Burton To Tighten Online Distribution
mike lewis
- February 11 2009
- 2,334 views
- 54 comments
Beginning in August, P2P links such as these on Burton.com will be a thing of the past.
In the wake of a season that saw the market flooded with product, forcing almost every retailer into the unprecedented position of going off price on most SKU’s before Christmas, Burton has decided to tighten control of its brand’s online presence and distribution by ending its Product to Product (P2P) affiliations, selling hardgoods direct online, and enhancing its Internet dealer agreement.
“We felt that controlling our brand and brand presence online is our number one priority right now,” says Burton Senior Vice President of Sales Clark Gundlach. “Taking the P2P links off of Burton.com was a component of that. When someone comes into Burton to search a product, a price, for the right product to ride, we want to make sure that rider does get the right information, and when we send them out of Burton…we lose control of that message.”
Gundlach says another major reason for this decision, which will take effect when Burton’s new site launches in August, is to control distribution and the disruptive amount of volume being sold through the Internet channel. “”Eliminating a P2P link to an on-line partner will directly affect the amount of product purchased by that dealer. Again, our strategy is controlling the distribution inside the channel. Ultimately we believe this strategy will provide us with control….so the Internet environment is not predatory,” says Gundlach.
Eric Kuester, owner of Milwaukee’s MODA3 and a long time Burton P2P affiliate illustrates how P2P has had this effect. In order to get P2P designation, shops had to increase orders to often-unsustainable levels, multiple shops were doing so, and manufacturers were willing to continue adding vendors. “That’s part of why the industry is in the state it is right now,” says Kuester. “We were making calls like going from a brand where we’d be doing 10k at brick and mortar and just sprinkling it online, and then see what was the next step to get P2P and it would be 100k, and we’d be like ‘cool.’ And that’s a huge part of the flood.”
Jake Parr, president of Burton P2P affiliate Colorado Boarder, believes the changes will be positive for his shops. “Jake Burton is now out of the driver’s seat of our business and Jake Parr is back in [it],” says Parr. “They can’t tell us what we have to buy. It was really successful for the amount of traffic they sent us, but they made us buy so much product that if there was ever any profit it in it, it was all tied back into the product and we had to pay them or take losses…I think with the orders we can now place we can actually make money on Burton,” adds Parr who says he will be decreasing his Burton order by around 80 percent.
Authorized Burton dealers will still be able to sell product through their individual sites, but Burton is requiring that they sign a new dealer agreement that will specifically control presentation, pricing, and promotional cadence, all of which will be strictly monitored by the company to ensure compliance.
“As I understand it, Burton’s position is they are taking these steps to protect their brand image and better preserve MSRP online,” says Tactics Co-owner Matt Patton, who is currently a Burton P2P partner. “In light of some of the things that have gone down the last few seasons, it’s not that hard to see why. Everyone in the snowboard industry probably has an opinion on the causes and the degree to which Burton is itself to blame. I’m all for Burton taking steps to protect their brand and preserve margins. I think that’s a good thing for the entire industry. But I’m not convinced a brand has to become a retailer to accomplish those goals. It seems to me the best way is by working really hard to manage the supply and demand equation. Once production starts outpacing demand, things eventually go sideways whether or not a brand is selling direct.”
The trend of going direct online is nothing new as the retail landscape continues to evolve. Burton has been selling softgoods direct for more than four years and companies like Oakley, Quiksilver, Hurley, DC, Nixon, Patagonia, Vans, and Zoo York are just a few of the action sports brands going straight to consumers.
The Internet channel and E-commerce is rapidly reshaping the industry and retail in general. In an evolving world all companies are focusing on what will make the most sense for them as applications like the upcoming Google phone’s barcode scanner will allow instant, international price comparisons. Retailers like Kuester believe that P2P is becoming less relevant as consumers become savvier and search for product through Google or other channels, however he does feel this will cause a bit of a sting. “Obviously it’s never a good situation when you lose a link,” says Kuester. However, “at this point, with what happened this year, they had to make some sort of call.”
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February 11th, 2009 at 9:55 am
hopefully this help. Now burton should send in the hard goods to get mounted at a authorized dealer and the dealer should get a credit from burton for that. How else can they ensure proper mounting. While they are at it they should make their stores have a tech on hand. This box store crap of handing beginners boards and bindings and sending them on their way is bullsh#t. It hurts the retention. I am really looking forward to the contraction, but it will be painful to go thru it.
