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West Marine no longer matching prices...

12K views 107 replies 34 participants last post by  chef2sail 
#1 ·
...quite as comprehensively as they used to.

They've rolled back their prior policy of matching Internet competitors, and now will only match brick-and-mortar stores located within 50 miles:

If you find a lower price on an identical product (brand and model) currently in stock at a retail store located within 50 miles, West Marine will match that price (excluding shipping/handling charges or taxes) within 30 days of purchase, subject to the exclusions discussed below.
I learned this yesterday when I called to confirm that they have my chosen bottom paint in stock, and would match Defender's price. Unfortunately, they said no and informed me of the new policy effective March 1, 2013 (which I confirmed from their website).

It sounds like their new CEO is making some changes.
 
#39 ·
Don't know about other WM stores, but the one in Sandusky, Ohio has been really supportive of our Club's Jr. Race Team as well as our community sailing program (getting disabled & low income & minority folks out on the water) - so for sure, I shop at WM when I can. Of course, I also try for the best prices !!
 
#40 ·
So I happened to be out by the WM Lake Union store on Sunday and I thought I should try them out again and spread my boating funds around a bit more. We have a new kayak for the boat and we needed non-inflatable PFD's for it. The sales person was incredibly helpful and directed us to the cheaper WM branded models. And he pointed out the differences between standard lifevests and ones designed for kayaks, I hadn't realized that before. And at $45, not bad really, and a nice quality.

As we were about ready to leave he asked if we needed anything else, well I thought I would give him a tough one that no one else has found a solution for. Our fuel caps have a winch type socket interface and we lost the neat little wrench handle that was designed for it. The WM sales person found a great cheap solution that never crossed my mind. As a comparison, at fisheries a couple weeks back, the fisheries salesperson barely raised his eyes before replying in the negative. Typical of my experience at fisheries.

Regardless, the pricing still can't be beat at fisheries. Buying off their internet site and having it sent to their "will call" works well. The folks in "will call" seem to be newbies so they have not had enough time on board to be corrupted by the poor fisheries work culture.

I do get why people like WM, generally just a bit too pricey for my likes. But when I'm out of my knowledge area, not a bad place to go.
 
#41 ·
I've been putting together a list of all the things I want to order during the sale (including the bottom paint that I mentioned above). How is their shipping during the sale? Do they ship the day your order (or the day after), or do they have to wait until the sale is completely over before they start shipping?

I believe Defender waits until the end of the sale to ship everything.
 
#43 ·
Defender has always been very prompt when shipping anything I've ordered. I don't know if they have a special policy for the Warehouse Sale, but I suspect it is so popular they just get backed up. People around New England drive for hours to actually attend. It must be an all hands on deck event for them.
 
#45 ·
...I don't know if they have a special policy for the Warehouse Sale, but I suspect it is so popular they just get backed up. People around New England drive for hours to actually attend. It must be an all hands on deck event for them.
That was exactly my concern. I am now hoping to launch on April 6, so my bottom paint will be time critical, and can't really have a delay. I think that I have heard in past years that they suspended shipping until the sale was over. I'll have to just call them and ask.
 
#44 ·
I tend to spread my boat bucks around. Like Minne I like to browse isles and keep a running inventory of prices for things I want/need. I get boat stuff at the camping store, the old timey hardware store by the marina, a couple of marine stores and online.

But for a lot of boat stuff it's West Marine (and their catalog is fantastic). Their rewards gives dollars back and it pays to watch their sales. My wife likes browsing West for clothing and we end up buying a fair bit from them; and I have a set of Third Reef foulies that have worn well. I do stay away from any Walmart grade cheap Chinese crap they carry.

Why price match Defender? Well I agree with Rick to a point. If I see it in the store I want to buy it there. I'll even pay a little more without complaint for that convenience. But if the markup is 50% or 100% over a competitor I'm being gouged. Price match Defender and I'll buy it right now, you'll keep me as a customer. Force me to buy from Defender or Amazon and that will become my habit and you'll lose my purchases on all those other sales that would make money. It's a lesson every other brick & mortar store has learned. Just look at Best Buy.

Bottom line we'd all be worse off without West. I hope they don't don't shoot themselves in the foot. A talent too many companies possess.
 
