?
And referring to Kalk's reference to 2 ATL stores closing (I was only aware of one LFS, across town - who's the other?!) If they were in biz 20 years or whatnot, was that the same owner all that time? Or even the same owner for the last 5 years? I know most of the major players around here have changed hands in the last 5 years (some more than once) and while the exact reasons aren't always public knowledge, if a store changed hands and closed after being successful for a long period of time, that usually has something to do with how it was being run. I'm not making assumptions, since I don't eve know who the second store was, and I had no firsthand knowledge about the one I do know that closed - but I've seen booming businesses ruined over poor business skills - heck I worked for one. The store I worked in 6+ years ago could have made money hand over fist if it had been run properly. It wasn't a long-term store, but it was busy, but the way things were done, drained all the money out of it, and as a result, it closed, leaving a trail of bad debt in its wake. That wasn't for lack of customers or sales, that was just bad business practices.
It's a fact that the dynamics of the market have changed - and we have to meet challenges that weren't there even 5 years ago - but it seems that a lot of the negative influences on B&M have been enabled by many aspects of the chain of custody and chain of supply. Got to wonder who everybody's in it for? If there was no clear advantage to doing etail versus retail, then why do people do it?
Just some musings as I go about my day...
Jenn
Even though you were a bit careless with the truth til you were confronted with the acclimation info evidence... I'll let that slide for now. I have to chuckle at the contradiction though...
And isn't drop-shipping doing just that?
You said that this practice of drop-shipping has not adversely affected your relationship with Brick and Mortar clients, but how many actually know?
Did you survey your clients to see if they'd be OK with this before you did it?
Since very few LFS owners seem to frequent this forum, and assuming this is the only place that this info has been disclosed in any sort of public way, how many of your retail clients are actually aware? We've seen one already announce that he's not happy about it. I daresay that others wouldn't be thrilled with it. I know if I was a client, I wouldn't be impressed.
And as to terminating an association with a business selling rock purchased from you for $3 per pound - do you really have a say in what retailers charge? If a retailer of any description wanted to sell their product at cost, or even at a loss - that's their business. Good or bad decision aside, that's their perrogative. If I bought from you and I charged less than you thought was appropriate, would you can me as a client? I'd bet there are quite a few variances in retail pricing througout the country, I've had discussions with people about current prices for various things, and sometimes the difference can be quite substantial. So does your stock list come with a Minimum Advertised Price?
And referring to Kalk's reference to 2 ATL stores closing (I was only aware of one LFS, across town - who's the other?!) If they were in biz 20 years or whatnot, was that the same owner all that time? Or even the same owner for the last 5 years? I know most of the major players around here have changed hands in the last 5 years (some more than once) and while the exact reasons aren't always public knowledge, if a store changed hands and closed after being successful for a long period of time, that usually has something to do with how it was being run. I'm not making assumptions, since I don't eve know who the second store was, and I had no firsthand knowledge about the one I do know that closed - but I've seen booming businesses ruined over poor business skills - heck I worked for one. The store I worked in 6+ years ago could have made money hand over fist if it had been run properly. It wasn't a long-term store, but it was busy, but the way things were done, drained all the money out of it, and as a result, it closed, leaving a trail of bad debt in its wake. That wasn't for lack of customers or sales, that was just bad business practices.
It's a fact that the dynamics of the market have changed - and we have to meet challenges that weren't there even 5 years ago - but it seems that a lot of the negative influences on B&M have been enabled by many aspects of the chain of custody and chain of supply. Got to wonder who everybody's in it for? If there was no clear advantage to doing etail versus retail, then why do people do it?
Just some musings as I go about my day...
Jenn
Jenn....
Thanks for the post.....let me clarify....
When I said we would never consider involving ourselves in etail business...I meant we would never own or have shares in any retail or etail business. We sell to retailers and etailers....that was my point.
As far as retailers knowing about our business with etailers....it's right in their faces every day they come to shop. There are no screen curtains, or doors to hide behind...it's all out in the open.
No...I didn't do a national survey, but we have discussed it within the company many times and we make sure we keep the etailers as close to a fair playing field as possible. I truly believe, we have never crossed the line with pricing, or discounts etc.