Live a simple life people
February 11th, 2009 at 10:33 am
I think I speak for all retailers that sell Burton when I say:
We’re not gonna take. No, we ain’t gonna take it.
We’re not gonna take it any moooooooorrrrreeee!
Cue the pyrotechnics.
February 11th, 2009 at 11:29 am
Typical Burton move…bending over their retailers and f*#king them with no lube…
February 11th, 2009 at 11:59 am
Looks like there are gona be some sick deals come summertime…
February 11th, 2009 at 12:43 pm
When the hell are they going to put Gravis out of its misery?
That brand needed to be put out to pasture a few years ago.
February 11th, 2009 at 12:44 pm
THE ONLY REASON is to have more margin, they will kill all shops.
congratulation burton !
February 11th, 2009 at 12:47 pm
what a bunch of chiefs. build the brand up via core shops, then shaft them with direct distribution. thanks b!
i wonder which territories they are going to do this in?
February 11th, 2009 at 12:50 pm
why the most influent shops doesn’t boycott burton and let they know ? If burton want to sell online, ok, but they choose to not support the shops anymore… if i had a shop i will boycott them for sure… their are the only real snowboard brand to sell hardgoods onlie, now, all he brands will do the same for sure. good exemple burton. $ oriented
February 11th, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Gravis is HUGE in Japan….cliché intended, but it’s true …they do very well internationally.
February 11th, 2009 at 1:14 pm
The angst is misdirected folks: Blame the INTERNET!!!
February 11th, 2009 at 2:03 pm
burton will be feeling some pain this year for sure. Shops are cutting back 20 to 30%. Even with the huge price increases burton will be down. Wait for the heads to start rolling. Really what this does is say you can buy a board off what the sticker on the back says. Its a bad thing. On the other hand they truly had a bunch of lame partners. Those people will be gone soon. Instead of calling the back country the should call them back door. Cause they are giving it to everyone up the arse
February 11th, 2009 at 2:06 pm
at who you think for “bad partner” ?
February 11th, 2009 at 2:33 pm
you have to sell burton to stay in business, fool
February 11th, 2009 at 3:11 pm
those fools that jumped through all those Burton hoops deserve to feel f’d!!! they knew they were getting f’ed when they submitted their orders. Colorado Boarder bought all that Burton for how many years and ended up not making money? What a bunch of dumb shits.
February 11th, 2009 at 6:16 pm
Wow…..way to support the retailers. I’m not sure about that strategy. I think that there is many other way they could of got them (Big B) out of the mess they made, but they are now making an even bigger mess. Burton makes great product but there is a ton of other brands that make just as good product. Great opportunity for the small brand to rise. Why would you not want to send consumers to your retailers so that they sell your product….that only is going to help sell through so next year they carry more. If you want to sell online (direct), fine do it but compete on the same level as your retailers. It’s a partnership (vendor/retailer) Right?
February 11th, 2009 at 7:06 pm
aaaaaaa are you kidding. Looks like you have to not sell Burton to stay in business now. Unless you like doing business with people that constantly get you to bend over forward.
February 11th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
as a burton dealer. i think it’s lame. burton wants my prebook business and now my online business. brutal.
February 12th, 2009 at 12:38 am
What a load of crap ! Tighten their online distribution??!?!?! They single handed fucked up the industry and now they cry that their product is discounted to early and play the hurt party! Fuck em and their smooth PR talk.. they know what they have sold, they know they pushed retailers into lethal minimums they can never sell and know the risks involved doing that. But hey.. They are the legendary B so do whatever they want right.. Build the brand thru coreshops having the shops take the risk ( prebook ) for years, then start spreading distribution to any shop that wants it ( even ended up in Costco ) and still push high minimums, then raise online minimums to mafia levels and at same time open 8 own shops and now also sell online direct! Burton…By riders for riders… fuck you !
February 12th, 2009 at 1:31 am
IT IS THE FUTURE
February 12th, 2009 at 2:47 am
This has been coming for years, anyone who couldn’t see it shouldn’t be running a shop. Their whole hardware line is becoming formatted so retailers can’t make money on it. But the same thing is going to happen, shops are going to line up at Burton first, commit their business to a brand that is going to take the retailer out of the picture, in 2 years time the shops that don’t become creative with their buying are going to be left with nowhere to go.
February 12th, 2009 at 7:29 am
I have this vision of pepe lepeauw and Lispy Greg screening Jakes communication and emails with the “outside world” so that he is so far removed from reality that they can convince him that this is a good idea and the “right” thing to do.