#49 ·
In addition to the Warehouse Sale, Defender also has a Miami Boat Show sale in February and a Spring Commissioning sale in early March. I was able to beat the rush and lay in a lot of supplies at good prices through those sales. The March sale had a lot of bottom paint specials. Unfortunately that sale ended yesterday. Fawcett in Annapolis also has an annual President's Day sale in February that offers some very good pricing.

With those behind us, Jamestown is offering free shipping on orders over $50 this week and WM has several bottom paints on sale this week including Hydrocoat and many of their house brands. As others on this forum have pointed out, WM PCA Gold is rebranded Ultima SR 40. There's a lot of competition this time of year so it pays to shop around.
 
#51 ·
I too like Defender, but it still pays to check around since sometimes their prices can be beat. I always found WM to be high priced and even their sale items may be found cheaper elsewhere. Years ago I did get a good price on a 45 lb Manson Supreme from WM and that was even without the price match.
 
#54 ·
I order from the Defender Warehouse Sale every year. Order is a bit slower than their normal super quick delivery, but usally arrives by Wednesday or so after the sale concludes. They are very good about bringing in extra stock for the sale and backorders seem to be no more common than at other times.
 
#57 ·
We had a WM employee try to argue with us as to why this was better for the customer - it was quite humorous actually. Unfortunately he had to deal with my boyfriend who likes to argue for the hell of it. In the end we managed to get him to still match a defender price.

Kelley
sailingchance.com
facebook.com/sailingchance
 
#66 ·
A friend bought 2 gallons of Interlux Ultra yesterday with me at Fisheries:
* West Marine: $220/gallon
* Fisheries Supply retail: $190/gallon
* Defender: $177/gallon
* Fisheries Supply sailing club account: $165/gallon

This is typical of what I see and why I rarely go to WM in Seattle. Defender is rarely worth it either (except for electronics and during the upcoming sale). It's unfortunate that kellysails has had bad customer service at Fisheries, but that hasn't been my experience or the experience of most of my friends.

West Marine won't match Fisheries account pricing, only Fisheries retail pricing. Anyone in Seattle can get a sailing club account quite easily by belonging to a local sailing organization such as CWB or a racing club.
 
#69 ·
A friend bought 2 gallons of Interlux Ultra yesterday with me at Fisheries:
* West Marine: $220/gallon
* Fisheries Supply retail: $190/gallon
* Defender: $177/gallon
* Fisheries Supply sailing club account: $165/gallon

This is typical of what I see and why I rarely go to WM in Seattle. Defender is rarely worth it either (except for electronics and during the upcoming sale). It's unfortunate that kellysails has had bad customer service at Fisheries, but that hasn't been my experience or the experience of most of my friends.

West Marine won't match Fisheries account pricing, only Fisheries retail pricing. Anyone in Seattle can get a sailing club account quite easily by belonging to a local sailing organization such as CWB or a racing club.
I agree with Alex on the prices, very much what I see.
I have a fisheries account through my yacht broker, I get crazy prices like the sailing club discount. Nice to know if my broker gets tired of me on their account. Impossible to beat their prices, as previously stated, but not a fan of their service. If you know what you need, they are fantastic. And they are good with returns. I know Alex has a higher opinion of their service, just my experience.
 
#68 ·
I shop at WM primarily for convenience, the occasional good sale or a few WM-branded products manufactured by name-brand manufacturers; e.g Pettit makes their PCA Gold bottom paint -- good stuff in my area and better than paints costing $50 more per gallon.

I like Jamestown, Defender, Hamilton Marine, Cajun Rope, and a several guys on Amazon. Some items are a lot cheaper elsewhere but hazardous materials shipping charges get pretty ridiculous for something like a gallon of MaryKate On/Off. Often, my local hardware store can get things in a day and beats WM everytime. I like supporting the small local guys, too. Everybody wins.
 
#70 ·
I've spent countless dollars at the local West Marine, primarily through price-matching. When I discovered that this policy would, for all intents an purposes, end on March 1, I asked the manager what he thought about this new policy. He gave me the company line, saying that less than 3 percent of all retail sails nationally were through price-matching, but that because of this less than 3 percent group of people over $13 million dollars had been lost last year. I hastened to point out to him that WM didn't really lose $13 million in sales. They simply had $13 million in sales at competitors' prices. He muttered something about price points and then went on to say that after March 1 their retail prices would be coming down. This comeback really didn't make sense to me. Why would WM drop their retails prices for the oblivious 70percent, when they were worried about the 3 percent who were price matching? I told him that I liked spending my money locally at this WM, because it supported his job and the jobs of others in the store. I said, though, that unless the retail prices did in fact drop, then I would be sending my money northward to Defender. Have the prices dropped since March 1 . . . .? Nah. They've gone up.
 
