Are we being ripped off with tackle in australia

[insider]

I could get a person from a third world country to do all our jobs for about $8 a day. Maybe we are all ripping each other off.

[Noelm]

I guess to sum up all the pages so far, we in Australia feel we get the shaft on everything from petrol, boats, motors, tackle and just about every other product you care to name, some of it is due to distance and market share, some is due to Government taxes and some is due to what we perceive as greed by big dollar importers, so what do we do? we deal direct with countries that have better value for us, in the end, the importers will need to either lift their game or perish, some things we can do bugger all about, like petrol, you pay or you ride a bike! where will this take us long term? don't really know, but I kind of suspect small operators, like your local tackle store will just dry up, and we will be forced to go the Supermarkets to buy tackle and gear, and then lament the passing of an era, just like the corner store, the butcher and the milkman, all just memories from the past, it is happening all around us now, Bunnings closed down all the small independant hardware stores and so on, so we live with it, or we think of a viable alternative.

[NAGG]

I could get a person from a third world country to do all our jobs for about $8 a day. Maybe we are all ripping each other off.

Is it really wages ? ...... I certainly dont think that it is .
Some distributors are only fairly small yet I bet Harry Watson (Jackall) doesn't live on the bones of his ass) Then others like Dunphy sports (shimano) became huge ...... their slice of the pie is the big one (sure they take the risk) but once a product is established they make a bomb .
Take a look at Pure fishing (Berkley , ABU , Pflueger etc) ....... they are massive , not only in the US - but here too ........ I've heard mentioned a private jet , company Winnebago , boats etc . . ..... The door is shut tight on anyone else trying to act as a distributor for the same products

Sadly the tackle store will be the one to cop it in the neck first .... and no doubt they are suffering.

Chris

[insider]

NAGG I think you missed my point. It just seems that everyone is having a go at a tackle store for trying to make money. Bet everyone would fly off the handle if we could replace Australian workers for foreign labour.

Should we all say to our plumber that I could get a foreign worker to fix my drain for $8 an hour so you are ripping me off. Don't think so, the plumber has all manner of overheads he has to take care of that is why he prices his time at $60 an hour. The tackle store owner is no different.

Why should you expect products off them and they make no profit?

Would you work for free?

[nathank]

We pay ridiculous amounts for tackle should you choose to buy stuff here in Aus. It really is a case of move with the times or go broke..
In saying that i bet if all the shops were to shut down and run a line of discounted warehouses like the ######## model there would be a lot of people whinging about the lack of old fashioned personal service etc.
Its a bit catch 22. For me i like to keep in touch with one local tackle store for a yarn and to support it a bit but for my money the internet is the only way to shop.. There is no better market to shop in than a global one.

Its not the shop owners fault, i understand the overheads etc but when it comes to the crunch its just so much cheaper online.

[Scalem]

NAGG I think you missed my point. It just seems that everyone is having a go at a tackle store for trying to make money. Bet everyone would fly off the handle if we could replace Australian workers for foreign labour.

Should we all say to our plumber that I could get a foreign worker to fix my drain for $8 an hour so you are ripping me off. Don't think so, the plumber has all manner of overheads he has to take care of that is why he prices his time at $60 an hour. The tackle store owner is no different.

Why should you expect products off them and they make no profit?

Would you work for free?

Insider, I think you answer your own question, the bubble is going to burst, Australian way of life is being eroded, I don't think you can fully expect higher dollars per hour than someone prepared to work for less in the same scenario. Maybe my analogy previously needs to be clearer, if I go to an independant tackle store I go there because of the following reasons:

1. Specialization and local relevant knowledge, what's biting where? If I can't see it on the shelf can you get it for me?
2. Relationship - I like to get to know the people I buy from, people buy from the people they know, that's a fact.
3. Convenience - I prefer to buy something I can physically see and can pick it up, take it to the checkout, Can't buy bait on line can you?
4. Security/trust - If I ask an honest question, I'll need to know the honest answer. You think the straddic is best buying for me? Tell me why? Sell it to me!!! A mate did exactly that, bought a straddic, for plastics fishing, then turned up at my place straight after the tackle store and was not offered any soft plastics to purchase. UNBELEIVABLE!!

So in my 1 minute summary ( I can think of more but a little pushed for time) have I once mentioned price? NO!! But if I go to a tackle shop and don't get any of the points I listed above, then I may as well get the satisfaction of dealing on line, and that is purely based on price. Anything else is a bonus.

Scalem

[trout head]

I do not think any one blames the tackle shop , but when there is big price differance , the question has to be asked , WHY , but if the pressure is on the tackle shop , they inturn put pressure on the wholesaler , then and only then will we see the price come down ,the harm they are doing to them selfs is mad , The Aussie dollar is going to be high for a long time , the more guys buy on line the less they will rely on the tackle shops , do the wholesalers think this is going to go away , Wake up , they pay 10 % gst % 5 import , gst they get back , 5 % is sorted at tax time , They are not interested in small tackle stores , if they where again WHY are they not helping them stem the offshore sales ? stick your head in the sand . guess what -- you get run over that way .

[Noelm]

and exactly how are they going to stop offshore sales? the motor industry is trying to do that right now, and from both ends, the US side, and the Australian side, but people discover another way to side step the system, a big time importer cannot do these things, everything is straight down the line, not either side that happens to suit!

