Discounts

10th October 2013

I have just had the biggest pricing overhaul since the shop started almost 6 years ago.

The in's and out's of it are fairly complicated, but in short a lot of things have got cheaper - over 1,000 products in fact.

I feel it necessary to explain however that I am not doing this because I think I have been too expensive up until now. Neither am I doing this as a last ditch attempt to save a dying business.

IN THE PAST...

Up until now I have priced everything at the manufacturers suggested retail price (SRP), or if there were no SRP I would put a similar margin onto my cost price.

However as many of you will know I have always been pretty flexible and have enjoyed arm wrestling over price. I have given discounts to members of the BMC, local mountaineering clubs and to regular customers. I have also always been very competitive when pricing big orders.

THE INTERNET AGE...

There are many places selling online at the sort of price that I would sell at after giving some sort of in store discount. This makes my base pricing look expensive and means I am not selling nearly as much online as I could be. It also puts off new customers visiting the shop as they view it as expensive and will simply buy online from elsewhere.

Many other outdoor shops with internet businesses are no longer offering the sort of over the counter discounts mentioned above, instead they are using the margin to offer lower prices online.

FROM NOW ON...

I am reluctant to charge the way I do business, however the internet age has rather forced my hand. Retail businesses these days have to sell online and this will become increasingly necessary over the next few years.

From today forward our base price on most products will be approximately 10% under SRP. This means obviously that we will no longer be able to offer discounts as we have been able to before. The beauty of being a (very) small business however is that you can be really flexible, so while there will no longer be a flat 10% discount for BMC members or members of local clubs, feel free to twist my arm on price if you can see an angle of some sort. However unless you are spending a lot the answer will probably be no!

The end result for BMC members will be the same however. You will be paying a price of SRP less 10%.

ACCOUNT CUSTOMERS

Pricing for account customers will remain unchanged. You will still receive a fixed discount level from SRP.

Dick