The funny thing is he has let his senior leadership, if that’s what you want to call them, put the brand in this position.
After all the internal people and reps who have quit recently, the team rider debacle this past august, the tanking retail stores, the self-inflicted gray market issues, marginal aquisition choices, and the tanking sub-brands you would think that maybe he might get a hint that his beloved brand is not being lead in the proper direction or by the right people.
But hell, if I was doing $5K heli days all winter I would probably be a bit distracted myself.
In the end B is the canary in the coal mine of the snowboard industry, and if they are not doing well, nobody is. I hope for the sake of my shop and my friends that they are thinking about the industry as a whole and not just themselves.
Pass the crack pipe please and may Sherman Poppen have mercy of their souls.
February 12th, 2009 at 7:31 am
Around 2004 a indy shop in my area stop selling Burton…They shut down 2 seasons later.
February 12th, 2009 at 7:32 am
damn u interweb…
February 12th, 2009 at 11:10 am
Just got back from the Mammoth On-snow. What a great time we all had. Hung out with Tom and Jurgen, shot the shit with Mikke, Rode knee deep Pow with my friends at Smith. Ate Pizza with L.V. and his crew. Had a wonderful time with Dave D. The Val guy’s were in rare form! We were a “brotherhood” of snowboarders and people who sell snowboards, just like it used to be “back in the day”! Awsome Time!! First day back at work and Shit starts hitting the fan again.. Once again, my head is spinning with what I should do, and pre-book for next season. So many changes, shitty economy, little or no margin. It’s not all Burton’s fault, but hell, let’s blame Jake and his crew for everything. We do every year, so why should we start thinking out of the box! I’m one of the dumb shits who bought tons of excess product to sell on line, but, it was my choice, and, I’m part of the problem, but, thank God everyone blames Jake! Burton brings tons of snow customers into our Brick and Mortar, and weather they buy it from Burton, K-5, Val Surf, Jack’s,Ski Dazzle, Moosejaw.com etc. instead of Surfside, I’ll blame Jake! I’m overstocked in certain brands, because other brands like Lib and Gnu kicked ass this year, yup, you guessed it, I’ll blame Jake. Jake made us a lot of money in year’s pass, but screw that, I want more, and Jake needs to deliver! I certainly don’t agree with many things Burton does, or continue to do, but, I guess if I really thought that Surfside would be half as good as a snowboard retailer without Burton, and, if I had the balls, I’d drop Burton, like Mikke and Todd did. So many issues with Burton, and I don’t get it.. Ski Dazzle, Internet discounters, low-ball brick and mortar stores who work on cash-flow basis instead of margin. I haven’t sold a snowboard full-pop in two years. Should I order 5,000 more Libs, Gnu’s, Neversummer’s and no Burton’s? What about Burton Outerware, sock’s, Gloves, Boots, and Bindings? Speaking of Bindings; What ratio of EST Bindings do I buy, that only work on Burton Boards, vs. 3-D that works on everything? Maybe I should just get out of the Snowboard biz and rely on the Surf and Skate part of our biz to pay the bills.. What the Hell should I do!!! I love snowboarding! I love dialing people in on the product that’s right for them, I love knowing more than most about how the shit works, but, I can’t sell snowboards without making money, that’s called a hobby, not a job, and, my wife will get pissed if I don’t have a job, don’t pay our bills, and don’t put food on the table! Gotta go, we have a customer in our shop who heard there is 4′ of new snow in Mammoth, he needs snowboard, boots, bindings, outerware, helmet, goggles, gloves, first-layer, and my expertise. Boy, that’s alot of boardshorts in February, and I’m not going to give Jake any of the credit!!
February 12th, 2009 at 11:33 am
I blame Jake for never giving me a ride on his fleet of private jets.
Every time I fly I have to mix with common folk, crying babies, dudes in Ed Hardy gear, and sick old people.
Being around these sorry souls is such a buzz kill.
No wonder he is able to keep the stoke alive!
February 12th, 2009 at 11:35 am
I have to look at my mix for next year and I have both Brick and Mortar and a online stores and we have carried Burton for years. We are a specialty shop in NC and with the economy and what some of the big brands are doing it is really making us look at how we do business. We need to get back to supporting the specialty brand and it seem that we get much more support from those brands also. Yes we might see a drop in sales but we will probably see an increase in margin because most of the smaller brands don’t have a ton inventory, no closeout and no price wars with the big box stores and we can offer a bigger brand selection. Burton drives a ton of biz but when I make very little if no money from selling their stuff it makes no sense. We have the ability to steer our customers to buy other brands and so we hope that we don’t see a decrease in sales. Anything is better then losing money.
