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Astronomy vendors and their "sales"
Rolando, narrow it down please. Which part of this post is your comment.
-- Curtis Croulet Temecula, California 33°27'59"N, 117°05'53"W wrote in message ... On Mar 2, 4:59 pm, Too_Many_Tools wrote: On Mar 2, 12:14 pm, wrote: I think a lot of astronomy vendors are operating on a shoestring. A few big ones like Orion are doing well, but most of the smaller outfits are selling stuff at cost or slightly above. The margins on astronomy items, especially telescopes, are razor thin. You cannot expect any of them to lower their prices and sell stuff for less than they owe to the manufacturers. For these dealers, profits on some of the popular large telescopes will get you a 6 pack of Budweiser. Rolando On Mar 2, 11:41 am, Too_Many_Tools wrote: This story reminded me of astronomy vendors, their so called sales and their excuses for insignificant discounts in a severe recession while their sales continue to dry up. No discount = No sales = Out of business Looks like a repeat of the Post Comet Halley vendor loss is coming.... TMT February 23, 2009 10:39 AM PST Last days of Circuit City: Lousy bargains, rumpled salespeople I remember when "liquidation" meant something. There was a small electronics store in my area that was closing down a few years back. Signs all over read "Liquidation Sale." In the store, I found prices slashed considerably. Some good stuff was 75 percent off. It was a fire sale, and it was fantastic. That was a going-out-of-business sale done right. What Circuit City is doing now, though, I don't get. The company is shutting down, as we all know. But I was still shocked when I went into Circuit City this past weekend and found a store that was a shadow of its former self. The signature red shirts on employees were ditched in favor of jeans and sweatshirts; DVD sales racks that were once barely browsed were overrun by customers who couldn't help but dive in to the store's 50 percent off DVD sale. But the real bargains that Circuit City claimed we all would love weren't so sexy after all. I need a new HDTV. Usually, I buy my HDTVs from Amazon.com because I've found it has the best prices and delivery service. But since I knew Circuit City was going out of business, I decided to make a trek down there to see if there were any hidden gems at a good price. Signs said the TVs were 30 percent off, and when I looked around, I realized the inventory wasn't picked over, as I had feared. There were some nice Sony LCDs on the shelves, as well as Panasonic plasmas. I was drawn to the Panasonic TH-58pz800u, which was on sale for approximately $2,600 at the store. I own the 50-inch model of that plasma and couldn't be more pleased with its quality. So when I saw it offered at such a discount, the wheels started turning and I was thinking about how I was going to be able to fit it into the back of my SUV. But then I checked Amazon's price. To my surprise, Amazon was offering the HDTV at an even more attractive price: $2,372. So I decided to find one of the Circuit City salespeople to ask if they matched pricing that online companies were offering. I searched far and wide for their signature red shirt and could find just two people wearing it. Thinking the company must have laid off some staff, I went back to examining the HDTV, when a twenty-something guy dressed in a hoodie, baggy jeans, sneakers, and a crooked Mets hat walked over to me and asked if I needed help. At first, I didn't realize he was an employee and I looked at him without saying anything. Then he told me that he works at Circuit City, he's just not required to wear his uniform anymore ("After all, am I gonna get fired?") and that's why I didn't recognize him as a salesperson. So I asked him if the company matched pricing and showed him my iPhone, which was displaying Amazon's price of the same Panasonic plasma. His response was short and biting: "Nope. We don't do that anymore." You don't do that anymore? How is it possible that a company that needs to liquidate its entire inventory won't sell a product to a customer for $200 less? It's a guaranteed sale! Of course, explaining that to this salesperson would have fallen on deaf ears since he wasn't in a position to make any decisions and I don't think he would have cared if he could. He's there until the end of March--that's the deadline the employees have been given at this store--and after that, he's on to bigger and better things. Why should he care if Circuit City, a company that has laid him off, will be getting my money or not? For comparison's sake, I went to Best Buy across the street to see if it had that same Panasonic plasma and to ask its salespeople if they would match the Amazon price. After just a few minutes of browsing, a Best Buy salesperson in the signature blue shirt came up to me and asked if I needed help. When I asked her if they would match pricing, she said, "Absolutely." In no time, she asked her manager if they could match my price on the Panasonic HDTV and he came over to assure me that they could and the offer was on the table indefinitely--I didn't need to take it right that second if I didn't want it. In spite of the Circuit City going-out-of-business sale across the street, the Best Buy was overrun with customers, the company's blue shirts were everywhere, and people were rushing to the checkout lines. Even in its dying days when it should be the price leader and the most willing to sell products, Circuit City still doesn't "get" it. Under the guise of "Everything Must Go!" sales, Circuit City's liquidators are doing their best to feign value to squeeze every dime out of customers just one last time. Maybe it works (the company announced it has sold $1 billion in merchandise over the past month), but I still think it's a sad state of affairs. Circuit City is still a wrinkled mess. Meanwhile, Best Buy is as vital as ever.- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - Rolando...I am sympathetic to the plight of vendors but the reality is this. No discount = No sales = Out of business in this recession. If they cannot survive, then it is time for them to sell out and move on to more profitable lines of retailing. TMT- Hide quoted text - - Show quoted text - |
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Astronomy vendors and their "sales"
And we both know they make lots of money.
