Ryk wrote:

On Sat, 24 Jun 2006 00:01:16 -0500, in message

sherwindu wrote:

Not my experience. I'm sure it depends on the item. I saved a bundle on two
Marine items I bought there last year. When I visited their store in Wisconsin,
I
did see a lot of expensive clothes, but who shops for clothes in a sport's
store, unless
it is high tech gear, and I have several other choices locally to find that.

Some recent comparison shopping suggests that WM does a great job of
marketing by cutting as deeply as they can on big ticket items while
keeping the margin pretty strong on the cheaper stuff we spend lots of
money on, but never bother to compare.

Ryk

This is a typical problem with boating stores, in general. They sell common use
products at inflated prices, and put special labels on them to make them look like

specialty boating items. I'm curious who did this comparison shopping you talk
about. I shop for a lot of marine supplies, and my results are to the contrary.
WM
is not cutting as deep as I think they should, mainly because there are not enough

competitive stores available to force them to do so. In our economy, you can't
depend
on the good will of these companies to keep prices down. They are in business to
make
the biggest profit they can get from the customer. I shop at WM when I'm in a
bind for
time and need something quickly. Otherwise, it's the Internet for me, especially
on big
ticket items. There are also speciallized items which they don't carry in the
stores and
cannot order, for whatever reason.

Sherwin D.

On Wed, 05 Jul 2006 23:08:56 -0500, in message

sherwindu wrote:



Ryk wrote:

Some recent comparison shopping suggests that WM does a great job of
marketing by cutting as deeply as they can on big ticket items while
keeping the margin pretty strong on the cheaper stuff we spend lots of
money on, but never bother to compare.

Ryk

This is a typical problem with boating stores, in general. They sell common use
products at inflated prices, and put special labels on them to make them look like

specialty boating items. I'm curious who did this comparison shopping you talk
about. I shop for a lot of marine supplies, and my results are to the contrary.
WM
is not cutting as deep as I think they should, mainly because there are not enough

competitive stores available to force them to do so. In our economy, you can't
depend
on the good will of these companies to keep prices down.

Maybe I should have said as deeply they *have to* I have a great local
independent supplier. His prices are generally better than West,
except on the big ticket items where West knows people will compare.

Note that I said they were doing a great job of *marketing*, not a
great job of getting the best prices for the consumer.

Ryk