February 12th, 2009 at 11:55 am
Did J-man run over anybody this trip
Stoked you guyz had a good trip , you earned it !
February 12th, 2009 at 12:41 pm
Bullshit! you don’t need burton to survive in the snow biz…i dropped burton 5 years ago from my shop in so cal and my sales have increased steadily ever since. You just need to steer those brainwashed customers into other brands that have just as good product and are loyal to their retailers. It’s not hard to do, just let them know of their other options instead of sending them away to sport chalet for their burton crap. It just takes a few minutes to talk with your customer and educate them that B isn’t the only brand that makes quality gear…8 times outta 10 I can steer that burton customer into another brand that is actually rider driven and gives a shit about snowboarding and their retailers that they partner with. The best thing I ever did was tear up my $100,000+ pre-book from burton at their old dana point showroom…I was tired of taking it in the ass and I never will again.
February 12th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Hey no doubt…in retrospect the shop was poorly merchandized a the dude sold stuff wholesale to all his bros and never put anything and keep everything at full pop as long as he could to everbody else. But who knows if ditching Burton wasn’t the first nail in the coffin. His store looked pretty bare after the fact, but at that time there were not as many player as there are now to fill the void.
February 12th, 2009 at 1:22 pm
the steering is the issue. customers don’t just come up to you with a custom and a triad in their hands, goin ‘this in an ICS 62, and this in L please’.
thank god for non-burton brands that still have good shit at OK margins. without them us speciality retailers would be totally fckt…
February 12th, 2009 at 3:34 pm
As always Duke- super insightful and thoughtful- You should get your own column on Transworld Biz
February 12th, 2009 at 5:47 pm
Duke, thank you for not hiding behind a pseudonym when making your comments. These conversations would surely be more constructive if so many people weren’t hiding behind a virtual veil when tossing out their missives.
February 13th, 2009 at 12:25 pm
wow…I remember when Burton was the company that everyone wanted. Retailers, riders, parents, etc. everyone knew Burton as THE brand…Now, they’ve shown everyone yet another reason why no one should have anything to do with the brand. I feel it’s our responsibility as riders, to continue supporting the “small” brands, promote product quality, continue giving the best personalized customer service possible, and create a new standard. Burton is just a mega corp that sells snowboards. No longer are they the successful snowboard company that they once were. Our brands are the future for those who truely love snowboarding.
February 13th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
Why not most people do a shit load of research online before the even step into a shop. You should take that for granted. I spent a month on line figuring out what the best set was for me. In the end it just so happened to be a Burton. But it was tied with Arbor and never summer in the end it came down to the easiest place for me to get it at the best price and quality of service that made my mind up. If I don’t like the people serving me I aint’t gona drop 700$ in there lap.
February 16th, 2009 at 11:37 am
Simply said, Burton is betting the margin gain will far out-pace their order book decline. Despite their hollow statements of “we still need the specialty retailer,” they?re capitalizing on the ONLY growing sales channel: internet.
Go with brands who support our retailer sell thru with their internet efforts. P2P linking isn’t the answer. I understand P2P linking is an unscalable business practice for the brands, and taking their hard earned, expensive traffic and handing it over to a handful of online retailers ultimately hurts the branded manufacturer in several ways.
Buys brands which use an online application like Shopatron, which allows our vendors to sell online, control their branding, pricing and distribution AND drive sales off our retailer shelves. Before I write my orders this year, I’m asking each vendor how they are using their website to support my sell through, no matter how small the order.
February 17th, 2009 at 8:00 am
just curious, which model did you get?
February 17th, 2009 at 8:02 am
lame boxes and lame internet partners. They are obvious, They need to support specialty again
February 17th, 2009 at 8:06 am
Got Supermodel X, It was a toss up between Never Summer Titan or Arbor Element ALT. Love the supermodel X, but there no being lazy on it you got a gun it or it slaps u like a bitch.
February 17th, 2009 at 8:14 am
good decision, I am happy you didn’t say a reg supermodel That would kill your credibility. Its a good shape but to soft for a serious rider.
