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Thread: Going to your local dealer then ordering long distance

  1. #11
    Scuba Guest

    Default Re: Going to your local dealer then ordering long distance

    Duane, I appreciate your comments in this post and it is important for us as customers to be respectful and courteous to our local brick & mortar shops, and of anyone we are looking to do business with, including internet retailers. I hate paying taxes but the collecting of sales tax may help level the playing field, and I do take that into consideration shopping locally.

    We started looking at furniture about a month ago. Started with Bassett, then we moved to Thomasville, Smith Brothers, Palliser, King Hickory and finally H&M, all at different furniture stores. I guessed we skipped BY, mostly because I ended up in your website. But I needed to find an H&M dealer to look at this line of furniture and even work up a price quote. And that's pretty much where it stands today. Now eventually I will thank him for showing the pieces and working with me, and either thanks or no thanks. Should I give him the opportunity to quote his best price or believe he has already done that? Which is what I typically believe. I hate buying a car for this reason. I will not mention any price you have provided, but weigh both considerations for their value, service and reputation. If the local B&M can provide a reasonable offer I will buy from him. I want to buy from him to support the local economy but not at unreasonable markups.

    It’s difficult doing an internet business. You never meet me, I never met you. I would rather meet you face-to-face and ask you the questions I ask on this forum. That not possible, I read your reviews and testimonials, read your responses and advice given to me and others. I'm sure I know I lot more about you than you of me. From what I've read, I know you would like to meet your customers in person and help them, get to know them more than a sale. I imagine one reason for this forum was to do that. Not many internet retailers do what you are doing. Even more, you don't expect any of this advice and information to lead to a sale. You are trying to provide information to people, for us to make the best decision possible. Many will come to you and order for these reasons. Me being one of them.

    Scott

  2. #12
    Ci2Eye Guest

    Default Re: Going to your local dealer then ordering long distance

    I agree with Duane that it is unethical to shop at a local store and sample the products, select finishes, fabrics, etc. but then call an out-of-town store and order from them for a better price. I wouldn't do that. In fact, I haven't. I have purchased a lot of furniture from a North Carolina retailer that my family has done business with for years because they offer great prices but I always make the two-hour drive from my home in Atlanta to their store to make my selections. Anything else wouldn't be fair.

    Likewise, I personally consider it inappropriate to come here, ask Duane 20 questions, get his advice and make choices then waltz into a local store and order something. I am sure Duane would say he doesn't mind but it sorta works both ways to me. He, and his forum have provided me with a wealth of information and I think in return he deserves the business.

  3. #13
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Alexandria VA
    Posts
    15,889

    Default Re: Going to your local dealer then ordering long distance

    My business has evolved into quite a few internet and distance sales - I think I have more customers in California and Texas than I do in Virginia and Maryland. I didn't plan it that way - it just happened! The forum was always designed as an information tool, free of charge to educate consumers about product and industry. I did not start it as a marketing tool, and as such don't get upset when folks don't order from me as that was never my intent in developing this research tool. So as long as folks use this venue to ask questions I'm good with all of it. Problems arise when people call me on the phone from around the country to get phone advice on how to fix their chair, or what I think of Brand "X", how I should suggest they handle an issue with their dealer whom they bought from, or look at an EBAY item for them. I simply cannot invest the time required during the day to take calls such as those, it has to be done via the public forum, where I can answer at midnight if I like. Sometimes that makes me come off harsh on the phone, but as I run a 1-man business I have all the accounting work to do, loading/unloading, processing, inventory, sales, etc. The day goes by fast and its all about time management.

