Today was an interesting day for me with realizing a few things with our economy and the snowboard industry. I’ve decided that I’m going to write a multiple article cataloging my thoughts on the snowboard world and this current economy.
In this day and age it seems that people would rather buy online than go to their local shop. Unfortunately the economy has taken a huge hit and it is you that can help sustain your local shred scene by supporting your local shop.
Why should you support your local shop you ask? I’ll tell you why, unlike a online shop the money you spend with these guys goes back to your local economy. These are the guys that sponsor local events and riders. Lets say its Friday afternoon and you’re going riding but you broke some random part on your gripper grips, do you think you’ll get a replacement part from the online store in time to avoid the crisis of not having your gear for the weekend? I highly doubt that and I bet your local shop can accomodate you.
Now lets be brutally honest do you think some store that is 1,500 miles away from you cares you had a bad day on snow? I doubt it like seriously highly doubt it. Snowboarding is a hands on sport why would you not shop at a store you can physically touch what you want vs having to look at it online then order it and don’t even tell me that you go in a store waste the shop peoples time and still order it online, you are part of the problem. This is especially true when it comes to buying boots as you should be sized and try on as many pairs as you can.
I’ve heard from tons of people that their local shops price gouge them? Highly doubt that since the MSRP is dictated by the vendor and not the retailer. In the length of time I’ve been riding I’ve been in 1 shop yes thats right 1 shop that was selling product above MSRP and I’ve only seen one shop online selling a board above MSRP under the guise of it being a limited colorway. The fact is when you’re a giant snowboarding warehouse you have more inventory and can sell stuff discounted. But any shop worth its weight in gold will try to price match its just the way things have to be.
Now lets talk about something that is entirely important when buying gear, customer service. I’ve heard that online stores offer great customer service, but how is that possible? Are you physically interacting with them? No, you’re pointing and click sure they may have a forum or a chat box but I guarantee if you ask them to compare something they don’t sell to what they do they’ll 99% of the time say what they sell is better. After all they’re in it to make a sale from customer 928384723 not from (insert your name here). I’ve learned one thing in the 11 years of working in a shop if you don’t have what the person needs or wants send them elsewhere, because doing that they will come back 10 more times and tell 10 more people of how great you were at helping them locate what they needed. Customer service is what makes and breaks a shop obviously, I mean look at Tight Boards and how they’ve been doing online business. Here’s a link to an article I wrote about them last week.
You as a consumer have the power to help shape the snowboard industry and save it from becoming a direct sales environment. It is up to you to look at what is presented to you. Do you help your local scene or do you help some wanker that doesn’t ride at all. The choice is yours and you need to do it.
I’m curious to see what peoples thoughts are on this so feel free to leave a comment.
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8 Responses
For someone like me, living outside of North America, this becomes a real tough question – the prices here have to include shipping and taxes, making the retail price much much steeper than what you would pay in the US. Buying hard goods online and having them shipped privetly can get even more expensive no doubt, but soft goods like outwear and accessories, are way way cheaper when bought online.
I would appreciate your thoughts on international customers aswell
Awesome blog btw \m/
-Jon from Israel
Posted on October 29th, 2008 at 10:42 am
Hello mate my name is Matteo, i’m from northern Italy and this will be my 3rd season on snowboard… lol I love it so much!! I’ve had 2 boards in my life, the first was a nitro magnum that I broke after a few months( those suckers didn’t change it even if it was under warranty), and now I bought a nitro shieldventi wide (27.2 WW besause I wear a 15). I bought the first in my city’s best known shop, the second on e-bay by a guy from Milan… since you wrote that you’ve been working in a shop for many years, I thought I could ask you what’s the role of the dealer when a board he sold is taken back broken by his custumer? Can he work things in a way that his custumer will be more or less likely to get a new one? It’s always been my doubt since I broke that board…
tnx so much
pertelot4dux@tele2.it
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Ride!!Slide!!Shred!!
Posted on October 29th, 2008 at 1:51 pm
I think for outerwear, it’s good to get the sizing in person, but no shop carries everything you want or has your size. I went to several this week and was able to try on a bunch of outerwear but they didn’t have any of the colorway/styles I wanted.
For buying a board I did the research online and I want the best price possible as well as for bindings. Boots are the only thing I would agree the service and foot molding in a shop is worth it.
Plus when you are in a shop you don’t get all the info on the gear very easily. Like tech specs. A lot of times you have to hunt for the waterproofing.. or the board spec sheet doesn’t list everything.
I think EVERY shop should have a computer terminal or two setup so you can look up products and do research in person. It would help them sell a lot more for sure.
Posted on October 29th, 2008 at 4:44 pm
Matteo unfortunately snowboard damage falls into the hands of the person at the companies warranty department. Its a gray area on what will happen. There’s many things to look at.
Posted on October 29th, 2008 at 10:56 pm
Very good article and I agree for the majority of it. Many people dont realize the importance of having a local shop and supporting that shop. Over here in Virginia Beach, VA on the East Coast, we have a handful of surf shop’s that carry snowboarding equipment as well as surfing/wakeboarding/skating equipment and only 1 shop that caters to snowboarders and skiers. So it’s kind of hard to fully support any or all of these shops simply b/c the selection isnt there…. which is just one of the many downfalls of not living in a boarder/ski town.
PS: Great blog, btw. I stumbled upon it on the snowboard.com forum.
Posted on October 30th, 2008 at 12:31 pm
Whether or not I support a shop is based on two criteria: The selection they carry, and how they treat me.
Nothing pisses me off more than the shop kid who thinks he’s too cool for school. They don’t have to be all up on my nuts for me to buy something from them, but when they act like I’m intruding on their rad little world by asking questions it really grinds my gears.
As far as selection goes, I do a lot of interwebbing to find what gear I like and intend to buy. If I go down to the local “core” shop chances are they may not have the piece I’m looking for in the size I want. Also, I don’t want to show up wearing the same jacket 40 other kids in the lift line have. By going to the internet I can more easily find the product I want in the size I need.
All that being said I really like Milosport here in Utah, and I always check if they have what want before I head to the net.
I enjoy your blog, keep it up!
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badboysodas.com | a utah shralp blog.
Posted on November 14th, 2008 at 1:18 pm
I too live outside of the US (Belgium to be more precise) and while I do support the though of buying your gear at the local shop, over here it’s very hard, if not impossible to find a shop that sells more than Burton/Forum.
There are about 5 shops that sell wintersporting gear in in 50 mile radius of where I live, most of them are small shops that aren’t specialised in wintersporting gear, so they sell very few of those items. If I want something else than the standard Burton stuff, I’m basically forced to either travel huge distances or go shop online.
Posted on December 9th, 2008 at 12:00 pm
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