#71 ·
...He gave me the company line, saying that less than 3 percent of all retail sails nationally were through price-matching, but that because of this less than 3 percent group of people over $13 million dollars had been lost last year. I hastened to point out to him that WM didn't really lose $13 million in sales. They simply had $13 million in sales at competitors' prices. He muttered something about price points...
That is SO TRUE. In exchange for giving discounts to 3 percent of their customers, they kept a dedicated group that always went to WestMarine first. They've basically made themselves the seller of last resort for those 3 percent.

I could understand this new policy if WM is losing money on those sales. I have no way of knowing that, except that WM has a lot of buying power, so they are probably getting the same wholesale pricing as their internet competitors. They will still have the same large fixed costs (building, labor) with or without those "3 percenters." So as long as they weren't losing money on the discounted sales, they were improving their bottom line by doing it.

It's been decades since I owned my retail business, so I can't claim to be an expert. Over time we'll see how WM does with this policy.
 
#72 ·
To me, this is no different than when I first starting buying at REI back in the early 70's, have a low 6 digit member number to boot! Altho I still know a few with 3 ad 4 digit numbers.....One gets generally speaking 10% of the purchase price back at the end of the year, yeah at times it would be nice to get it back right then and there......BUT, you still get 10% back. WM is similar, in that you do get 3-5% back per say every few months to apply to buying other stuff.
So in one hand, it is hard to compare, yet on the other, one does need to look at the, If I match and still give you the 4% rewards or what ever the % is, not only have I matched, but made it cheaper to boot! So I can see how one would not be totally willing to match other places prices! OR they have to do as REI does, if the price ends in a $y.x9 then you get the rebate, if it ends in a $y.x3, you do not get a rebate, or a reduced one as it is already marked down. Been that way at REI for many many years!

Along with, as I said before, one can go to the Port Supply side, if you have a biz, or a YC and get a PS account, which will net you locally any how, something on part with Fisheries prices, again, you do not get your rewards discount! you get the discount up front!

marty
 
#73 ·
News flash.....

WM is a brick and mortor strore with how many stores? Comparing their price structures, availability with mail order houses is like comparing apples to oranges.

Why would you ever think a store within 5 miles of your home would ever be able to charge the same as a mail order house in a warehouse with cheap rent and virtually little salary requirements could charge even close for a product. The three driving costs of articles for sale are the cost of the product from the manufacturer, the cost to distribute ( rent, electricity, insurance ) and the cost of labor.

You can rail on and on about this unequal comparison of completely different business models with the ONLY similarity SOME of the same articles being sold. There is no way of similar comparisons.

I for one was always suprised they ever price matched other than similar brick and mortor stores. Why should they? Because of some crybabies looking for a perpetual bargain with unrealistic expectations. Show me where my Giant here in Maryland should honor the specials offered by a Piiggly Wiggly in Peducha, Kentucky.

If you can get it cheaper from Defender do it and wait for it to come. I do that. If I need it right away I go to West Marine. If I want to touch it first I go to WM and handle it. If you order wrong from Defender, sure they'll take it back, they have great customer service. You can wait for another week now. If you need to take back to WM they have pretty good customer service for the most part for a big corporation. You get an immediate exchange.

WM is not going out of business. You complaints are unrealistic. They are in business to make money. You are in business to save money. Competing interests.

Stop whining about their change in policy. There are no free lunches anymore. Be thankful you had it or as long as you did in the first place.
 
#74 ·
As Chief says, any body been in some of the internet site stores? I'e been in sailboat owners shop, it is maybe all of 1000#, they get deliveries from a few local places, along with daily drops from other suppliers, then out the door an hour or so later coming to you via fed ex! A definite different operation than a brick and mortor where they stock it, have it for you to hold, try on in some cases, take you old part in to see if the new part is the same......

Yeah, one pays a bit more, but not always that much more............can be good and bad both ways.