    I have always said you should buy where YOU are comfortable buying. You can get information here and go local to you - that's fine by me. All I ever ask is you don't print off my price quotes and walk them into another store and say "The Keeping Room" (or any other store for that matter) will sell this to me for "X", will you match it? Because that dealer goes ballistic and calls the Maker to complain, and then I (or the owner of another store) get the phone call on it from the CEO of whatever company is in question about my pricing models and internet sales policy. But as much as I preach not to do that - it has been done too many times already and I think you will see changes in the latter part of 2013 on pricing policies or being able to drop ship from many companies we talk about here on this forum. That is coming. At the end of the day a few people will ruin it for many in that respect and the pricing advantages are going to be leveled out. This industry is old school and doesn't really believe in internet sales, though they realize they are here to stay. What they will be doing is leveling the playing field in the near future to protect the brick and mortar stores from losing sales to those selling at a discount.
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  4. #14
    James Guest

    Default Re: Going to your local dealer then ordering long distance

    Quote Originally Posted by drcollie View Post
    My business has evolved into quite a few internet and distance sales - I think I have more customers in California and Texas than I do in Virginia and Maryland. I didn't plan it that way - it just happened! The forum was always designed as an information tool, free of charge to educate consumers about product and industry. I did not start it as a marketing tool, and as such don't get upset when folks don't order from me as that was never my intent in developing this research tool. So as long as folks use this venue to ask questions I'm good with all of it. Problems arise when people call me on the phone from around the country to get phone advice on how to fix their chair, or what I think of Brand "X", how I should suggest they handle an issue with their dealer whom they bought from, or look at an EBAY item for them. I simply cannot invest the time required during the day to take calls such as those, it has to be done via the public forum, where I can answer at midnight if I like. Sometimes that makes me come off harsh on the phone, but as I run a 1-man business I have all the accounting work to do, loading/unloading, processing, inventory, sales, etc. The day goes by fast and its all about time management.

    I have always said you should buy where YOU are comfortable buying. You can get information here and go local to you - that's fine by me. All I ever ask is you don't print off my price quotes and walk them into another store and say "The Keeping Room" (or any other store for that matter) will sell this to me for "X", will you match it? Because that dealer goes ballistic and calls the Maker to complain, and then I (or the owner of another store) get the phone call on it from the CEO of whatever company is in question about my pricing models and internet sales policy. But as much as I preach not to do that - it has been done too many times already and I think you will see changes in the latter part of 2013 on pricing policies or being able to drop ship from many companies we talk about here on this forum. That is coming. At the end of the day a few people will ruin it for many in that respect and the pricing advantages are going to be leveled out. This industry is old school and doesn't really believe in internet sales, though they realize they are here to stay. What they will be doing is leveling the playing field in the near future to protect the brick and mortar stores from losing sales to those selling at a discount.
    If they level the pricing models, then for buyers such as myself who are pushing their budget to purchase an H&M product we simple will not.

