ᐅ Do you buy from a local building supply store or order online?
Created on: 13 May 2017 14:18
M
Mizit
We are generally not the type of people who need or want to watch every penny, and we understand the difference between cheap and affordable. I also see several advantages in buying something locally, where I can potentially go back to the store, make a complaint if needed, and have a contact person standing right in front of me—compared to ordering something from websites and possibly regretting it later because I tried to save a little and ended up receiving low-quality goods.
However, the budget is of course not unlimited, and where it makes sense, we want or need to save money. And this seems possible at first glance for all the products you want to install or lay.
Especially with doors, the price difference between what I have seen in local specialized stores and doors sold online seems huge. These websites even look reputable and have many reviews. It makes you wonder if it is justified to pay four times as much for a door at the local timber merchant when the product description indicates that the products should essentially be the same…
The same applies to flooring. Prices online for similar wear layers and wood types appear to be completely different from local prices, which seem significantly higher in some cases.
Now we are already considering whether we should order doors online or possibly also three new important windows online and then find someone through MyHammer to install them…
What are your experiences with online versus local shopping?
However, the budget is of course not unlimited, and where it makes sense, we want or need to save money. And this seems possible at first glance for all the products you want to install or lay.
Especially with doors, the price difference between what I have seen in local specialized stores and doors sold online seems huge. These websites even look reputable and have many reviews. It makes you wonder if it is justified to pay four times as much for a door at the local timber merchant when the product description indicates that the products should essentially be the same…
The same applies to flooring. Prices online for similar wear layers and wood types appear to be completely different from local prices, which seem significantly higher in some cases.
Now we are already considering whether we should order doors online or possibly also three new important windows online and then find someone through MyHammer to install them…
What are your experiences with online versus local shopping?
EA-Tec schrieb:
The most practical approach is to combine brick-and-mortar stores with online retail. Just wait and see what developments will come in the future. I work in IT and deal with these kinds of things, but on a different scale. I am just a small player, but I still find this topic very interesting. I am also planning to open a business again. We’ll see.
It’s already common now to receive product information on your phone when standing in front of an item in the store. I think that’s great. I’m curious to see what comes next.
kaho674 schrieb:
What I notice with traditional businesses is the rigidity of the owners. They don’t inform themselves about prices, offers, and new suppliers.I think this is an important point as well.
The plumber simply has his two bathroom showrooms as partners and sends his customers there to choose materials. That’s how it has always been done. But if the bathroom showroom is already 50% more expensive than the retail price online, after the plumber’s markup it certainly hasn’t become cheaper. The bathroom showroom is probably in a similar situation with their suppliers. In the end, the Villeroy & Boch bowl costs 800€ (about $860) instead of 250€ (about $270) online.
Out of habit, they limit themselves to suppliers Hans and Udo, even though more diversity would be smart, but a small business can’t manage that—having only a few suppliers also has its advantages. But tradespeople are tradespeople; despite having completed master craftsman training, they are not businesspeople.
I assume this is due to a lack of willingness to change and a lack of knowledge on how to set something like this up.
The prices for air conditioning units from specialized dealers are unbelievably high. A unit that can be found online for 2,000€ (about $2,150) costs over 3,500€ (about $3,760) locally... then you add small parts and installation, and the total is over 5,000€ (about $5,375) for an air conditioner. I buy the unit myself now and save 1,300€ (about $1,400)… I give 200€ (about $215) of my original 1,500€ (about $1,600) savings to the tradesperson to compensate for the “loss of earnings” on the air conditioning unit. But only because I have been completely satisfied with him so far. Why doesn’t this tradesperson buy his stuff online from exactly this shop himself?
Either he’s charging you a big margin on it, or he buys his goods from a wholesaler who is more expensive than the retail price on the internet. This supply chain is inefficient—why can’t a tradesperson with a master title figure this out?
Alex85 schrieb:
Why doesn’t this tradesperson just buy their stuff online directly from that shop? Here’s someone in overalls sitting in front of a computer, reluctantly because they can no longer handle their invoicing and bookkeeping manually. The internet is the source of all evil for them since it’s ruining their business, and so on and so forth... besides, supposedly only counterfeit products are sold online, tradespeople have to pay upfront, and if there are defects, dealing with the retailer is just a hassle.
Of course, someone like that wouldn’t order anything over the internet.
The retailer’s equity was higher than mine... in this case, the retailer had nothing to do with Daikin and, according to their own statement, doesn’t get the best terms from Daikin. Nevertheless, they certainly didn’t want less than a 20% margin.
From the life of craftsmanship. Shipyard. Five people, four plus the boss. An old PC in a corner. The case: a customer wants a parking heater installed on his boat. Difficult installation situation, lots of additional materials needed. The 2017 version would be: the boss researches the best equity online, sifts through countless PDFs for the extra parts, then orders, let’s say, from distributor XY in Bremerhaven. The price would be $3400 net.
Classic version. He calls his trusted wholesaler. "Bruno, give me a price for this and that plus a one-inch (25mm) connecting piece, you know, the ones from Allpa, plus an exhaust pipe extension, the one with the bend, yes… exactly that, plus the mounting bracket with rubber feet…” “Ah, $4300 net for everything.” “Bruno, I’ll pass it on, I’ll get back to you…” Karsten
Classic version. He calls his trusted wholesaler. "Bruno, give me a price for this and that plus a one-inch (25mm) connecting piece, you know, the ones from Allpa, plus an exhaust pipe extension, the one with the bend, yes… exactly that, plus the mounting bracket with rubber feet…” “Ah, $4300 net for everything.” “Bruno, I’ll pass it on, I’ll get back to you…” Karsten
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