West Marine and Pricing

[DougM]

West Marine is an absolute last resort... If you look at their catalog prices on sailing hardware, they consistently run 25 -50 percent higher.

I just bought VC-17 from a local supplier for $8 per quart less than West's catalog price.

Ever since Boaters World went out of business, West 's clerical help has developed an "attitude" that they are the only game in town and therefore they can charge uncompetitive prices for their merchandise.

The only time I would even consider using West is when I was desperate for a piece of common hardware on short notice... Then most of the time it was out of stock.

 

[RECESS]

I look at them as my store front for Defender.

 

[bffatcat]

west marine pricing my 2c

West marine pricing always is what it has been

 

[Don S/V ILLusion]

It would be easier to just post a link to the archives for the last time, not long ago, when some wanted to complain about WM.

 

[drh1965]

The West Marine stores in the Kemah, TX area are excellent, IMO. There are 2 of them less than 5 miles apart and they both carry a ton of sailing gear. It never ceases to amaze me why people bitch about a store charging more than an internet store. The retail store has to pay for a store front, employees, inventory, etc. The internet stores mostly just drop ship. Not to mention that most of the employees at our local WMs are sailors and have been for a long time. WM does charge more but I doubt they have much better margins than Internet stores that charge less.

In any case, I'd encourage everyone to vote with their wallets. If everyone stopped shopping there, they would change or perish. I highly doubt either will happen.

 

[Maine Sail]

WM is what it is...convenient. In life you generally almost always pay for the convenience factor. Here in So. Me we used to have an excellent store manager named Dan but WM decided he was apparently just to nice of a guy and gave him the boot. His replacement has lost nearly all my business. I would be surprised if I spend $100.00 this year with Port Supply/WM. I'll probably lose my Port Supply account if I don't hit the 1500.00 min, but who cares. The Defender catalog price nearly always beats Port Supply anyway and Defender & Port Supply are like black & white when it comes to pricing.

Hamilton and Defender will probably see 5-10k out of me this year. It's not about the price because I can get the new manager to match when I walk in with a Hamilton or Defender catalog but more so about the personality of the management they saw fit to stick in this store. Port Supply will even match Hamilton wholesale but I need to bring in my laptop and bring the pricing up on my computer...

Dan, the old manager is now working at Hamilton and he is still a great guy. BTW three of the top execs from WM were in Hamilton a few weeks ago perhaps on an investigative mission. Hopefully they learned something about how Wayne does business and will adopt some of his practices, specifically pricing..

If WM had a better, more customer focused manager, I would go back to them as the price issue can always be dealt with. That being said I like to keep my money local and Wayne Hamilton does such a good job I have no reason not to spend my $$$ with him..

 

[catsailor]

I shop at 7-11, and Safeway, and Giant, Whole Foods, and Trader Joe's. I don't expect them to be the same.

I shop at West Marine (3 minutes from my boat), Ace (2 minutes from my boat), the usual on-line places and others I find, McMaster Carr, Home Depot, and a local marine consignment store.

I like them all, in different ways. In heaven I will find a store on the corner with new equipment, second-hand prices, and complete stock. Hopeful I won't need the return policy. Until then I will learn to breath....

 

[John]

The West Marine's in my area (Oakland and Alameda, CA) have told me that they won't price match online stores - only brick and mortar ones. This was about a year ago. I don't know if their policies have changed or it's only in this area. As to price matching plus the shipping charges: Previously, they tried to pull that on me, but I countered that when I order online I don't have to pay sales tax, so the two more or less canceled each other out. They accepted that reasoning.

 

[cat38skip]

This is an interesting thread..I avoid WM at all costs. I will drive 10 miles to another supplier to do so. I was a WM Store manager and several years ago and our Dist Mgr started a 'squash them like bugs' campaign against the local competition. I was disgusted then !!! and I still am !!! It is the competition that keeps business honest and prices fair. I have no time for that kind of corporate greed and disregard for the consumer!

 

[drh1965]

This is an interesting thread..I avoid WM at all costs. I will drive 10 miles to another supplier to do so. I was a WM Store manager and several years ago and our Dist Mgr started a 'squash them like bugs' campaign against the local competition. I was disgusted then !!! and I still am !!! It is the competition that keeps business honest and prices fair. I have no time for that kind of corporate greed and disregard for the consumer!

Interesting. Can you tell us how they planned to do that? I know where I work, sometimes things are said like that are just "marketing speak". Typically, such a campaign starts by lowering prices at the expense of profit. I don't recall seeing WM prices dropping rapidly (we could only wish ).