  5. #15
    yooper829 Guest

    Default Re: Going to your local dealer then ordering long distance

    Hello

    We went through a similar adjustment with being a dealer for a product not furniture related but the idea is the same. Part of my businesss being a dealer for Weber grills, wich most of you are familiar with Im sure. Weber is the H&M of grills....yes you can purchase more expensive grills but for the most part they are the top of the line in most catagories of gas and charcoal grills. We are a master dealer, which means we stock every model of grill from $499.00 to $2499.00, we stock all the accessories, every grill is assembled free of charge and also delivered free of charge, and we even service the grills. At any given time my inventory of grills is easily over $25,000 and our salespeople are all trained on the line and are very knowlegable. I even took it a step further by telling customers if they have any problems to not even call Weber, come see me and let me handle it for you. Ive been called out on nights and weekends when people were having issues with their grills, we replace the parts that are under warranty at no charge to the consumer, and many times replaced parts that were not under warranty for no charge simply because it was the right thing to do. I just felt that by purchasing through me I owed it to them to be the best when it came to service.
    What started happening about 3 years ago is internet retailers started popping up online selling Weber for a fraction of the retail prices. Of course being out of state that meant no sales tax, and they all would ship the grills for free. This got to the point where it really affected our sales....and we noticed the trend of people coming in to pick our brains on the product line, touch and feel the grills, but not purchasing. We became the online "showroom" for Weber.....people came in, picked out the grill they liked, then were going online to purchase. We would get customers coming in with the grill prices printed off the internet expecting us to meet the price....and sometimes we could do that but it got to the point where these online companies were selling at almost dealer cost, and there was no way we could assemble and deliver a $2400 Weber Summit grill for cost and then have to "eat" the sales tax as well. That or they would order their grill online then come to us when they had problems expecting us to fix everything since we were the "dealer". Did we complain to Weber? You bet we did! This was becoming a loosing proposition on our end....and we could no longer afford to maintain a $25000 inventory of grills just to compliment the online companies. Our competion was an online vender that had a warehouse with unassembled grills and were simply shipping them out...they had no salespeople, no product knowlege, and no support after the sale. If you had problems with your grill you were told to call Webers customer service line and work it out with them. But because of the price differences most people were taking their chances and I could not blame them. As this continued we finally reduced our inventory of grills down to the point of only having a few grills on the floor and at one point actually considered just exiting the catogory all together. Weber was full aware of the problem but were having a hard time coming up with the right solution, but I think after realizing their brick and mortar dealers were shrinking and many of them just not selling grills anymore they finally introduced a MAP pricing policy to level the playing field as what is being mentioned here. Basically if you are selling Weber grills you must not drop your retail below MAP (minimum advertised price) or they terminate you as a dealer. And trust me they have no problems doing so. Dont get me wrong the MAP pricing is still less then retail price but by doing this people now can choose between ordering online and having the grill dropped at their door in a box, or purchasing through a brick and mortar dealer and getting the service that goes along with purchasing locally. And as a side note we sell all our grills at MAP and still assemble and deliver the grills for free, and give the same level of customer service as we did in the past.
    Now again I know this is unrelated to furniture as their business model is most likely different than gas grills, but still an interesting story and solution to a similar problem. The internet is definatly changing the way business is done!

  6. #16
    SorenK Guest

    Default Re: Going to your local dealer then ordering long distance

    Old thread here, but here's one other irony to ponder. A lot of these brick and mortar stores who make a stink about the internet shopper have no problem dropping the US manufacturer and bringing in Chinese goods. Tell me how that's not the exact same turn of the screw? Even certain manufacturing brands are outsourcing their production to China such as Flexsteel's leather lines. Now I'm not faulting these business for finding a way to deal with the economic realities of these modern times, but people who live in glass houses.....

  7. #17
    AshleyK Guest

    Default Re: Going to your local dealer then ordering long distance

    I completely agree. I knit and sew and people either ask me how to make it so they can go home and or it or I get the "I can get that at Walmart for half the price". I will not post on here what I want to say to those people because I don't want to get kicked off, haha. Larger companies can offer lower prices because they buy in masses and put a local business owner out of business.
    I do have a question though. Is it appropriate to ask the B&M store if they can come down a little? If so about what percentage is reasonable? I don't want to insult anyone. Of course I wouldn't expect them to be able to match the internet price because a B&M has more overhead and let's be honest it's a business not UNICEF.
    Thank you Drcollie for sharing your information with us. It is because of your honesty, ethics and willingness to help knowing that not everyone that comes on here is able to purchase from your store that makes us want to purchase from you.

  8. #18
    Join Date
    Jul 2008
    Location
    Alexandria VA
    Posts
    15,889

    Default Re: Going to your local dealer then ordering long distance

    I cannot speak for other stores however the prices in mine are non-negotiable. I price aggressively from the get-go and have never been one to enjoy the art of haggling (either as a buyer or a seller), and politely decline to get into those kind of conversations. Many a customer has walked out of my store when they find out they cannot buy something lower than the posted price. A number of them do come back when they find they can't get it elsewhere for less. Those that take it personally (and a few do) get upset for reasons that I can never understand!
    Duane Collie
    Straight answers from thirty-six years in the business.
    My Private Messages are Disabled - Please ask questions here in the forum.