February 17th, 2009 at 8:16 am
and the reason I didn’t get the others ones was I didn’t like the arbor dealer in my area, Granola Fascist. I couldn’t find a Never Summer dealer. Plus I was under the gun cause the snow was sick last season, wish I could same the same for this one. I wasn’t interested in buy online. I don’t regret it, just need a mellower board for the days I feelin’ old.
February 17th, 2009 at 8:31 am
Oh and another thing that gona full the fire is I bought it at the factory at full pop. I went back three weeks later to return a pair of boots that my wife bought that didn’t fit, cause here feet swelled at the higher elevation. Everything was 20-30% off I went to the guy that sold be the board and was like “WTF?” He took everything back sight unseen and resold it to me at the sale price I got back almost 350 dollars. I went from wanting to go nuts a toss my new burton in the nearest river to being more stoked when I bought the board in the first place.
February 17th, 2009 at 8:34 am
I am sure the Granola Fascist won’t have done that…he would been like “Sorry duuude, I already spent it all on alfalfa sprouts?”
February 17th, 2009 at 8:57 am
Also there are no good shops in my area or a least any I would want to support, all new school douche bags punks, who think snowboarding is all rails. If I get any attitude from lazy hung over staff I’m gone.
February 17th, 2009 at 9:10 am
I here you. Hopefully the contraction will get the store owner still left to step it up. Snowboarding didn’t start on rails and certainly won’t end on it.
As far as pricing specialty guys need to be competitive. The good thing about the arbors is you can hold price better than burton. Its tuff but you have to buy smart and create relationships. Enjoy
February 17th, 2009 at 12:53 pm
Funny-
Look at Burlington, VT. Home of Burton… Biggest city in Vermont, the biggest mountain state (most resorts, snowboard tourism, etc.) in the east.
Snowboard shops:
0
They have all gone under. Only place to buy anything is one little ‘attic’ in a ski shop or the (retail only) Flagshit store.
Oh yeah, the don’t warranty their stuff anymore either!
From VT hills, riding burton since the 80s, and seriously unimpressed,
earthsurfing
February 17th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
There’s Darkside…if you wana deal with Stowe.
February 17th, 2009 at 1:13 pm
They also just won shop of the year at SIA
February 17th, 2009 at 3:13 pm
Yes,
I don’t mean to say there aren’t shops in Vermont but not
one in Burlington!
February 17th, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Decreased amount of coalition product in 2010. Slight Coincidence?
February 17th, 2009 at 7:46 pm
There has been attempts…the B-side was the best. I bought my first pair of boots there back around 87, to replace my sorels. It was just a Sorel boot with a ski boot bladder and Burton put there logo on it. The Burton factory was still in Manchester at the time. That shop was great. B-side actually continued to grow after the Burton shop opened and change location, it’s third move up.
They say they closed their doors because of Burton, but I think it was more of a management issue, towards the end it was super disorganized and poorly and mechendized. At the time there where not enough brands other then burton to fill there shelves and if they where not offering there customers any reason to shop at there store, other than the fact it wasn’t a the burton shop, well I’m sorry you need to do more than that.
I think the fall of the Canadian dollar was a factor aswell, they lost a lot of canadian buisness, when the dollar tanked in the mid 90’s. There where no good shops in Montreal at the time, and still arn’t in my opionion, but the dollar tanked again, so what ya gona do.
If there was a good shop in Burlington it would have my buisness for sure, no doubt. I’m sure I’m not the only one. The Burton store is getting tired and if they don’t put some money into it soon, it will leave a window wide open in my opinion.
February 20th, 2009 at 7:33 am
There is a shop in Burlington that has a nice selection of Snowboard products, Talent Skate Shop, and the SKi Rack has a decent snowboard section.
February 23rd, 2009 at 12:33 pm
That is such a twisted way to spin the story away from the real story of Burton simply taking dealer sales & margin by selling direct. If they don?t want dealers to over buy, all they had to do was reduce the hoops they were making dealers jump through or eliminate product to product and simply link to all online dealers or open product to product to all dealers. With today’s technology and Burton’s financial strength, this article should have been about Burton creating a new online sales system that drives local online sales back to local retailers (www.Shopatron.com). Unfortunately now everytime online sales grows a little, dealer sales will decrease on Burton products. That means less margin, less sales, less spent by dealers promoting the sport LOCALLY and eventually less dealers. If the dealer has less to spend on local rail jams, movie premiers, on hill events, and promotions, group trips, etc. ultimately there will be less participation.
