Author Topic: How would you run your ball company? (Read 4613 times)

Mr Buzzsaw · « **on:** August 13, 2004, 01:34:19 AM »

It looks like the "Wal-Mart selling mentality", buy more and undercut the competition, is getting to everybody. It's discouraging for us to see our product being sold in this manner, because we pride ourself on performance and service. In the long run, this "Wal-Mart" type selling strategy doesn't help anyone, except for the one with the deepest pockets.

Lane #1 only puts out premium line bowling balls, and we price the product accordingly. We do offer a buy 4 get 1 free special on some new release's, for the pro shop guy to try out, or make an extra buck. But, when internet sellers try to take advantage of this, it makes them all fight and look bad (including us), by seeing who can undercut the other one prices each day. This is only good for 1 person, while the others are left holding the bag.

It also makes the rest of the pro shops look bad, because they're blasting low prices all over the internet. Like I stated earlier, this will knock out all the small guys, because the one with the deepest pockets and lowest prices will win, leaving only 1 place to buy.

Maybe Lane #1 should come out with 20 balls a year like some of the other guys, slash prices and oversell a bunch of balls, leaving the pro shops and distributors stuck with them, then, discounting them the next week even further to get rid of the glut? How would the customers who bought them the week before feel?

It's a tough and sticky situation for all of us, because we're trying to do the right thing, by putting out premium products, and making it fair for everyone to sell them. We feel we have the most loyal customers of any company, and would like to keep it that way. I guess no matter how hard you try, you just can't win.

Hopefully this situation won't discourage anyone from trying, using, or continuing to use our products, now or in the future.

solid9pin · « **Reply #1 on:** August 13, 2004, 04:47:37 PM »

For me the price doesn't matter, I will always use lane#1 cause the
ball line just works for me. I can literally buy the ball and it does
exactly what it says it does.

As for the internet sellers I know there is some out there that price them accordingly and then there are some who are trying to dominate the world.
I know how alot of them get the balls and how they are shipped and I generally know the prices they get the balls at since it is pretty much open to anyone if you ask on here. So I would go to the online shop that isn't trying to rape me
for the shipping and the price.

This is for the lane#1 bad mouthers -

I am sick of all the bad mouthing of Lane#1 The point is, If you don't like Lane#1 then don't buy it. You don't need to talk smack about it. let people make up their own minds about this fantastic ball line. We don't go into your storm
forum and talk smack so don't come over to our forum and talk smack. ball reviews
used to be a place where I could come and get info and now I come here all I see is people talking smack. This will most likely be my last post here cause I cant take the crap posts anymore.

hotwire13 · « **Reply #2 on:** August 13, 2004, 05:12:35 PM »

bowling used to be about putting similar equipment in different hands to see who could do the most with the same equipment. now, its all about this "arsenal" BS, and who can afford/comprehend the specs of bowling balls.

high end stuff and mid range equipment are close enough in most cases(even backwards in some situations) that there should be no reason for someone to have all premium equipment in their lineup. i am getting sick and tired of people who think that lane #1 equipment is worth the money because of "superior" performance, when most of you dont seem to be averaging any better than the rest of us using "inferior" equipment. if you buzzheads would stop buying these balls for awhile, then the prices would have to go down because of the supply/demand for the product. lane #1 is like exxon and mobil in the gas industry. they charge $.20 more per gallon than everyone else, and everyone complains, yet there are always idiots there filling up their tanks.

bowling has become economical, and has gone away from physical and mental...everyone is worried so much about their damn equipment that it seems like thats all that counts anymore...why dont you buy a "regular" ball and use the money you save to PRACTICE a few games?
--------------------
RED STRIPE

ITS BEER
HOORAY BEER!

Doug Sterner · « **Reply #3 on:** August 14, 2004, 12:00:46 AM »

Keep in mind also here guys.....

If the price floor disappears and then only the big shops can get the deals, then the small shops go away. Fewer suppliers with an in demand product will lead to the big shops raising the prices and you'll end up paying more in the long run.

I know for a fact that before I got into the act some of the online guys were making $50+ per ball on Internet sales. My average mark up on the entire line is $10-15 now.

