West Marine Aborts Price Match... mostly

[jssailem]

pay a premium

Or better marketing "absorb the cost of convenience". Then they need to work on their supply chain. I go in there and they have stuff that is not the right size. "I can check our online warehouse. I can have it here by next Tuesday." Shoot, I can drive 30 miles into Seattle and get it at Fisheries, or have them ship it and get it tomorrow afternoon.

WM needs a total plan not just piece meal steps to show a margin goal in the next quarter. The board needs to set a viable plan then have the CEO execute. But that is asking too much.

 

[Mickstr]

As of a week ago Tuesday, my WM manager (Long Island, NY) told me price match was in, including Defender. I'd be surprised if that's changed.

 

[njlarry]

For the most part I am a big WM fan. The catalogs they use to publish were very helpful, they have a great return policy, although the staff at my local store can be jerks, the staff at the store were my boat is are fantastic and the bonus points do lower the costs. I used to go to the Bear Del store which was tax free and also had a great staff but WM closed it.
Sometimes though the price difference was too great and I ordered from Defender who also has good customer service but now that they add nj sales tax I needed another option . Thanks for the Hodges recommendation.

 

[jon hansen]

i'm thinking sail boaters are not much of their market. maybe bottom paint once in a while and electronics. allot of you guys sure do love those shiny new electronic toys. but hey, the motorboat guys is where the money is.
just ask sabre yachts where the money is, or hinckley ..........
let's face it, we ain't the market. we're tooooooooo cheap

 

[FastOlson]

i'm thinking sail boaters are not much of their market. maybe bottom paint once in a while and electronics. allot of you guys sure do love those shiny new electronic toys. but hey, the motorboat guys is where the money is.
just ask sabre yachts where the money is, or hinckley ..........
let's face it, we ain't the market. we're tooooooooo cheap

All customer types can be "cheap".... and vendors just deal with it. Our problem is deeper.... sail boat owners are approaching the statistical point of having insufficient critical mass to interest any big box vendors.
We will end up about where we were in the 70's when we supported (and were well-supported in return) by much smaller specialty vendors... and "smaller" means they can offer a lot more personal and knowledgeable service... and... will have to charge a little more due to less product volume.
In our area we still have one local chandler and a thriving marine electronics store, both independent. I find that they are quite competitive with "Tiffany's by the Sea" as we call WM, albeit a little pricier on some things. Oddly, they are cheaper on quite a few other bits. I still do value WM, as a place to go to 'try' and find stuff on a Sunday.

And fully agreeing with you again, yup, the power boaters - skiing and fishing - are indeed the big spenders.

Given that power boaters spend so much more for their loud version of 'fun on the water' I sometimes ponder how sailing somehow got tagged as being an expensive hobby... ? Weird.

Our YC is beside a fuel dock, and all the power boaters line up to buy 50 to 100 gallons per visit... @ over $4. per.
Different priorities?

 

[sailinmikenaz]

My local WM just price matched Amazon for an anode I needed. $19 down to $12.