February 24th, 2009 at 9:07 am
The spin in this article is comical. If indeed this strategy is for the betterment of retailers, then it is a very reactive one — not one of those “proactive” strategies they’re always touting — reacting to the industry-wide problem that they caused by ramming so much product down the throat of the retail community. Will this enhanced sell-direct strategy benefit anyone other than burton? No way. Supplies, which are at an all time high, will stay that way for the foreseeable future. Considerable inventory will be built to supply burton’s online operation. If it goes well, they’ll pull from pending retailer’s supplies (inventory that has yet to ship, or yet to sell that?s sitting in World Warehouse) to support their own online sales. They’ll make the money, they’ll make the margin. If it goes poorly, they’ll dump the excess inventory into general availability, blow it out and muddle up the market with another round of excess and off-price inventory.
They are counting on dealer complicity. They?re betting that dealers have become so dependent on them; that they can?t imagine life without them. They?re betting that dealers will buy the idea that by eliminating their P2P system, they are actually cleaning up the internet business. How altruistic of them! Here?s the reality: They will eliminate a system (albeit flawed) that was at least designed to funnel business to burton online dealers. They will replace it with system that pits direct online sales by themselves against a larger group of smaller, less savvy retailers. Who wins? Who has the resources? Who controls the marketing? Who controls the inventory? You figure it out. Burton has declared ?open season? on every dealer who wants in on the mythological e-commerce nugget. Burton is marginalizing their most formidable on-line opponents by reducing their inventories and eliminating their online visibility. At the same time they?re aggressively beefing up their in-house inventory and further augmenting supply, sales and revenue by coaxing hundreds of eager dealers to bump up their orders by 15% - 20%, in the misty-eyed hope that they just might capture some of those coveted internet sales. If these ?pennies from heaven? were hard to come by for the e-commerce pros, with their big staffs, big budgets and big inventories, why would they be there for the pickin?s for a much smaller operation that doesn?t have their expertise, their resources, or their reach?
Now every burton dealer can sell online. Sign the dealer agreement order up a few more customs and ba-bammm! Look ma?, I?m a burton e-tailer! I?m gonna? make money off people that I?ll never meet! I?m stealing dollars from someone on the other side of the continent! Specialty dealers are losing sales to the internet, but if their shop is in a metro area their real competition is big-box chain retail. The specialty ski shop down the block is not going to put them out of business, nor will that cool-guy skate / snow account on the other side of town. It will be the big box guys. There are hundreds of national big-box locations stocked to the gills with tens of thousands of units of your number one snow brand. These stores are better known to mainstream consumers. They have highly visible advertising and marketing, and they have a reputation for offering lower prices. Crack open the Sunday paper and you see big box sporting goods circulars. Drive down the expressways and you see big box sporting goods billboards. Turn on the TV and you?ll see? you get the picture. Specialty retailers cannot have that kind of reach. They need a better plan, a different model.
Industries die when their products become commodities. Remember windsurfing? Skate comes to mind, too. Retailers and manufacturers need to work together to keep it special. This should truly be a symbiotic relationship. Manufacturers should do what they do best ? build product and bring it to market. Retailers should do what they do best ? make the vital connection between product and consumer, and sell it through. Manufacturers should stay out of retail. Instead, they should invest those resources into increasing the quality of their products and the value of their brand. Retailers should commit to those brands and build relationships with them ? representing their products as fully as possible. The result will maximize the effectiveness of the manufacturer?s and the retailer?s marketing efforts. If retailers buy specialty snow products like plumbing supplies out of warehouse bins, then manufacturers will actively seek more secure distribution. If manufacturers appear to be undermining the integrity or profitability of specialty retailers, then they will never get retailer loyalty.
We have an unhealthy, lopsided industry. Yet, we have many new innovations that are making snowboarding better. Every year the hall at S.I.A. is full of ideas and innovations created and marketed by companies other than the ?big 3?. We have some dynamic and creative specialty retailers who continue to drive the business by stressing employee expertise and training, fresh and dynamic merchandising, creative and effective advertising and marketing, and focused buying with supportive vendors. There is a better way, but there is not a quick, easy way. Ecommerce is not the pot o? gold at the end of the rainbow. Distribution cannot be magically grown every year to get that coveted 20% + growth that the shareholders demand. Manufacturers need to commit more fully to their specialty distribution. Specialty retailers need buy from manufacturers in the same way they want consumers to buy from them; with an understanding that value is more than just price. With an appreciation for the technology, expertise and effort that goes into every product, and thus every sale.