[Spot82]

NAGG I think you missed my point. It just seems that everyone is having a go at a tackle store for trying to make money. Bet everyone would fly off the handle if we could replace Australian workers for foreign labour.

Should we all say to our plumber that I could get a foreign worker to fix my drain for $8 an hour so you are ripping me off. Don't think so, the plumber has all manner of overheads he has to take care of that is why he prices his time at $60 an hour. The tackle store owner is no different.

Why should you expect products off them and they make no profit?

Would you work for free?

I think you will find that most people are not happy with the importers/distributers rather than the smaller retail outlets. The retail guys are doing it tough while the wholesale guys continue to make a killing!

You're ananogy is fairly in accurate as well... most younger labourers these days are well and truely over paid and under skilled, this is again cause by a lack of skilled tradesman and everyone expecting to earn the same as the guys working for the mines. Plumbers probably require the least tools out of most trades as well!!

[2BNVS1]

i dont have an issue with the tackle stores, they are the ones that need a better deal to therefore give us a better deal. A close friend in NSW has a physical tackle shop, and the prices for some particular lures are more expensive than what he could get them for from US. Thats a bit wrong i think from the Distributors end. If the Distributors gave the Locals a fair go, in the end we would too.

But yeh i aint ripping into the Local its the greedy fella's who supply them.

[insider]

Just want to make it clear I am not having a shot at plumbers, just using them as an example. It could be anyone in any profession or skilled trade.

[Steeler]

OK, lets just for a second at what life for the national distributer of fishing tackle could be like (lets remember I don't work in the tackle game, or know a distributer) this is just a "perhaps" You need to import a pile of reels/rods/whatevers, we are talking container loads, not a one off, posted item that a home user may import, you need spares for these new items, a pile of glossy brochures, all the freight and duties that are associated with these goods, a wharehouse to put them in, and a couple of staff to look after the wharehouse, next you need a sales rep who travels the state looking after retailers, a few phone people to answer calls, and an accountant (or a few maybe) a system of billing all your sales, and a bunch of shipping companies that will transport your goods to your retailers, now I am sure this is only part of being a big importer/distributer, and you have not sold a single reel yet! add to that stuff that never sells (for whatever reason) and needs to be cleared for zero profit and you can see there is a huge capital outlay to supply goods to you and I through a tackle store. Now I don't for one minute say they are not making a decent profit out of us, but at times they need to (well I think anyway)

Spot on Noelm, you just about summed it up with costs.Costs an absolute shite load and working on say a " perhaps " GP of 30% maybe some will start getting the idea just how much stock that importer/distributor needs to write in a month in sales just to cover expenses before they even begin to make a quid and invest in additional product.

Also when wholesaling you offer trading terms and you can be sure at any one time about a 1/3 will drag you out past your terms and anything up to 90days.Worst case scenario put in the hands of a collections company.

I reckon anyone who thinks wholesaling is a gravy train should have a go.

[oldboot]

Yeh so what is different to wholesaling any other product.

The costs of wholesaling fishing tackle would be no different that any other specialist sector.

This does not explain the huge disparity between overseas and australian pricing on near identical items.

The main issue is the the fishing tackle market is dominated by the US market...and the yanks have been having a lend of us for years.

there are several sectors where we do pretty well on price parity.

Power tools for instance.....I have been getting woodwoking magazines from both the US and the UK for years, and after correction for currency, we pay pretty much the same as the US and the UK, for the same or similar product.

But the powertool market is not US dominated.

There are several other market areas where we pay pretty much parity with overseas.

Ya cant lay the blame completely at the feet of local distributers.

cheers

[Noelm]

so oldbbot, if we can't blame the importers/distributers, then who is making the big dollars? we seem to have come to the conclusion that we are ripped off, seeing as reels can be purchased on line from a no name establishment, but our local tackle store cannot buy them from his wholesaler, for their (online) retail price, someone is making money big time! could it be our Government?, remember the Austrailian distributer cannot side step duties and taxes and any other associated costs, that a one off posted item may slide past. I am not heaping crap on anyone, just trying to point out everything from all sides.

[oldboot]

I put the blame squarely at the feet of the parrent companies and their pricing polocies to their distributers.

As I have said before many local distributers of all sorts of stuff, buy very poorly from the parrent company or their master distributer.
Some will even have an extra step in the chain, that a similar US or overseas buyer does not have.

It is entirly reasonable for a large US or overseas retailer to be buying more and paying less than the Australian wholesaler distributer of a product.

While these days quite a lot of american branded product is shiped to Australia direct from country of origin ( asia, china). There will still be items that are shipped to the US then to here........and that makes things very much worse.

The parent companies polocies then either directly, by instruction or contract determine the Australian distributers pricing polocies.....or, by necessity the local distributers have to have higher margins to survive.

I can garantee you that some of the parent companies will have made it clear officially or not, that if the local distributer cheapens the brand by allowing discounting, they will not have the distribution for very long, OR that distributer will not be given the margin that allows discounting.

Thus we have seen some brands removed from stores and chains that discount, or those stores not given premium lines at a price that allows them to sell at discounted prices.

but you can bet your last inch of fishing line that the price structure is driven from the very top down.

And this will persist while there is a strong market preference for the overpriced small number of major brands.

All of these companies will be well aware that they can make more money selling half the amount of product at twice the margin....and they care nothing for those down the chain, except for the income they gain.

cheers