Online shopping in America

Hey Moccos - The ACCC have a problem with us distros working together as it can be seen to be 'collusion' which could lead to price fixing. Makes no sense at all as we're battling an overseas competitor and price fixing would be impossible, but yeah, that's the govt for you...

I may have missed the point a little but the camera industry as such is nothing like the skate industry. In the skate industry we support young up & coming skaters and help them to become pros (I was a part of helping Dennis Durrant get on Popwar and Chima get on Real when I was at Kwala) as well as supporting skate events put on by stores etc. As a distro I also spend a massive amount of money advertising in Aussie skate mags which in turn helps to keep the skate scene alive and growing.

AEL - It's already happening slowly but surely! Skateshops are going out of business everyday and there are more and more kids buying online. Add to that the sketchy guys buying up cheap proddy and setting up an eBay store to make a quick buck and it's bad, bad, bad.

Rest assured though that companies like Darkside and Project Dist will continue to fight the good fight. We love skateboarding, we're in this shit for the long haul and aren't about to quit just because it's hard out there.

3 baseball tee's....

nice one.

The fact that he has 3 baseball tees in his cart for the price of one here is a perfect example of what we're dealing with as distros and retailers. As a distro they cost me nearly that much! How are we ever supposed to compete?

BNE they were 34 there just on sale?

passport are tight

Sale or no sale they still come to 45 bux to oz.

Does this mean in 5- 10 years there just wont be an industry really here, like it is now?

How long can distros, shops etc survive when the online stores are around?

It doesnt seem like it is going away anytime soon, as the internet sales are just going to continue more and more.

I can see the death of "independent" shops and the non "public company vertical retail giant" dists. It all just seems inevitable in an inceasingly global economy with increased online purchasing.

The only solution I came up with is as follows.

US companies start shipping directly to aus retailers. Its so simple and integrated to get stuff shipped from ccs to aus so why can't for example zoo york send boards directly to fast times. Fast times can then sell zoo york decks at a totally competitive price.

Now I'm not saying the middle man (distributor) should be cut out altogether. They still have their role. All ordering still goes through the aus dist. Dists still manage account/prebooks/team etc etc. They can take a sales commission. They just dont have to spend hundreds of thousands on double handling via the warehousing and unpacking/repacking of orders which in my opinion dosn't really add a great deal of value.

please dont hurt me

sounds like a good idea^

Glad you think so.

I thought if for example NHS can fedex a box of boards from California to a shop in New York, it shouldn't have much of a problem sending a box of boards from California to a shop in Sydney. Up to 30 boards in a shipment would still make it under the $1000 customs limit too.

Believe it or not, as a distributor we do more than just make a profit from product as it goes out to stores.

For starters USA distros aren't going to send a shop 6 decks and 3 sets of wheels. They deal in bulk, which is where the distro comes in. Skateshops would also have to set up Treasury accounts to TT US dollars to import stock as well as having to pay duty, GST and freight costs. USA distros aren't going to Free Freight your order if you spend over $100. Would skateshops be prepared to wait 2 - 4 weeks while the US distro gets to their order?

Are skateshops going to pay for ads in magazines and on websites like this? USA companies sure aren't.

What about sponsoring skaters? US distros have enough riders to deal with without adding all the guys here as well. I just sent out packages to nearly 20 skaters this month.

I understand that the bottom line is that goods are more expensive because there's an extra step involved, but we do a lot more than just send out orders.

Got a little bit carried away there...

The bottom line is that our US suppliers trust us to represent their brands here so that they don't have to worry about it. they have their hands full dealing with the US alone.

Even if we were to just take a commission from order shipped direct ex USA, the pricing wouldn't be that much cheaper. Believe it or not, our margins are much slimmer than the 100%+ markup that retailers get.

An idea could be for stores to mark their product down slightly and make 80% markup. They would sell a lot more product which would make up for the sacrificed margin. That's how we do it... Make a little profit on a lot of stuff. If stores did that, the difference between USA and AUS pricing would only be $10 or so on a deck, which might make it not as appealing.

We just reduced our pricing again this month so are making less margin. Maybe it's the retailers turn?