ALong with, if I need something in Friday Harbor on San Juan island, there is not a defender or Fisheries, but there is a West Marine! plan on paying a bit more for that convenience! No different than a 7-11 or equal, you pay more for a box of ceral than at safeway or equal!

marty
 
#75 ·
Fisheries is a brick and mortar (in addition to being mail order and wholesale supply). I'm there all the time (I was last there yesterday). It's about 2x bigger than the Seattle West Marine, and that is before you add in the clothing store. It is also in a high rent area of Seattle one block off of the water. This isn't just a small mail order business running out of a warehouse miles from anywhere.
 
#77 ·
I've bought from both, prefered to buy in Edmonds when WM was there, vs driving 30 min south to fisheries, shilshoals WM or the Mercer st WM and now the one on westlake. Fisheries is bigger. When I was morred in Everett, I bought from both WM and another up that way. The other was more popular as i could walk to it in less than 100' from the dock, where I parked, WM was half a mile away on the other side of the marina. Both have there place as does Fisheries.

I doubt too many of us are going to drive 50 miles plus to save $10 or even $100 to get something. We might mail/ship order for $100, Not sure $10 would say to me order and wait, usually does not. $100 might. Usually I will not mail order per say, unless I know I want and will keep the item If I might need to return it for ANY reason, this is a much better reason to buy local than farther away. As guess who gets to pay shipping both ways! Now my mail order savings is gone and then some in many cases.

two yrs ago when I pulled my boat, not sure I would need paint, found out after pulling, yes I did, so down I went to the store. This year, had to pull unexpectedly due to a leaking PSS shaft seal......needed paint, so off to the store, was not going to wait for defenders prices at $30 a day for drydock! For you on the east coast, being out of the water for 6 months, in for 6 months.....this is not an issue. for us in pretty much 24/7/365, yes we do schedule haul outs, but sometimes we don't! as shown in 2 cases for myself.

Clothes I prefer to buy in person, then I know it fits, otherwise it can be a swag at best.

At the end of the day, it is helpful to have both options. Neither option is truly better than the other!

Marty
 
#76 ·
Hmm...

I guess we all gotta ask ourselves one simple question; if WM was to indeed go out of business, would we internet savvy SailNetters really miss it?

Short of the rare, nuclear occasion, are there truly that many instances where you need to "have it" or "touch it," that day?....honestly?

Head offshore for a stint. You'll learn to grow uber patient with even the simplest of supplies.
 
#80 ·
This may come as a shock to you. Most Sailnet readers probably aren't cruisers.

Shock two .....most don't go offshore.

Neither makes that majority less than. I bet they spend more in the marine stores than the cruisers or offshore people. Sailors demographics make up many kinds of sailors, and all have boats they need to supply.

Shock three ..West Marine has a successful business plan and don't depend on your participation ( because you already don't obviously) and the meet the needs a lot of the of the average salor or thy wouldn't Ben successfully already

Shock four they aren't going out of business,

Their sales are far greater than all the others put together. So obviously they are meeting the needs of the majority of he sailors.

I do go offshore and do use Defender, and other Internet sites which by the way I have found great deals t. I also use West Marine when I need to. I hope they stay in business and keep the many sailing related people employed.

There is no comparing brick and mortor to mail order or Internet sales.
 
#81 ·
If you look at their financial reports over the last few years, WM is doing quite well. Annual 10K's. Pretty shocked at the gross margins (very good), maybe not so shocked when you realize what they charge. Looks like a well run company on the upward swing. It would be nice if they would share some of their success with their customers a bit more.

WMAR SEC Filings | West Marine, Inc. Stock - Yahoo! Finance
 
#82 ·
But they do share their success. They are a sucessful company who continues to employee people and is still hiring.

You want to share their financial success. You can be a stock holder. Nothing is preventing you.

They arent a monopoly, but they are the only marine multi state store left with over 20 brick and mortor stores. Their business model is sound and successfull
 
#87 ·
In sharing success, I mean better prices for their customers, the "Amazon" model.

I wonder how many stores they have, there have eight just in Seattle area. There is value in the convenience model for sure. They are VERY proud of their convenience strategy it seems:)
320 stores
Sales $640 million

Buy their stock. Annother way of getting a discount:):):):)
 
#86 ·
It is likely that some customers, within the 3% of those they price match, are still going to buy the product without the discount. Very likely.

They seem to be on top of this math and I'm sure have calculated that this will be a net positive. More profit on a few will make up for lost thin profit on the rest. Even if its breakeven, it makes sense, because you are dealing with your most profitable customers and not those that don't value what you are offering. They are not in business to be the price leader, so why cater to the customers that only value the price leader. Smart.
 