  9. #19
    Tabby Guest

    Default Re: Going to your local dealer then ordering long distance

    I'm new here and browsing the forum posts as I try and decide on leather furniture. I've learned a lot, so thank you, "DR" Collie (you should have a PhD in leather).

    As to this subject.... I rarely ever take up anyone's time in the store because I know I might not buy there. I always say "just looking" and most just leave me alone.

    When we bought our first "real" piece of furniture (after marrying), I saw it in a local store (in IL) and was all set to order it, but I'd seen ads in the back of my Southern Living magazine for NC furniture, so I decided to call (in the day before the internet) and get a quote. Wow, big savings, so I ordered from the NC store. We did buy a few things from the local store because they had what we liked on the floor and we wanted it NOW.

    A couple years later we were vacationing in FL and drove back home to IL via FurnitureLand South to furniture shop and we ordered our master bedroom suite from it. We'd also identified a dining table we wanted, but waited on that until the following year. At that time, I called and got an updated price. For the heck of it, I called a local store and got a price on it, too. Shockingly, without ever mentioning I'd been shopping around to NC for it, they came back with a quote of $500 less.

    Now we live in NC. I went to FLS to look for a couple of chairs, found what I wanted and got a quote. Came back home (100 miles away) and called a local store who had a lower price. In none of these transactions did I even mention having a price from someone else.

    I guess it pays to check around.....

    I wonder if my NC local stores know they are close enough to FLS that they need to be competitive with it? Still doesn't explain the IL lower price, though.

    Anyway, now, thanks to the internet and being able to read TONS of reviews, I'm more hesitant to order from FLS and would like to shop local. But, with the money we're spending, I'd like to save, too......

  10. #20
    sstarrx2 Guest

    Default Re: Going to your local dealer then ordering long distance

    Quote Originally Posted by Tabby View Post
    I'm new here and browsing the forum posts as I try and decide on leather furniture. I've learned a lot, so thank you, "DR" Collie (you should have a PhD in leather).

    As to this subject.... I rarely ever take up anyone's time in the store because I know I might not buy there. I always say "just looking" and most just leave me alone.

    When we bought our first "real" piece of furniture (after marrying), I saw it in a local store (in IL) and was all set to order it, but I'd seen ads in the back of my Southern Living magazine for NC furniture, so I decided to call (in the day before the internet) and get a quote. Wow, big savings, so I ordered from the NC store. We did buy a few things from the local store because they had what we liked on the floor and we wanted it NOW.

    A couple years later we were vacationing in FL and drove back home to IL via FurnitureLand South to furniture shop and we ordered our master bedroom suite from it. We'd also identified a dining table we wanted, but waited on that until the following year. At that time, I called and got an updated price. For the heck of it, I called a local store and got a price on it, too. Shockingly, without ever mentioning I'd been shopping around to NC for it, they came back with a quote of $500 less.

    Now we live in NC. I went to FLS to look for a couple of chairs, found what I wanted and got a quote. Came back home (100 miles away) and called a local store who had a lower price. In none of these transactions did I even mention having a price from someone else.

    I guess it pays to check around.....

    I wonder if my NC local stores know they are close enough to FLS that they need to be competitive with it? Still doesn't explain the IL lower price, though.

    Anyway, now, thanks to the internet and being able to read TONS of reviews, I'm more hesitant to order from FLS and would like to shop local. But, with the money we're spending, I'd like to save, too......
    I have found that FLS is not always going to have the lowest price as well. Its a great place to go to look though. They are so large with so much furniture. I have found the stores that do not have the flashy storefronts or monster showrooms will usually quote you the a low price from the get go. If you go in knowing what you want and what it cost you know its a good price. It may be a few dollars more on some things, but you get to buy local and have that local customer service. I like building relationships with the folks I purchase from...for most things. Vehicles all bets are off! I go with the lowest price for my cars, even if I have to drive 350 miles out of state, if the difference is worth it. Why? Once a car is out of warranty I no longer get it serviced at a dealer anyway...I go to an independent.

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