My peace has been said....
--------------------
Doug Sterner
Doug's Pro Shop
Owego, NY
http://dougsproshop@aol.com
www.dougsproshop.net
The Cherry is the Bomb
And the Uranium blows them all away!
Now accepting VISA/MC and Discover for your purchases

D McLaughlin · « **Reply #4 on:** August 14, 2004, 12:47:53 AM »

Funny thing is, I would usually be one of the 1st to voice my "sentiments" abuot Lane#1, but instead I would like to just give you all a for instance. Here in Atlanta, Lane#1 is, by no means, a "player" in the market. Mostly Storm, Track and Ebonite dominate. From having my best friend own a proshop here in Atlanta for several years, I can see one BIG reason for Track, Storm, and Ebonite's dominance over Lane#1. From a proshop owner's standpoint, he is in business to make a living. Lane#1 sets a minimum price of say $180 per ball. The proshop here can only sell it, as Doug stated, for about $20 or so over that. So he can profit $20-$25 on Lane#1 stuff or he can profit $70 on say Track stuff. Is there a $50 difference in performance between the two?? Hardly. For my proshopguy, Lane#1 has forced him to NOT carry their equipment because they have priced themselves into an "unprofitable" product for him. It would make sense to me, that IF Lane#1 COULD price their equipment in such a way that would allow MORE proshops to carry them, they would ultimately reap greater profits as exposure would certainly increase. The ONLY reason I could see for LAne#1 NOT lowering their prices to make them easier to sell is if Brunswick is charging them quite a bit in production costs, making a lower price by Lane#1 "unprofitable" for them. If that is the case, then there you go. If that is NOT the case, then I think Lane#1 is indeed allowing a bit of that "Our stuff is premium" ego to ultimately LOSE them money in the long run. Just a different viewpoint. I mean, how many shops are going to sell Lane#1 for less profit?....even IF they think it is superior? Not many that will remain in business a year or two later I wouldn't think.
--------------------
Umm....Walter Ray....its customary to hand over your wallet AFTER I beat you. Its not like we haven't been through this a hundred times.

BeansProShop · « **Reply #5 on:** August 14, 2004, 01:34:36 PM »

Well guys,
"IN" my pro shop..I have absolutely no problem getting $229 for the new Lane#1 stuff...About $189 on Bullets/XXL etc. Why that is I do not know BUT If I put a price tag of over $175 on any other manufacturers balls...I can't sell them...People will bring them in from internet sales and think they are saving a ton of money...All prices above includes drilling as well...Because Lane#1 sets their prices at the level they do...I am able to have a PREMIUM line product in my shop...Also, I was the first person online to offer Lane#1 bowling balls in mass quantities and I never received any price breaks whatsoever from Lane#1....In turn I was able to sell these balls at a premium price and establish a very large,loyal customer base. THEN, other guys decided to jump on the bandwagon and start offering the balls at a cheaper price and before you knew it my sales went down..Of course I could have lowered my prices to compete but I refused to work for FREE!!! Competetive pricing is one thing but price cutting is all together different...To me, people who have to cut prices to sell balls must not be able to drill very well...The internet on the other hand...How much better service can you offer other than a better box to ship it in... Now I'm rambling but....You get the picture. Beans
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Thanks for reading and be sure to check out my current eBay auctions at:
http://cgi6.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewSellersOtherItems&userid=bubby856

brimar · « **Reply #6 on:** August 16, 2004, 01:38:24 PM »

you gonna be waitin a LOOOOONG time!
--------------------
Go Yanks

Bri

Brickguy221 · « **Reply #7 on:** August 16, 2004, 01:44:01 PM »

quote:
you gonna be waitin a LOOOOONG time!

AMEN

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Retired and bowling on Fixed Income

livespive · « **Reply #8 on:** August 16, 2004, 02:02:56 PM »

To answer Bush's question;

Paying the middle man

IF I am not mistaken Lane1 only makes the core. They have to send them out to Big be to get the ball made so you have:

The cost of shipping the cores
The cost for Big B to do the work
The cost for shipping the balls back

They have these cost on top of everything that all the other ball makers have.
Even if Lane1 is not going to try and make a profit on the above 3 items
they still have to charge enough to break even on them.

--------------------
Eric T. Spivey, P.E.
Visionary Test Staff Member
http://www.visionarybowling.com

Mr Buzzsaw · « **Reply #9 on:** August 16, 2004, 02:44:17 PM »

Mr Bush, to answer your question that you haven't already answered yourself, pro shops are not stuck with our equipment.

We don't want our product sitting on a shelf collecting dust in a particular pro shop. We also don't want the pro shop to have slash prices and lose big money on what they've purchased.

So, If a pro shop has a few balls they can't sell, we will take them back, giving them credit for the amount that they purchased them for, no problem. We take these balls and sell them to others who want them. This "service" is regular company policy and works well for us.

As far as Lane #1's cost's and pricing go, why should I have to explain our cost's or company policy to anyone, let alone in an open forum? I don't.

Do the other manufacturers have to explain their business, as far as pricing, ball productions, comps, staff, advertising, ect...ect...go? No they don't. That's their business.

If you want to slam me for what I've said or what I didn't say, then go right ahead.