Really!? The failure of Circuit City, only the latest of many, says different. I can think of a rather large number of consumer electronics retailers on so. Calif. that have gone belly-up in the last 15 years or so, and that span of time includes some very good years for the economy as a whole. Some of those businesses were retail fixtures for several decades. As for Best Buy itself, maybe they're OK if you know exactly what you want when you walk in, but, for my taste, both the selection and sales staff are pathetic. -- Curtis Croulet Temecula, California 33°27'59"N, 117°05'53"W |
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Astronomy vendors and their "sales"
On Mar 2, 5:39*pm, "Curtis Croulet"
wrote: And we both know they make lots of money. Really!? *The failure of Circuit City, only the latest of many, says different. *I can think of a rather large number of consumer electronics retailers on so. Calif. that have gone belly-up in the last 15 years or so, and that span of time includes some very good years for the economy as a whole. *Some of those businesses were retail fixtures for several decades. As for Best Buy itself, maybe they're OK if you know exactly what you want when you walk in, but, for my taste, both the selection and sales staff are pathetic. -- Curtis Croulet Temecula, California 33°27'59"N, 117°05'53"W Yes...they make lots of money. Read their financial reports. And telescope vendors make a sizable profit also. TMT TMT |
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Astronomy vendors and their "sales"
Curtis Croulet wrote:
As for the liquidation company disposing of Circuit City -- there must be an aspect of their business that I don't understand. I realize that what they're doing right now is selling this stuff to people who think they're getting a bargain, even when they're not. But the liquidators must inevitably wind up with a lot of unsold product, most of which becomes obsolete as soon as next-year's product line comes out. So how do they get rid of this leftover junk and still make a profit? They sell it to real liquidators like Crazy Gideon's http://www.fcc.gov/eb/FieldNotices/2...-279434A1.html You have to realize that anything above the cost of paying to haul it to the dump is considered a profit. |
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Astronomy vendors and their "sales"
On Mar 2, 5:39*pm, "Curtis Croulet"
wrote: And we both know they make lots of money. Really!? *The failure of Circuit City, only the latest of many, says different. *I can think of a rather large number of consumer electronics retailers on so. Calif. that have gone belly-up in the last 15 years or so, and that span of time includes some very good years for the economy as a whole. *Some of those businesses were retail fixtures for several decades. As for Best Buy itself, maybe they're OK if you know exactly what you want when you walk in, but, for my taste, both the selection and sales staff are pathetic. -- Curtis Croulet Temecula, California 33°27'59"N, 117°05'53"W In time vendors will offer better sales aka lower their profit margins. They will find that it is better to make a little and sell a lot then make a lot and sell a little. TMT |
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Astronomy vendors and their "sales"
"Curtis Croulet" wrote:
And we both know they make lots of money. Really!? The failure of Circuit City, only the latest of many, says different. I can think of a rather large number of consumer electronics retailers on so. Calif. that have gone belly-up in the last 15 years or so, and that span of time includes some very good years for the economy as a whole. Some of those businesses were retail fixtures for several decades. As for Best Buy itself, maybe they're OK if you know exactly what you want when you walk in, but, for my taste, both the selection and sales staff are pathetic. Best Buy? Take a look at what they ask for a USB or HDMI cable. About 900% more than newegg.com. ....with oxygen-free copper, too! Say, has this sort of garbage made its way into the telescope industry yet? I mean all the baloney designed to take advantage of clueless consumers. Oxygen free copper wire, platinum-coated power plugs, triple-ought gauge speaker wire, cell phone radiation shields, CD stabilizer rings, magnetic bracelets... the list is endless and amazing. -- Dave |
