I can give a tips or two for business .. I spend a fair bit and I buy wide ranging of stuff online (70%) and brick and mortal (30%).

For a start Board retailer online site is shockingly bad, not talking about manufacturer like Naish or Hobie...but Retailer to customer...

They are way behind other retailer like Camera, Computer and fashion sites
Try to learn from this surf wear site www.surfstitch.com/

Offer the best price you can back up with great before and after sale service, you guarantee to get repeated sales from the same customer.

Return customers are very valuable, without them you keep chasing new market
and new customers so give them an incentive for them to keep coming back.
Sell to them cheaper than anyone else and don't try to pull any stunt and take
them for granted.

I have other Hobbies apart from water sport and one of them is Camera, some of my lenses cost more than the best SUP board..

I always buying my Camera equipment from one online store knowing they always has the
cheapest price back up by quality service..when I need something straight online I go to that store..case point ...
a few months ago I need a Canon EF 70-200mm f/2.8 L IS II lenses off I go 5 minutes and $2200 later all done and dusted....

I didn't bother shopping around knowing that is the best deal, no-one can beats it...

My recent Nula purchase went to Lou of Eastcoast SUP because the local store here, I was a little less impress with their sale man...

the owner was nice but the guy he has on the day wasn't seem too keen...I wasn't in the mood to muck around...

I have the cash in my pocket and despite spending thousands of dollar there previously on Hobie Kayaks...

the owner called me back, I told him what happened hopefully he can improve on his sale staffs.

some customers dont muck around and I am one of them when I want something
I want serious talk, I want price talk, I want stuff details to me what is being sold
I can make deal in 5 minutes (I bought a new car once 20 minutes done deal) or walk in 5 minutes up to the business work hard for the cash...

Work hard for the sale, don't let them walk out of the shop, offer the best price you can, studies show once they left the shop they are unlikely to come back.

I found the combination of sell quality stuff cheap but still make you a profit
back by unrivaled customer service (before and after) is a winning formula in retails.

JB-hi fi has this model in their early days and they are very successful, lately I found they became arrogant and not as cheap...and so no more shopping at JB :-)

Lipsmakin said...

I don't know why people bother with shops anyway, most of the staff are rude and they have no idea of customer service. I recently came back from South Africa (surf was good ) and the customer service in their shops was amazing, not pushy, rude or ignoring the customer just very helpful and happy to see you.

Like alot of others I now do as much shopping as I can online. It's not that hard (furniture might be hard) and there are websites like www.onlineshopadvisor.com.au that help you.

Hopefully with all the sales going online the local retail stores will wake up and improve their customer service. I feel better now thanks for listening.

Unfortunately its because people are now always hunting for the lowest prices online that shops can no longer afford to hire good quality staff. The wages are low, ensuring high staff turnover. New young staff generally have poor product knowledge and therefore are as helpfull as tits on a bull.

As for shops offering discounts etc - I make and sell artwork (sculptures etc) and have eftpos etc - I cant afford to offer discounts to anyone. The price is as it is. Some customers seem to think that its a given right to demand and get a discount for cash. Unless you have a huge turnover based system, the average business can not survive by giving discounts on everything.

The other thing you have to remember is that the shops offering the 20 months interest free discounted prices generally get a commision on the loan contract they sign you up to and therefore get the discount money back.