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In a TradeOnly Today.com “Trade Talk” blog
post titled, “An open letter to outboard
manufacturers,” Marc Grove, president of
Wefing’s Marine in Apalachicola, Fla., says
it’s time “for outboard manufacturers to stop
charging dealers to sell their products.”
“Times have changed, and with sales at a new industry low, my dealership, for one — I
know I’m not alone — has had to adapt by cutting costs in every way possible,” he wrote.
“It does not feel like a ‘partnership’ situation to be charged a fee just to do business online.
“You are spending less on staff and penalizing the dealers to do so. We sell and service
five brands of outboards. That’s somewhere between $3,000 and $5,000 a year of ‘fees’
that could go toward efforts to stay in business, perhaps stock your parts, send our techs
to schools, buy the ‘special tools’ that we are required to have collecting dust in our
shops, or advertise your products,” Grove says.
Here’s a sampling of the reaction to Grove’s blog post.
show this year after never being a day late
in payment for 25 years. I don’t buy
enough, I was told, and a lot of small dealers show up with five guys and drink beer
all day. They penalize me and I don’t drink.
I’ll never go to one again. A friend of mine
told me yesterday that he was going to Indiana to pick up a load of boats. He’s buying his motors from the boatbuilder (plus a
few more) because the discount is 17 percent and not 7 percent as from the engine
maker. Outboards are nothing but a commodity today, as no one really cares about
brand like they once did. I was a diehard
Mercury guy for many years and my personal boat has an Evinrude. Perhaps a
Yamaha next. I use motor companies like
lawyers and toilet paper.
they can buy the same engine for less than
I can. Customers cannot wrap their head
around the fact that the same dealer that
gives the engine away will still cost more
than my dealership’s rigged price! Level
the playing field! These Internet dealers are
playing unfair, and the manufacturers could
care less. Why not base my pricing or the
amount of special tools that I buy on my
CSI score?”
COMMENTS
Russ Salter
“Marc hit the nail on the head. Seems the
large dealer sells the product and the little
dealer at the fishing lake gets the problems. He helps the consumer in hopes of
selling this consumer his next motor. Special tools, when I think of all the special
tools that have never left their boxes and
think of how that money could have been
better used, this sickens me. Many times a
small dealer never sees the models these
tools are ordered for; he may be on a small
lake and would never see a large motor
(over 200 hp). Grow Boating has turned
into no more than an added fee or a manufacturer’s tax. This is money that could
have been used for local advertising to
help the small dealer directly. The next few
years are going to be tough; tighten those
belts AGAIN.”
* *
Gordy McKelvey
“Maybe one ‘Silver Lining’ to the bad
economy is the opportunity for the dealers to take back this industry from the
bean counters, lawyers, marketing gurus
and most of these so-called marine industry experts, who couldn’t show you
where the propeller is supposed to be installed. The tail has been wagging the
dog way too long. The dealers have and
always will make this industry go. The
time is ripe for all you hard-working guys
and gals to take back what is really
yours. This business used to be profitable and for the most part a lot of fun.
Time to get that back. n
*
Larry Keeter
“If you haven’t figured it out by now, its
no secret the outboard manufacturers
could care less about you. No one wants
small dealers anymore. Even my largest
distributor didn’t invite me to their annual
* *
David Bearden
“Marc is right on. Discounts should be
the same for all dealers to level the playing
field. OEM backdoor sales stopped. Repower sales are a thing of the past, unless
you want to sell the engines at cost and figure out how to make money on rigging and
make-ready. The guys with the larger discounts work on the back end. There is no
profit in box engine sales anymore.”
*
Larry Holcombe
“It has always amazed me that my potential customers come in and tell me how
Your thoughts?
Weigh in with your own opinion
by e-mailing
editorial@tradeonlytoday.com
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