As far as the guy selling live rock for $3.00/lb....all we can do it not to sell him....and we have done that many times before. We do police our industry and try to catch as much as possible, but with the help of our customers, they do a better job notifying us of business that are hurting the B&M stores. So the answer is YES....we would can you if we had other stores complaining about your pricing and undercutting "fair market value". I would try to discuss the situation with you before we just sent you packing. I have had these discussions with customers before.
Anyway....maybe you can share with us how you have made your business successful relating to new trends in the industry. Do you sell nano tanks all ready to plug in? With a pair of nemo's?
Best regards...
Thanks for the post.....let me clarify....
When I said we would never consider involving ourselves in etail business...I meant we would never own or have shares in any retail or etail business. We sell to retailers and etailers....that was my point.
As far as retailers knowing about our business with etailers....it's right in their faces every day they come to shop. There are no screen curtains, or doors to hide behind...it's all out in the open.
No...I didn't do a national survey, but we have discussed it within the company many times and we make sure we keep the etailers as close to a fair playing field as possible. I truly believe, we have never crossed the line with pricing, or discounts etc.
As far as the guy selling live rock for $3.00/lb....all we can do it not to sell him....and we have done that many times before. We do police our industry and try to catch as much as possible, but with the help of our customers, they do a better job notifying us of business that are hurting the B&M stores. So the answer is YES....we would can you if we had other stores complaining about your pricing and undercutting "fair market value". I would try to discuss the situation with you before we just sent you packing. I have had these discussions with customers before.
Anyway....maybe you can share with us how you have made your business successful relating to new trends in the industry. Do you sell nano tanks all ready to plug in? With a pair of nemo's?
Best regards...
I think the etailer prices are not high enough if you charge them more, I see stuff online for a few dollars more then I pay. The price they sell for is in some cases insanely low. The problem is if you raise your prices to etailers the others would have to as well. Maybe the main wholesalers should get toghether and fix the online prices with Min. MSRP's like a lot of high end dry goods places do. This will allow anyone to sell the product and make a profit. You can then notify customers which wholesalers do not adhere to the practice. Trust me you would get more business as a result and the others would follow suit. I am sure almost all B&M stores would stop buying at the places that do sweetheart deals with etailers and throw all our money your way. If rock cost me 3 a lb then they should pay 5.... Just my opinion. I would like to see pricing examples personally on wholesale vs etail dropship. If it's a few cents more then it does not make a difference. Example: I see Marine depot pulling stuff out of your place when I take my monthly trips, they pay more then me? Or do they get deep volume discounts????
sdcfish":2nc5gpet said:
sdcfish":2nc5gpet said:
Well, Eric, which one is it? First it was a whoopsie in the back, that you weren't pleased about - cat is out of the bag, then you spin around and say it's in everybody's face who comes through your door. Well I'd venture to guess that not too many of your out-of-state customers walk through your door, so ignorance is bliss, right? :roll:
A certain wholesaler in the ATL was engaging in direct-to-hobbyist sales for a while a few years ago, and nobody really knew about it til some of us here started asking questions and doing some investigating. I don't buy SW there, but I do buy freshies there and there was NO sign of the sideline business whatsoever. Shortly after that cat came out of the bag, they stopped. Hmm - wonder if the exposure of the secret had anything to do with that? Maybe, maybe not - but I can tell you it was done clandestinely for quite some time before it stopped, and it stopped a short while after it became known. Read into that whatever you will. I can tell you that I spent a fair bit of time there and neither I, nor anybody else of my acquaintance, had the faintest inkling. So unless you're out there telling people you're drop-shipping, you can pretty much hide in plain sight and nobody's the wiser - until the wrong leaflet gets into a retailer's order
sdcfish":2nc5gpet said:
I'm sure you can see how your statement may have been misinterpreted, especially considering you didn't own the original question until confronted with some tangible evidence that you are "involved" in a dropship operation in some capacity. Not coming clean from the start just kind of makes a person feel that you've got something to hide, and that doesn't leave a warm fuzzy with anybody.
sdcfish":2nc5gpet said:
I've been in business (not just the fish business) for a long time. I know it's not standard practice to let people who pay "regular rates" know that the guy down the road has "special rates"... So are you telling me that etailers receive a different stock list than your regular customers do, with different pricing? How would anyone know if there really is a difference? Are you willing to disclose what the "differences" are? I'm asking because while I don't order from you and haven't for years, I still receive the stock list by mail, and the subject line of the email just says, "Sea Dwelling - Availablity List for ...date...." It doesn't say if it's for retail or etail or dropship - so how do you keep track?
