Hi guys,
I just read a rather interesting thread on another forum about some local hobby shops that have quit or refuse to sell magazines because of the ads for internet hobby shops in them. I also have heard this from a couple of hobby shop owners in my area as well, altho none have totally quit selling magazines they are threatening to. Here’s the link; http://www.trainboard.com/ultimatebb.php/ubb/get_topic/f/9/t/006887/p/1.html
It’s sad that these shop owners feel like this, I have several friends who do not do business at those shops because they have dropped a good portion of the magazines they used to buy. Just curious what the ‘magazine folks’ perspective might be on this issue.
Personally, I think many of them are blaming the magazine publishers for their own lack of business acumen.
The shop I go to not only sells just about every model railroading mag published in the U.S., it also sells Railway Modeller (United Kingdom). It’s also been in business in different locations (getting bigger all the time) for over 30 years. If you know what you’re doing and can generate a loyal clientele (I’ve be a customer for over 25 years), you can make it.
If the Old Dog remembers right, MR has NO choice in the matter.
Back in the 1950’s another hobby magazine tried accepting ads for the LHS’s while refusing ads for mail order suppliers. The case went to court, and the magazine lost.
Back in the late 70’s - there was a movement by a number of LHS’s to quit selling MR due to the discount mail order ad’s in the magazine. It got them no where, and for a while MR subscription volume may have increased.
We lost out LHS in the past year(due to the death of the owner). I now have subscriptions to MR, Trains, & RMC via ‘NetMag’ - a very low cost ‘discount’ magazine dealer on the ‘net’. Good Service, Good Price.
The amount of ‘multi-page’ ad’s has actually gone down in the past several years. Many times a smaller ad with a web URL is listed in the magazine…
The LHS need the magazines more than the other way around. The magazines provide product information as well “how to” and inspirational articles. All of that helps keep people interested in model railroading and buying stuff.
Marketing is changing in this country whether we like it or not. Those businesses that won’t / can’t adapt will be gone. In fact they have been disappearing for a while - it just finally got noticed for hobby shops. Not carrying magazines only cuts sales and drive the magazine buyers elsewhere. I’ve never been in retailing, but it seems to me you want to get as much traffic in the store as possible. And the magazine buyers are at least there to buy something, who knows they might buy something else on their way back to the register.
My guess is that in 10 years, at least half the hobby shops will be gone.
Enjoy
Paul
Thats funny because I can remember MR and RMC having ads for mail order shops clear back to 1970 when I picked up my first issue. Mail order or internet order? Same difference.
Perhaps the LHS might look into running its own web site, for higher volume lower margin business and at the same time be more competitive with in the shop at slightly lower prices, but selling the advantage of no shipping and handling as well as immediate possession of that piece of merchandise. The rumor has always been that Baldwin and Lima were still trying to build and sell steam locomotives long after the railroads were fully into dieselization with off the shelf reliable economical models from EMD and Alco. The market has changed within the hobby, moving to online distribution which used to be the “mail order” houses, and a whole new entity E-Bay a combination of private auctions and commercial sales. We will lose a great resource if the LHS disappear and we are left with the internet as the only place to secure hobby materials and equipment. We can hope that there emerges a combination of the two to serve us all locally.
Will
The issue of more traffic being generated is probably the most significant.
Consider this, supermarkets put milk at the rear of the store so you have to walk past everything to get to it because they know the more merchandise you walk past the greater their sales regardless of the shopper’s original intent. I would be fairly confident that at times with the discounts they offer they aren’t making a profit on the items like bread and milk, but they know that if you enter the store the chances are you will spend money there.
Surely having a “consumable” item like MR displayed in the store generates the same kind of traffic (certainly not to the same volume [:P] ), where people enter to buy the latest issue and stop to look at other stuff while they are there. This has to increase the chance of a sale, it is only simple logic.
If you want to buy from the internet, search engines will locate anybody for you without the assistance of a magazine. The assertion that magazine advertising costs them business seems like a self fulfilling prophecy to me but it is easier to blame someone else for your predicament rather than address the real issues in the first place.