It seems you don't appreciate me being here to answer some of your concerns, so I'll dissappear for a while, and let everyone here hash it out.

Edited on 8/16/2004 2:47 PM

solid9pin · « **Reply #10 on:** August 16, 2004, 02:57:09 PM »

quote:

As far as Lane #1's cost's and pricing go, why should I have to explain our cost's or company policy to anyone, let alone in an open forum? I don't.

hahaha that was the knock out punch to all you lane#1 haters!

He is right!

minimum bob · « **Reply #11 on:** August 16, 2004, 03:19:50 PM »

quote:
quote:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

As far as Lane #1's cost's and pricing go, why should I have to explain our cost's or company policy to anyone, let alone in an open forum? I don't.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

hahaha that was the knock out punch to all you lane#1 haters!

He is right!

Not exactly....

As long as the company is private and relatively small, they really have no obligation to disclose anything to anyone.

However, if a company has an independent Board of Directors or gets commercial financing from a third party, it should be required to give some relevant information to certain outside parties.

Finally, if a company goes public, it will be required to meet certain legally-mandated disclosure requirements.

In any event, even a small private company (which I imagine Lane #1 is) would have to disclose at least some limited financial information to the IRS....

But, Mr. B is correct...he isn't obligated to tell us anything.

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It is not enough to succeed. Others must fail.

Edited on 8/16/2004 3:14 PM

brimar · « **Reply #12 on:** August 16, 2004, 03:26:40 PM »

And im not obligated to be ripped off!!!
See years ago i paid a hefty price for the original quantum and did no better with it than my i did with my rhino pro....Actually i could have bought 2 rhino pro's for what i paid for that quantum. 10 years later im still a little chaffed from that reamin!
--------------------
Go Yanks

Bri

Iketown300 · « **Reply #13 on:** August 16, 2004, 06:33:27 PM »

I have been reading this thread since it started and now I have a question. Mr. Buzzsaw states that he doesn't want to do the wal-mart strategy because the little pro shops will be stuck with extra inventory and in the lonng run be knocked out.

Mr. Buzzsaw-"Maybe Lane #1 should come out with 20 balls a year like some of the other guys, slash prices and oversell a bunch of balls, leaving the pro shops and distributors stuck with them, then, discounting them the next week even further to get rid of the glut?"

But then in his later post he replies to Bush Bin Lyin's question, Mr. Buzzsaw states that no proshops have to be stuck with Lane #1 equipment because they can trade it in to Lane #1 for a credit to purchase Lane #1 bowling balls in the future. Here is what he states:

Mr. Buzzsaw-" Mr Bush, to answer your question that you haven't already answered yourself, pro shops are not stuck with our equipment.

We don't want our product sitting on a shelf collecting dust in a particular pro shop. We also don't want the pro shop to have slash prices and lose big money on what they've purchased.

So, If a pro shop has a few balls they can't sell, we will take them back, giving them credit for the amount that they purchased them for, no problem. We take these balls and sell them to others who want them. This "service" is regular company policy and works well for us."

So if he states that this happens then there is no need for a price floor and pro shops can offer bowling balls no matter what company for any price they want right? I think so. If the "company policy has worked well for Lane #1" then why not continue to let this happen and continue to make everyone that previously bought buzzsaws i.e. Mrbowlingnut etc. happy. I know you stated that your pride yourself on the quality of the product and service but what about customer satisfaction and happiness. To me that would be the number 1 thing along with quality of the product. I don't think service is a huge problem because I have emailed brunswick and have not received emails from them back and this does not discourage me from buying brunswick products.

These are my thoughts, let me know what you guys think.
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Ike Brownfield

Brickguy221 · « **Reply #14 on:** August 16, 2004, 08:12:30 PM »

quote:
Unless you own only Wrangler jeans, cheap shoes and cheap shirts shut your mouthes about all this rip off stuff.

Well everyone, per the above, I am qualified as that is what I wear.

--------------------
Retired and bowling on Fixed Income

Author Topic: How would you run your ball company? (Read 4613 times)

Mr Buzzsaw

How would you run your ball company?

solid9pin

Re: How would you run your ball company?

hotwire13

Re: How would you run your ball company?

Doug Sterner

Re: How would you run your ball company?

D McLaughlin

Re: How would you run your ball company?

BeansProShop

Re: How would you run your ball company?

brimar

Re: How would you run your ball company?

Brickguy221

Re: How would you run your ball company?

livespive

Re: How would you run your ball company?

Mr Buzzsaw

Re: How would you run your ball company?

solid9pin

Re: How would you run your ball company?

minimum bob

Re: How would you run your ball company?

brimar

Re: How would you run your ball company?

Iketown300

Re: How would you run your ball company?

Brickguy221

Re: How would you run your ball company?