Just an idea...

I should also say that a lot of stores are already working towards this and are coming up with loyalty incentives etc.

I know Darkside have a $249 'Any Complete' deal and this site has the '$200 take 20% deal'.

We all need to work together to get through this time. The dollar can't stay this way forever.

Also, Hatetosayit, if a shop wants to return a faulty item, let's say for example a warped deck or a box of shonky griptape, are they going to pay to ship it back to the USA? I think not.

^^^^ too funny

It's not that funny

hatetosayit had a good idea, though it's understandable how it wouldn't work.

But that stuff that BNE said about retailers lowering their price for a lesser profit margin is good. I know it's hard for shops these days and lowering prices would seem crazy, but you have to stop relying on the dists to be the ones to lower prices as once the lower them too far, and go out of business, then that's the brand/s gone from all shops in the country and then working like a food-chain wiping out shops one by one.


This is all uninformed ramblings though...

what if the aussie distro was based in the US?

It wouldn't make a difference.

I just bought 2 pairs janoskis, 1 pair eras, emerica romeros and a vans hoodie for 270 posted. On here even with 20% off was still 200 more. I'm not rich enough to be supportive of the aus. Sorry guys

Toothpaste For Dinne

14:23 16/Jul

I just bought 2 pairs janoskis, 1 pair eras, emerica romeros and a vans hoodie for 270 posted. On here even with 20% off was still 200 more. I'm not rich enough to be supportive of the aus. Sorry guys


This is exactly the problem.. There's no way we can compete. Can't blame guys for wanting to save money...

TFD - Can you tell me what site that was from?

Just off ccs with a 15% off coupon, leo's were on special for 30 but everything else was normal price

So I guess the whole question is what price does everything need to be at a retail price to keep the general population shopping locally.It is patently obvious that we cant compete as our costs are considerably more than buying direct, however in actual fact, the majority of the population just shop around for the best price locally.

At the end of the day you can't please everyone, you can never be the cheapest when you are competing on a worldwide stage. I already lose plenty of sales online, however the service that my business offers, advice, selection, having a museum, sponsoring skateboarders and events, and a natural tendency for people to distrust big business and online shopping has mean't that we have found that our sales haven't really dropped as units but the dollars in the till are less as we discount, and correct pricing to be more competitive.

I came to the conclusion after reading through all of this thread that it cant be solved simply! If I drop pricing any further I can't provide the business that I want to, and would have to thin out the range I carry, start selling gay shit like scooters and fruitboots, sack some staff, don't do any mates rates deals for loyal customers, and no more free beers at every event we do.

As a business i wouldn't do that, because that isn't how I want to run my shops. I understand for some its all about the cash but for most, they do want to be able to touch it and feel it before they buy it, and if it costs a little more its all good. On the things we just can't compete on, those that will buy direct will, and those that understand the reasons that its dearer from us, at least know we have it on the shelves.

One of the reasons that i post on this forum is to give everyone an idea how it is through the retail shops eyes and to get feedback. Its no picnic out there in business at the moment. While i hate it when guys come in to buy grip to put on a board they bought down the park or online, at the end of the day there is nothing we can do about it.

lets just fuck off america...get everyone in the australian skate community to ban together and start our own thing, make bitchin aussie companies and set our own prices, we don't need those whiney bitches!, and if someone buys a board that is an american company everyone at the park gets to give them a beat down

Despite my online order posted on the last page, went and got a new board and shoes from my local yesterday. Death to Citybeach. Only ordered those raglan tee's because I couldnt find any anywere

Just got my order / box from www.skateboard.com.au shop...

Super quick on the post and for almost right on $300 there were two Antihero decks, an Antihero and a Spitfire thermal tee, a set of Spitfire wheels and the Transworld dvd.

That is 2 decks, 2 thermal tees, 1 set of wheels and 1 dvd for $300.

To me that is a way better deal than anything else, even if it costs a little more than it might from overseas, but I don't think it would really be that much.

And it is supporting Aussie skaters, shop and distro.


Drew - did you even make any $$ from that sale???