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From: (no name) (no email)
Date: Wed Dec 01 2004 - 19:29:48 EST
I am a retired Silicon Valley engineer, a boater for 50 years and I work a
few hours per week as a sales Associate at West Marine. I just wonder where some
of the ideas about the company come from. I am sort of amused at the
trivializing of the convenience aspect of the store, as in "only convenient." There is
a place for large operations and smaller operations, Mom and pop stores and
any other kind, but let's look at what convenience means. While most all the
folks on this board are marine experts in almost every aspect of boating and
maintenance, most of the rest of the population is not so, especially new
boaters. First of all, all West Marine associates must complete technical training to
have at least cursory knowledge on a variety of topics. It is a condition of
employment I believe to complete at least 3 of these units per year, there are
a total of 12 topics. Every single associate that works in my store has
earned a level 12 badge. If you have a question for an associate, look at the badge
they wear to see what level of expertise they have. You simply won't believe
how much time is spent educating customers who come in with essentially no
boating or maintenance knowledge at all. They truly do not know what they need or
even what's necessary or even what there is available. most people think a
new battery will last for 3 years and are surprised to learn that the battery
must be recharged. yep, buy a trolling motor and run it for 3 years, then get a
new battery. Those folks need a large store with varied services like west
Marine
West Marine stocks over 50,000 different items in their warehouses, and the
smaller stores stock around 8,000 different items while some of the really
large stores carry nearly everything in the catalogue.
We take returns for most any decent reason, including "I bought 6 but only
needed 3, but I wanted to have enough in case if figured wrong." Try that in a
small store that had to order the parts for you from their supplier. Try that
when you have to pay shipping both ways and get a Return Authorization to
return the 7 extra screws you bought. In my opinion, the return policy alone is
reason enough to buy from West Marine. Then there is the whole thing about
pushing the buttons and doing side by side comparisons. You just can't tell how big
or bright a screen is or how easy it is to use a fishfinder by looking in
Defender's catalogue.
It's been mentioned that matching prices isn't "fair" etc. Well, how about
the people that come into the store, get educated on a project, push the buttons
on side by side units, and then go on line and buy from a no overhead, no
service supplier? All these sorts of things are simply part of doing business.
This can go on forever with no conclusion because the can be none. For you
savvy boaters who are not in a hurry and are sure of exactly what you want,
small shops and the Internet are perfect. For the majority of the boating public,
West Marine offers an overall good experience and value.
Overall, West Marine offers a huge selection in numerous very convenient
locations. The real tests of whether you are getting ripped off are not so hard to
find. If west Marine was putting smaller operations out of business by
charging higher prices that would be nonsense. The value of everything else they
provide must be seen as BETTER than the competition or the competition would be
thriving and encouraging more West Marine stores. If there were a better model,
someone would do it I suspect. There is always room for someone to do it
better or just as good. look at Lowes and home Depot. Boat US was purchased for
just about their inventory cost, little or no value for their business, so their
way didn't work out apparently. Sure we liked the prices in some cases, but
now they are gone, and would have been with or without West Marine
The bottom, bottom line can be looked at by looking at the bottom line. West
Marine is a public company, every executive's salary and corporate profits are
there for everyone to see. None of the executives make multi millions per
year, and the corporation makes about $1.27 per share. While profits are not
distributed to the shareholders, at a stock price of $24 dollars, the net profit
is about 5% of the share price. For all the risks and work involved, 5% is not
at all outrageous return. There are slightly fewer than 21 million shares
outstanding, the net profit is around 26 million per year. Since there are almost
500 stores, the average net profit per store is around $52,000 per year, or a
pretty thin $1000 per week per store. So if the executives are not raping the
company, it must just take the pricing structure that West Marine has in place
to be viable. No, I certainly do not expect any tears to be shed over West
Marine, but "ready, fire, aim' is just noise. If you really believe the company
is raping the public, get even, go out and buy some shares and reap the
windfall and buy your stuff where you fell you get the best value for your money for
your circumstance.
Brian
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