I just opened a stock list of yours to see if there was any notation of what genre of store this is appropriate to, or any "terms and conditions" etc., and there's nothing listed - so just how would a buyer know if they qualified for "retail" rates, or "etail rates"? Feel free to send me an etailer list if you like, so I can see the difference. In fact it would behove you do do this for B&M stores that actually order from you - but then again that cat would *really* be out of the bag, wouldn't it? Actually my question is really rhetorical - I don't care to receive any "alternate" lists - just offering up some food for thought to readers out there. If I were a client I'd wonder "which list" I was getting - would I be paying more than the store down the street? Hmm....or how about the etailer in the garage down the block - is he *really* paying more than I am?
sdcfish":2nc5gpet said:
So now you're the LFS/etail POLICE? So *IF* I bought from you and somebody whined to you that I'm selling something way more inexpensively than my competitor down the road, you'd close my account? Why? It's every store owner's prerogative to sell their wares for whatever they see fit. I don't think it's a smart idea to sell rock for $3 per pound but if I wanted to, whose business is it except my own, and my customers'? Besides if you quit selling to "me" because you didn't like my pricing, I'd simply get it elsewhere - you aren't the only live rock or livestock vendor out there, and I could procure my $3 retail rock someplace else. Why should you care if you're getting your price and moving the stuff out the door? That's just ridiculous. Mother used to call that type of activity, "Cutting off your nose, to spite your face."
My prices aren't the cheapest in town, but I've been told that on certain items my prices are better than some other places - so would that mean I'd be black listed for being competitive? What right do you have to tell anybody what to sell for? You don't. And as a business owner I'd be really *really* put off if you or anybody else tried to tell me what I can and can't sell for.
There are some product manufacturers who have a "minimum advertised price" structure for their products - designed to keep it fair for retail and etail - but the key word is "advertised"... there's no law or rule against me selling for less when the customer is in the store talking to me. While I appreciate that vendor's effort to keep things on an even keel between etail and retail, they've at least given a business something to work with, and some leeway to adjust within that.
sdcfish":2nc5gpet said:
I don't see what that question has to do with anything in this thread - but I've said it before and I'll say it again - from the brick and mortar's point of view, it's all about SERVICE. Read my sig line - that says it all.
Well, I'm off to the airport shortly to get a fish order
Jenn
JennM":1jgag1ym said:
Why is it a LFS prerogative to sell their wares to whomever they like for whatever price they like, but not a wholesalers prerogative? It seems a little weird to say that LFS can do whatever they want, but that wholesalers need to do what LFS want. Perhaps I am missing your point.
I don't think we have ever stopped selling to a Brick and Mortar retailer because of pricing issues.....and of'course we understand that anyone can just go right along and buy their products from somewhere else.
But, I do believe that having a conversation with a customer about problems they might be creating for other retailers is a productive way to handle situations.
This customer in question was mentioned because they are selling from out of their garage and at cheap prices to boot! Yes...we would be willing to lose the business but gain the respect and loyalty of our B&M customers. To me, that's a win-win for us and the true retailers.
The biggest issues which are directly related to this thread are the Group Buys, which we snuff out when we know about them and or when we have complaints about people buying from us that aren't true retailers and are undercutting prices. I have even heard of people bragging to their lfs about being able to buy from us....that ended in a hurry.
A new thread about Progessing the retailer in today's market seems like a good place to go from here.
Nice thread Gresh!
But, I do believe that having a conversation with a customer about problems they might be creating for other retailers is a productive way to handle situations.
This customer in question was mentioned because they are selling from out of their garage and at cheap prices to boot! Yes...we would be willing to lose the business but gain the respect and loyalty of our B&M customers. To me, that's a win-win for us and the true retailers.
The biggest issues which are directly related to this thread are the Group Buys, which we snuff out when we know about them and or when we have complaints about people buying from us that aren't true retailers and are undercutting prices. I have even heard of people bragging to their lfs about being able to buy from us....that ended in a hurry.