#91 · (Edited)
=RocketScience;1002556]:confused
[The only thing I'm shocked by is your extrapolation of my post

I never implied SailNetters were cruisers, or go offshore, or that WM had a poor business plan, or that they may even go out of business (did I miss any?).
Never thought of it as an extrapolation,,,just an interpretation
Well first of all you did bring up the offshore comment and my reply was that IMHO it wasnt relevant to most of the posters on Sailnet .
Here is what you posted
Head offshore for a stint. You'll learn to grow uber patient with even the simplest of supplies.
I posed a couple questions to the group. You too can answer them if you like
I guess we all gotta ask ourselves one simple question; if WM was to indeed go out of business, would we internet savvy SailNetters really miss it?

Short of the rare, nuclear occasion, are there truly that many instances where you need to "have it" or "touch it," that day?....honestly?

Head offshore for a stint. You'll learn to grow uber patient with even the simplest of supplies.
Short of the rare, nuclear occasion, are there truly that many instances where you need to "have it" or "touch it," that day?....honestly?
Kind of a snarky comment to those who use WM wouldnt you say?
See by itself without the nuclear or honestly comment maybe you could get by with claiming you were not expressing an opinion, but those words obviously meant from your intent your were saying:

" Honestly guys, exccept in the rare instances of a once in a lifetime occasion ( nuclear event as you put it), like really are your sure ( honestly as you put it) are there really truly instances where you need to have it or touch it that day?

The answer as I explained it carefully is yes...and yes...and that is the West Marine business plan and message. Need it now and want to touch the product and look at it

I aprreciate the fact I can hold the item in my hand and see how it is made compared to other brands. I also appreciate the fact Like in Minnies case where he underestimated the amount of something he was using he could go oput and find it close by and finish his project in time. No WM he might be SOL
 
#96 ·
RocketScience said:
The only thing I'm shocked by is your extrapolation of my post

I never implied SailNetters were cruisers, or go offshore, or that WM had a poor business plan, or that they may even go out of business (did I miss any?).
Never thought of it as an extrapolation,,,just an interpretation
Well first of all you did bring up the offshore comment and my reply was that IMHO it wasnt relevant to most of the posters on Sailnet .
Here is what you posted

Quote:
Head offshore for a stint. You'll learn to grow uber patient with even the simplest of supplies.
Quote:
I posed a couple questions to the group. You too can answer them if you like I guess we all gotta ask ourselves one simple question; if WM was to indeed go out of business, would we internet savvy SailNetters really miss it?

Short of the rare, nuclear occasion, are there truly that many instances where you need to "have it" or "touch it," that day?....honestly?

Head offshore for a stint. You'll learn to grow uber patient with even the simplest of supplies.
Quote:
Short of the rare, nuclear occasion, are there truly that many instances where you need to "have it" or "touch it," that day?....honestly?
Kind of a snarky comment to those who use WM wouldnt you say?
See by itself without the nuclear or honestly comment maybe you could get by with claiming you were not expressing an opinion, but those words obviously meant from your intent your were saying:

" Honestly guys, exccept in the rare instances of a once in a lifetime occasion ( nuclear event as you put it), like really are your sure ( honestly as you put it) are there really truly instances where you need to have it or touch it that day?

The answer as I explained it carefully is yes...and yes...and that is the West Marine business plan and message. Need it now and want to touch the product and look at it

I aprreciate the fact I can hold the item in my hand and see how it is made compared to other brands. I also appreciate the fact Like in Minnies case where he underestimated the amount of something he was using he could go oput and find it close by and finish his project in time. No WM he might be SOL
Dude, is there a hole in the O-Zone layer over Maryland we didn't hear about??? I asked a couple simple questions to the group, and you appear to be the only one getting all ruffled up about it.

My comments were not meant to be "snarky", and I apologize if they came across that way. I truly would like to know (West Marine aside); what are the items that a brick and mortar store have that a person truly needs THAT day? No snarkiness about that question, I really am curious, because this leads to the last comment in my first post, which inferred the inability to acquire (that day) even the simplest of supplies while offshore. In other words, if it seams sailors can put up with the three or four weeks it takes to ship a simple thru hull to Atuona, French Polynesia while stranded there, does it really kill us to wait here?
 
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