marillion":3zjctnk9 said:
JennM":3zjctnk9 said:
If business people, regardless of their pursuit, don't make a profit, they don't stay in business, period.
Right. Whether it's to save the reefs or buy a plasma TV...
:lol:
Peace,
Chip
P.S. Yes, Jenn, I'm just breakin' 'em on ya.
Chip's comments stem from a personal discussion we had where I called him on the carpet over the ethics of some of his practices as a LFS worker.
I'm a LFS owner, and I make the decisions, and I do everything possible to make sound *ethical* as well as *business* decisions.
Yes, I'm in it to make a living, but 3 years in, I'm not making a living at it yet. Doesn't mean that's not the plan, nobody goes to work every day just for the hell of it, we all need to pay the bills.
I too think Piero overestimates the number of people who look beyond the LFS for help and advice. And like Glenn said, the information readily available to hobbyists, is available to LFS types too, so we can simply be another vehicle to deliver that information.
Glenn also pointed out another glaring irony.... e-commerce vs. retail... when you click your credit card number on Race & Marty's site, do you think one of them actually sees your fish, let alone feed it, observe it, bag it? Nope. Some plebe in a call center forwards the order to a warehouse staffer at one of the wholesaler and that's it. Do you think Race and Marty's call center is staffed by aquarists with years of hands-on experience? Maybe, but chances are the person on the phone specializes in telephone order taking, customer service, is computer literate with their ordering software, and maybe stuffs some envelopes.
And yet we who work on the front lines in the LFS are simply out to take your money and nothing more?
Get a reality check, please.
I had 15 years IN THE HOBBY before I started working in the trade, and eventually hung up my own shingle. How can you even compare that with some phone jockey?
If anything, in my never-to-be-humble opinion, it is the E-Tailers who are out to turn a fast buck at the expense of the hobbyist and the reefs. The ONLY reason they are able to bend you over without your realizing it, is because by and large, their prices are cheaper.
I've seen several etail websites that tout Mandarin Dragonettes as "easy to keep". I've had customers make the mistake of buying a fish or two online... like a cute little spotted sweetlips, touted as "easy care" (Scott Michael says juvies are difficult to feed....), and with no mention at all on their website that the fish grows to 28" (great for a 55-gallon tank, right?!).
I had a customer buy such a fish (sweetlips) and once he got it, and began to research it, he called me in a panic... "What should I do now?" While I was really tempted to just tell him to "send it back", I did offer some suggestions, but I'd bet the fish died before it ate. I also told him there is a reason why I don't carry certain species, and this was one of them.
Yes it's up to each hobbyist to research FIRST - but reality is, many do not. People are lazy, that's just human nature. For every Internet fish geek there are 100 more who don't bother surfing the net, and a good many of those would be hard pressed to crack a book. Their success (or failure) in the hobby is heavily reliant on the LFS.
A good LFS will retain hobbyists for many years. A bad one will suffer serious hobbyist attrition as people get fed up from repeated failures and give up altogether.
When I did my market research, I had found numbers on hobbyist attrition and it was something like 80% in the first year - oddly enough algae was a huge motiv
ator to get people to throw in the towel.
3 years in, I just sent out 700+ mailers to my existing clients. I had 836 names in the computer. I didn't send to those who had moved (that I was aware of) or a few that I know have left the hobby. Some left because of finances, new baby, moved etc., but as I pored through my list (and I know my customers by name, and by tank), I think I only found a handful that just gave up on the hobby out of frustration or apathy. In that regard I've got a huge leg up on that so-called 80% attrition rate.
Think the etailer cares what happens once the order is delivered? In most cases, not. When a customer comes in, I often ask how their last livestock purchase is doing.
I'm not unique.
Yeah there are some crappy retailers out there... the crusty old folks who never moved out of the 1970s and never updated their skills... but given the law of the jungle I think they are fewer than some would care to admit. When people stop supporting them, they fade away.
By and large, the vast majority of LFS owners and workers are in it because they love it, and want to share their passion with others.
Lambast the retailer all you want - but we aren't going away anytime soon.
I'm still trying to figure out how an etailer can save your tank if your pump burns out suddenly? OH wait... they can sell you all new cheap fish to replace the ones that died when you were waiting for UPS to deliver your new replacement pump. :roll:
Jenn