Shortsighted on the part of the hoby shop owner. The biggest train shop in Houston has a huge selection of magazines, with all the usual suspects plus some more obscure issues. Right next to their equally large railroad book section. And between the two he has a table and chairs set up. Now I’m not sure he’s exactly encouraging people to read and not buy the magazines/books, but I’m sure there are a few who do a “Barnes & Noble” there. But overall he views it as a positive.
My LHS has a prominent magazine rack right inside the door, and a Kalmbach book rack futher back. He has an internet presence, and he even advertises himself (in the small listings in the back) in MR.
On the other hand, I’ve noticed the 10% discount I used to get is no longer coming off the bottom line. I figure he’s getting socked with bigger fuel bills, just like the rest of us, and he can’t afford to discount any more. I’ve reached the point where most of my big purchases are behind me for a while, so it’s not much of a problem, but if his business is so close to the edge that fuel costs are going to tip it over, it doesn’t look good for the future of LHS’s.
well now i know why my LHS has the magazines in the back of the store !
as far as MR and RMC are concerned i rarely buy them at the LHS , it’s a 45 minute transit ride there , and there’s a great magazine shop 10 minutes walk from my house that i walk by at least 3 times a week
Called my LHS today for a price on a Loco. They quoted a price, which was too steep and then told me to shop around as they knew they couldn’t meet the lower prices advertized. Told me I’d be a fool not to go with the lower prices. besides I spend a fair bit of copper there and that they weren’t too worried about loosing me to the internet.
One magazine here in Canada states publicly that they will not list :discount mail order houses’ in their hobby shop directory. So the lobbying form teh hobby shops has worked itwoudl seem, in one very moinor case. But the mag is so poor I generally only buy it once overy six months or so to know why I dont want to buy it the other five!
A lot of the LHS’s I see (and I travel a LOT) appear to be retirement efforts where the owner really wants to do as little as possible. One LHS I buy from has a big mail order/internet business of their own (Georges Trains), they are basically North American product only and they realise they will not get all my business. The other does predominantly European railway (but it is a wide ranging hobby shop). Most of the prices locally are pretty high. But if something is in stock I will buy it provided it is about no more than 15% more expensive than the cost to buy it elsewhere, freight it and pay import duties and clearance charges etc. I am prepared to pay that premium for the local service.
Call for a price on Atlas track - turns out local stores dont offer it in bulk, well there are some on the internet that do, and at 30 - 50% or more below the retail pack prices, so where do I buy it. Good guess. If an LHS wants my business he has to give me a reason to be loyal. Good range, fair prices, broad stock and helpful attitude being the minimum. It’s jut like manufacturers, give me attitude and you give me a reason to go to someone else.
If he carries a good range of magazines then I will go there at least once every week or two. If not? Well I will subscribe and go there only when I specifically want something. His business will fall off and eventually he wont have what I want so I wont need to go there. But tonight I waled into one store, a few weeks ago I had asked about a book, they didn’t have it and I was told that it was an old book and not really very good. But they apparently realised that if it is in the Kalmbach list they should hav
I think with all the mom and pop places closing down due to favor of mail order, net shopping, mall chains, etc it is Mighty stupid to stop selling a magazine that may bring customers in the door just because of internet ads. They seem to forget that a lot of these mega places that have a net presence Also have a store front. If they want to compete, let them pay the $4k or $5k per month for full page ads. That stuff isn’t cheap. That screw them mentality shows Why they won’t be in business for long. Even a loyal customer base will only stretch so far.
Yah know, to me it seems that just because of ads like that its not worth it to lose a source of revenue like that, especially as it seems the new trend is not to subscribe but to only pick up individual issues
If I were a hobby shop owner, I would have as many magazines as I could. Because the customer wants variety. And I wouldn’t really care about the advertisements in them…online and mailing order businesses are missing one big thing…direct human interaction for true customer service. You can’t get the best service talking to a machine, or typing on a keyboard, nor can you from talking with someone sitting behind a desk with a headset. Customer service is treating the custom like family, casually, but respectful. That requires direct human contact, and that’s what makes a good hobby shop.