A new thread about Progessing the retailer in today's market seems like a good place to go from here.
Nice thread Gresh!
Thales":xqbtgz7s said:
Well, there's a difference between "wholesale" and "retail". A retailer doesn't require proof that somebody's in business in order to sell to an individual, yet wholesaler require proof that an individual or entity IS in a relevant business before they'll sell to them. That's what makes them a wholesaler, and Eric has gone to great lenghts to explain that his company weeds out those who would be buying under false pretenses. I no longer buy from SDC, but when I did, I had to fill in an application form, provide my tax ID number, business licence and describe my location in order to have the privilege of purchasing from him. That's the same procedure that all wholesalers that I've dealt with, go through. Some even require annual review/renwal of that procedure to make sure that the individual or entity is *still* in a relevant business to retain that privilege.
Eric can do business with whomever he pleases, but to alledge that he'd close somebody's account because he doesn't like the retail prices a business is offering to their clients is absurd. No wholesaler has ever asked me what I sell something for, for the purpose of ascertaining whether I'm a worthy client or not.
Eric also mentioned that he's denied accounts to people like "florists" or whatever - and that's fine because florists aren't fish stores.
I've also known of wholesalers that will sell to individuals or entities, regardless of what *kind* of business licence they have - concrete dealers, orchid growers - you name it - a business is a business.
Retail doesn't place those kind of restrictions - that's what makes them "retailers" - heck, I'd bet some places don't even ask if the customer has a fish tank before they bag something up. I know I've had customers come in wanting to buy a "NEMO" and put it in a fish bowl - however it IS my practice to ask questions and make sure that a fish is going to a suitable home - but that's just my way of doing things, and not necessarily somebody else's.
There are basic criteria that define entities as wholesalers, and those that define retailers. And, for what it's worth, wholesalers that do sell direct to the public often (usually?) have a separate business entity set up for that division of the business... Sunpet had "Aquarium Stuffers" a while back and MSI has "Seacrop", those are just two that I can think of off the top of my head.
When a business sells directly to the public, then issues such as sales tax come into play, whereas wholesalers do not charge sales tax to their retail clients. It's not simply a matter of whom a wholesaler wants to do business with - there are legal ramifications too.
And for those of us in the retail game, many of us feel betrayed by our "wholesalers" if they are either selling direct (cutting us out of the fray), or in the case of drop-shipping, providing what we see as an unfair advantage to entities that usually do not make up the majority of their business. Business is business - that's a fact - and as long as the wholesaler abides by the laws governing wholesale and retail, they *are* indeed free to deal with whomever they choose. However, as retailers, we can also choose whom we deal with, and there are some of us out there who would prefer to support a wholesaler that supports us in the same way - by not allowing jobbers, or dropshippers. Personally I have no problem with a wholesaler selling to an etailer who tanks his/her own stuff - lower overhead than retail, but they are still a viable part of the chain of custody. It is simply my opinion that entities that use drop-shipping of livestock, or "cherry picking" from this one or that one, don't do the industry a service. You can disagree with that - that's also your choice - I'm just voicing my own opinion.
If I were in Eric's shoes at this point, as a business person, I'd be asking myself if the benefit from a single drop-ship account (assuming there's only one), is worth the potential loss of business if 2 or 3 regular retail customers dumped me as a result of this. The fact is that retailers are, and likely always be, the best customers of a wholesaler, because the regularity and size of orders going out to stores each week is much more consistent and cost-effective than a few drop-ship orders.
Also, it takes more time and effort to bag and box an order of a few specimens going to this place or that place by courier, than a consolidated order of several to many boxes, going on a flight from airport to airport. Less hassles dealing with a store, versus a consumer who may have missed the Fed Ex or UPS man, all that "live arrival/days of guarantee" etc... I dunno when one adds up the costs of all that, IMO a wholesaler would *have* to charge a premium just to be able to make it cost-effective, if it was worth doing at all.
And like I said - doing all that at the risk of pissing off your biggest customer base? Not worth it to me - but hey, I'm not a wholesaler, and I don't play one on TV.
Hope that answers your question satisfactorily.
Jenn
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