Do you buy wood structure kits direct from Walthers? If you do, I would really like to recommend that you patronize your local hobby shop, instead. (If you don’t have a LHS, please find someone else to buy from (wink)).
Walthers has been moving aggressively into the retail market, while they continue to rake in money as a distributor. I realize that this has been happening for a while now, but this month, I just decided that I had to speak out. They are currently offering 20-30% off select wood kits by JL Innovative Design… while selling as a distributor to other small businesses. If this trend continues, LHSs are going to have a very hard time competing, given that Walthers can spend lots of money on marketing (monthly color flyers, free shipping offers, etc.)
internet and mailorder dealers have very little or no overhead so they can give us a good discount over most hobby shops. i know of several hobby shops that have prices right out of the walthers catalogue with no discount and never a sale. so why not purchase something that they have a sale on, as long as it is something you want. my club deals with a dealer that gives the club members 30% off walthers prices all the time so we buy from him. i also know of a hobby shop that gives a good discount so several club members and i purchase from him also. you have to be a wise shopper and compare prices. every buck that you save is another buck that you can spend on something for your layout. i agree that we should support the local hobbyshops but i like to spread my funds around to get what i want.
I understand that the small LHS has problems competing, but the solution is not to charge more than others unless they offer something more. The retail picture in this country has been changing for several years. Most of us want low prices and are willing to put up with some hassle and inconvience to get it. Except for a very few affluent areas, charging list price doesn’t work anymore.
I like hobby shops, one I loved to hang out in years ago is unfortunately gone (owner died). While I am willing to pay a little bit more to have it in hand without the hassle of mail order, 20 - 50% is too much more. I get 20-50% off at shows and online so that’s where I shop.
That is not the point. The point is Walther’s is competing directly with it’s customers and that is not good for the LHS’s. I don’t care who sells for what, ie joeblow.com, but it is absolutely ludicrous for a distributor to cut the throat of their dealers both LHS and the Internet ones.
I agree with Chip. I also support my LHS’s every chance I get. I will only buy online if the LHS does not have what I need, and I can obtain it faster online, which is not that frequent.
We all read threads from time to time sobbing over yet another LHS going belly up. Well, we have a choice, if we like going to our LHS, touching, running, feeling, discussing our purchases, or just some great MRR talk, then we had better support our LHS’s.
Yes, I know, there will be those who say their LHS sucks, or his prices are too high, or he doesn’t carry enough stocks, etc, etc. so you buy over the internet. If that works for you, fine, but we can’t have it both ways.
Fortunate, then, that Walthers varies the items on sale from month to month, offering a few items from several manufacturers to entice hobbyists to give them a try, or to dump stock that’s selling poorly anyway.
From discussions with a couple LHS owners, it’s my understanding that at least some hobby shops participate in Walthers’ sale program. This suggests that Walthers lowers their wholesale prices to the retailer (or at least to those who participate) for sale items, so the retailer can still make a buck on those items should they choose to sell at the sale price, all the while taking advantage of Walthers’ advertising flyers.
Or is this the monthly Evidence-Free-Stir-the-Poo thread?
In speaking with my LHS owner, he does indeed get the wholesaler sale breaks, so he does not get undercut by Walthers. Walthers takes good care of their participating HS’s have no fear of that not happening.
Your LHS owner has accepted the Walthers storyline and has never looked deeper. Since I am a Walthers retailer, I can tell you first-hand what really happens during one of their “sales” - Walthers does NOT give credit for any merchandize in your inventory. They will give a small pittance of a discount (usually 3%) over and above your usual discount - but this applies ONLY if you are placing a new order during the sale.
In the meantime, a huge potential sales base who are receiving Walthers monthly flyers are buying from Walthers and you’ll never get them to buy that item from you again. In fact, they’ll never even look at you again, because they don’t think you can compete with Walthers, who also offers free shipping for orders over $100. With flyers coming out every month, what incentive do they have to look any further? Walthers has gained another retail customer and the LHS has lost one. So, please buy from your LHS - don’t let Walthers become any more monopolistic than they already are!
I have never purchased a single thing directly from Walthers. These days almost 100% of what I get comes from my LHS. They happen to price aggressively so there it is very rare that I can find the same item for less anywhere else.
Just yesterday I went into K-10 to pick up Woodland Scenic Getaway Gangsters that he had ordered for me. (retail $26.98) do a web search and you will be hard pressed to find it for the $19.95 I paid at my LHS. I don’t know how much Ken made on that sale, but you can be sure that I will always go to him for virtually everything I need.
Maybe this will make you feel better. I go to their site and sign up for their flyer about 5-6 times a year. I’m lucky if I get 1 or 2 flyers a year.(always at Christmas). Maybe there’s not as many folks getting them as you think. I’ve never noticed any deals good enough to go WOW! I’m going to start buying all my stuff from Walthers!
I appreciate that… and I’m sure the LHSs do, as well! However, the fact of the matter is that the only JLI kit we sold this month (up until the time this message was posted) was one that was NOT on sale at Walthers. So, it would seem that there are customers out there who get the sales flyers (all you have to do is buy one item from them and you get the flyers), and they are buying… or Walthers would not be doing it. What I want them to do is retail their own product, and sell everything else as wholesalers, which is what they were before Bruce Walthers turned operation of the business over to his son.
Gee ever hear of free enterprise? The economy is built on it. If Walthers has dozens of kits on the shelf and they are not moving, why not blow them out. Maybe the reason you still have the kit in inventory ?
Ever watch soft drink prices at the supermarket? I don’t hear them complaining, but I will point out all the little grocery stores died quite some time ago because they could not compete. It is the way.
I’ve also heard of “fair competition” and “monopolies”, both of which are frowned on by everyone I know… except perhaps yourself…
But it doesn’t have to be that way! Walthers can still make good money without destroying small businesses in the process. BTW, ever hear of the concept of free speech? I’m exercising it right now!
Why, exactly, should they? You ordered the item from them sans the 3% discount anticipating a certain profit. From a quick look at your website, there is exactly one JL item you offer that is also offered by Walthers at a temporary sale price – and you still have it $2 cheaper than their sale price. So you want to make an additional 3% on old stock without changing your price because Walthers is having a sale?
I wonder why, then, other LHS/internet discounters seem to get a lot of repeat business and continue to offer the same items month after month, despite Walthers’ stranglehold. Perhaps one shop’s inability to compete has nothing to do with the Walthers-as-monopoly misperception?
Um, for better prices on the items that Walthers doesn’t have on sale? For items that Walthers shows as ‘Sold Out - Unknown’ that you may have in stock? For face-to-face service and immediate gratification that Walthers’ sales flyers can’t offer (you are speaking as an LHS owner and not an internet discounter, right?)?
I am surprised that, if you always thought this to be a legal issue, you hadn’t already consulted an attorney for legal advice.
Please do let us know if the FTC considers Walther’s sale price of $2 more for an item than your offering price to be unfair competition on Walthers’ part, what the FTC considers to be an unfair monopoly, and whether the FTC even considers Walthers to be a monopoly.