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Astronomy vendors and their "sales"
Too_Many_Tools wrote:
In time vendors will offer better sales aka lower their profit margins. They will find that it is better to make a little and sell a lot then make a lot and sell a little. Ah yes, that's the Big Truck Theory, one of my favorite business fallacies. It works only in a very few cases, and even then only to a certain point. When competition is fierce--as it is in the consumer electronics trade--market pressure forces companies to operate as close to the bone as they can. They have precious little wiggle room in pricing to combat a decrease in demand. -- Dave |
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Astronomy vendors and their "sales"
On Mar 2, 8:58*pm, Dave Typinski wrote:
"Curtis Croulet" wrote: And we both know they make lots of money. Really!? *The failure of Circuit City, only the latest of many, says different. *I can think of a rather large number of consumer electronics retailers on so. Calif. that have gone belly-up in the last 15 years or so, and that span of time includes some very good years for the economy as a whole. *Some of those businesses were retail fixtures for several decades. As for Best Buy itself, maybe they're OK if you know exactly what you want when you walk in, but, for my taste, both the selection and sales staff are pathetic. Best Buy? *Take a look at what they ask for a USB or HDMI cable. About 900% more than newegg.com. ...with oxygen-free copper, too! Say, has this sort of garbage made its way into the telescope industry yet? *I mean all the baloney designed to take advantage of clueless consumers. *Oxygen free copper wire, platinum-coated power plugs, triple-ought gauge speaker wire, cell phone radiation shields, CD stabilizer rings, magnetic bracelets... the list is endless and amazing. -- Dave A definite YES. Same behavior, different names. People are the same everywhere. The worst offenders are refractors and eyepieces. TMT |
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Astronomy vendors and their "sales"
On Mar 2, 9:07*pm, Dave Typinski wrote:
Too_Many_Tools wrote: In time vendors will offer better sales aka lower their profit margins. They will find that it is better to make a little and sell a lot then make a lot and sell a little. Ah yes, that's the Big Truck Theory, one of my favorite business fallacies. *It works only in a very few cases, and even then only to a certain point. When competition is fierce--as it is in the consumer electronics trade--market pressure forces companies to operate as close to the bone as they can. They have precious little wiggle room in pricing to combat a decrease in demand. -- Dave And yet they make millions. And in the telescope trade where competition is nil to none....they have an enormous amount of wiggle room to work with. TMT |
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Astronomy vendors and their "sales"
Too_Many_Tools wrote:
On Mar 2, 9:07*pm, Dave Typinski wrote: Too_Many_Tools wrote: In time vendors will offer better sales aka lower their profit margins. They will find that it is better to make a little and sell a lot then make a lot and sell a little. Ah yes, that's the Big Truck Theory, one of my favorite business fallacies. *It works only in a very few cases, and even then only to a certain point. When competition is fierce--as it is in the consumer electronics trade--market pressure forces companies to operate as close to the bone as they can. They have precious little wiggle room in pricing to combat a decrease in demand. -- Dave And yet they make millions. In 2006, Circuit City had sales of $11.6 billion with a net income of $140 million. That's a profit of 1.2%. There's not much wiggle room in 1.2%. Sometimes reducing fixed expenses by closing stores and reducing payroll expense by getting rid of people isn't enough. And in the telescope trade where competition is nil to none....they have an enormous amount of wiggle room to work with. I don't know anything about the telescope industry. I suspect their profit margin is maybe 20%. Definitely some wiggle room there, but not a lot if and when sales drop by 50%. If they cut prices by 20% and sell the same number of scopes, they'd have a profit of zero percent. If they sell fewer scopes at the lower price, they're into losing money territory. -- Dave |
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