Ah.... a topic close to my heart (and wallet
)
Thought a lot about this since joining the dreaded retailers [}:)]
A city the size of Perth (2m roughly) could have its kite market very well supplied and serviced with no more than 3 retailers selling as few as 2 brands each. But lets say 3 each to keep it somewhere near real. Thats 9 brands - making the assumption all 3 have 3 different brands.
Every kiters needs would be very well met as far as kite variation and quality goes and if the shops were spread there would one close enough to home for all those who simply prefer to shop local.
Taking the existing top name kite brands that would already allow a huge overlap in the style of competing kites on offer and a fair price range from the different brands.
Kiters would be way better off. Why?
Simply because the volume of sales would allow for a far better representation from each shop & each brand. Warranties could be serviced more economically and efficiently. Parts could be made more readily available and far cheaper. Stock levels could be maintained at higher levels - making availabilty pretty much off-the-shelf for every customer all the time. Costs; and hence prices; right down the chain would be reduced by having fewer shops ordering greater quantities from less suppliers.
With Perth currently over serviced with 12+ kite retailers and over 20 brands being sold the whole industry suffers and so does every kite customer.
I agree with Saffer - the apocalypse is upon us. Things cannot remain the same.
just my 2c worth of musings
