Interesting..more to follow..back to work
On the subject of discounts. Over the years we have offered discounts for club members, model boat and railway and aircraft clubs. The problem was that they were a majority of your customer base. So, in effect you were reducing most of your profit on most of your products. Great in the Boom years, not so good in the Bust years.
Recently we have first reduced, and now done away with our club discounts. If you want to survive, you have to be ruthless. Now, an interesting thing has happened, which goes against some comments and suggestions about the Great British Buying Public. When given the choice of a 5% discount, or a well stocked model shop, all bar one person went with the well stocked shop, happily. The lone voice against may have been joshing about, but to be sure, we took him out the back and had him shot
.
Which makes Joe Customer just that bit more wise in my eyes. We have to back up their support with product at a decent price, there is no need to be the cheapest out there, just don't take the p**s with inflated, silly prices. Where we are in Portsmouth, higher price point stuff is a no-no anyway, Pompey has a bit of a glass ceiling, which keeps us grounded ( It also makes our second hand boats pretty decently priced..plug plug!!). Also the Pompey mentality makes us stubborn!!
Anyway, it is midnight and I have to be elected Chairman of the PMBDT tomorrow, if not, more time for modelling