Deep breathe .........

OK, a new thread and some food for thought!

When it comes down to pricing here in Australia (for all suppliers not just PSH) the key issue I believe, is the Aussie dealers!

There is a lot of hype around what Blane did in Hawaii, but lets face it he is the manufacturer in the middle of an island with one of the highest concentration of surfers in the world. We on the other hand are in a unique position (thank god) being a very large country (size of North America) with a small population ( one American city - greater LA) with small but key markets spread 1000's of kilometers apart.

We cannot service this market properly without our dealers. We only have a handful and they do an excellent job. Especially when it comes to knowledge, back up service and demo boards.

No matter which way you slice it and dice it, you cannot keep dealers and drop prices significantly.

If I was Blane living on a small island with a very high population of surfers I would probably do what he is doing, but for Aus. the dealers are key and they all doing doing an excellent job.

I won’t reply to every post on this topic, only commenting where necessary as I am interested in what the consensus is out there – do we support the Aussie dealers?

I am very clear on where I stand.


Andrew.A

Gotta have dealers in this big country with so much coastline.

You'd never be able to drop into your local shop and see, touch, feel, fondle, and maybe demo ride a prospective purchase without these guys.

And then when/if something goes wrong, you don't need to ship it all the way back to wherever you got it from - just for them to see the problem.

I deleted that post for this reason, But i guess you wanted to start something eh' [}:)]

You know im always up for it..

AA said...

Deep breathe .........

OK, a new thread and some food for thought!

do we support the Aussie dealers?

Andrew.A

As you have pointed out the whole PSH price drop was targeting a market that is very different to Australia and the more layers of handling in the distrubution network there are will make that price drop negligible. I think everyone would or a least should understand how that plays out. on the other hand PSH as a global player should have foreseen the can of worms it was going to open by discounting it's products and dissatisfaction that could possibly flow from that decision.

Maybe the question should be:

should Aussie dealers encourage and support manufacturing in Australia

Couldn,t agree more AA , my line of buisness works under the dealership model and at the end of the day it is what,s best for the customer.Things like service , warranty , quality control are always sacrificed for a lower price.Not to mention selling the right product for the right job.

It amazes me when people want cheap , cheap , cheap and then expect silver service along with it.

What about a wholly Australian owned product line, designed by TOP OF THE LINE Australian shaping legends-BUT manufactured in Asia at one of the exact same factories that do one of the current top of the line name brand SUBs?

Coming to a beach near you......

In todays global marketplace everything is a lot more transparent, and consequently the market (customers) will drive purchasing, not dealers as part of a supply chain. Although the distribution model of manufacturer -> importer -> retailer is sooo 20 century.

Based on a solid business case, the rationale to change any pricing across markets should be done based upon the model for distribution (and subsequent costs) used in that region, to expect that their will be parity between HI and Aus is not feasible unless you are buying non physical goods.

Get on a plane and go to Hawaii (thats what I did) a PSH ripper cost $80 US to get back to Perth.

cammo

zimbo I had to be on the plane as well!

It was part of my luggage, the board was 9'3", Qantas only allow 9ft though so I wrote 9ft on the board bag

$500 sounds about right for unaccompanied freight

goatman said...

[
Maybe the question should be:

should Aussie dealers encourage and support manufacturing in Australia

The Oz manufacturers couldn't keep up with the demand anyhow.

That would be true and could that be a result of the almost monopoly of construction by offshore manufacturers?

It looks like i hit a nerve with that, I will change it to i have my own reservations over why pop out boards and custom supps are so expensive.

Had it not been for a dealer (WS&S), I would never had demoed a SUB, I would never have invested in my SUB (and as far as my partner is concenred, it is an invetsment) and so i woud not be doing this awesome sport.
Thats my input for the week.

If PB means me, then i did not mean it quite that way as you put it i.e rolling in it.

Just saying it has to be well worth there time vs a standard short board

When mals come back in it was hard then as well, But now sup i just wounder as there has to be a good slice for a dealer to bother with the bus and storage also freight costs.

But yes i agree for the love of it somewhat, If i had a shop and had enought out of it to live plus a little extra it would be love all over again.

BP...gotta agree with you. I try not to get too involved in posting on the forum due to the amount of wank I see posted.

However, anybody that believes dealers etc are in this game for the love of the sport and are doing us a huge favour obviously believe in the tooth fairy as well. Get real

As someone so wisely said in a previous post when I questioned why an 11' SUP was $100 cheaper than a 9'6" (same brand)...it's supply and demand....basic principle of business. So please everyone don't bulls..t me. You go into business to make money, pure and simple.

I expect good up front and follow up service. If I have to pay premium for that service so be it. You get what you pay for.

Having said that there appears to be businesses out there that want to charge premium prices but duck for cover when follow up is required.

In this sport you really need to check out who your dealing with before you outlay the big bucks. Thankfully I've found someone through recommendations from this forum whom I trust.

As someone else said...."tread carefully"

Smoke & mirrors??

I'm not suprised prices here are not going to change much, if at all. Because of the last topic I thought there was a chance otherwise you would think Blane would have kept his local price changes as quiet as possible.

The only way prices could drop here would be if BC charged AA less for the boards. Remember BC's COST has not changed, prices have dropped in hawaii as he has removed the retailers margin (I'm guessing not all of it). As it stands BC will add the margin he thinks is fair and then AA the same and then the retailer. These guys need to pay the bills.

Here's a possible scenario, true or not i'm not sure.....just a guess....
Blane looses some market share to local SUP shapers in hawaii as he struggles to compete on price. Because of the cost to wholesale to retail structure I believe this is possible. So Blane decides to eliminate the dealers in order to become more competitive. This turns out to be more profitable for Blane also.

Then news starts to spread about the changes so PSH go into damage control to save PSH in other markets outside Hawaii and the US.
........................................
The OZ market needs dealers otherwise AA would have to set up shops all over the country, or sell direct or online. Then customers wouldn't get the service that we have come to expect. Catch 22 i guess.

I'm not suprised by AA's comments nor did I expect anything different. But I do think AA has been put between a rock and a hard place. We've all been suckered along for the ride.

The only way we would see a change would be if Blane cut his margin or went in house with distribution here but then AA would suffer. No-one here wants that so we should be happy PSH offer great boards at a somewhat reasonable price.

I think the question that should be asked is should the Australian dealers support PSH and the Australian importer.
Imagine taking the time and making the investment in promoting a product then have the importer on a public forum seek opinion as to the dealer’s worth!
Such lack of respect astounds me.
If I was a dealer treated this way I would be contacting the dealers in other territories, organizing a buying group, consolidating containers and doing a deal to buy direct off PSH.
Cut out the importer margin and the prices will drop and all the regions will get local service. PSH would be interested because volumes will go up.
I think the importer should check his exclusive distribution agreement before he is so off hand with his treatment of dealers that he set up.
Anyway surely you know what additional discounts if any you will be getting off PSH by now so what will the pricing be. I rang your shop and was told prices dropping to approx $1600.
Maybe post the prices and everyone will be happy and shut up. Me included!

I don't think AA meant to question the worth of his dealers (although I see your point logman) but I'm guessing this is a round about way to let us know prices won't be dropping as much as some may of thought.

All I read in the initial post was "Sorry guys, prices aren't going to drop as much as you may think". Was something else written? However AA's price to retailers and retailers to customers is unfortunately dictated by PSH.