Garrett Direct

[Steve Herschbach]

As walking into a store and buying a detector is replaced by ordering one online factory direct sales are all but inevitable. Got this in my email yesterday.

BUY NOW

[abenson]

Another move to get rid of the middle man. Given the downward trend in metal detector sales, I'm sure margins are getting thin and manufactures want to keep as much of the profits as possible.

[phrunt]

Bugger, that got me excited, then I went to buy a 6" Garrett Concentric coil for my 24k and it's for US only.  They need to go global, not just local, yes, they're cutting out their local dealers that way making a higher profit or just making it easier for customers but they're not fixing up the international availably problems they currently have on their products.

 

 

[kac]

I'm sure shipping costs are also a factor.

[Rob in (ca)]

If selling at full Retail & charging sales Tax …..Good luck 

seems there selling items that Dealers don’t carry or Can’t Sell.
 

 

[MSC]

Good video, seems harmless, but it could be just the begining of what Steve has mentiond. 

[Bohemia Miner]

I just received an email from my Distributor.  It appears as though Garrett will be competing with their dealers.

 

[Bohemia Miner]

What's interesting is both of the US Distributors ditched Fisher for selling on Amazon which is almost the same thing. 

I'm going to have to reexamine my continuation as a Dealer or even staying in the business altogether.  Maybe it's time to retire.

[phrunt]

I can see the day in the next few years where dealers may still exist but sales will be low compared to the "good old days" as buying direct will become the norm, and big box stores will start taking more sales also especially when the people are more commonly buying online anyway.

There will be those that always buy from dealers, especially if they're convenient but when your dealer is half way across the country and the manufacturer sells direct at the same price it makes no difference which you buy through so often people would feel more comfortable buying direct especially if they've never bought from the dealer before.

If I had a dealer nearby, I'd be in the store buying my stuff if they had reasonable pricing, but seeing my nearest Garrett dealer is over 22 hours' drive away including a ferry ride to change Islands I just buy from wherever gives me the best price and fastest shipping so I buy all my stuff online and don't overly care who I buy it off as long as the price is right and shipping is available.   Warranty is handled by the manufacturer anyway so to me it makes no difference.

[Digalicious]

Before the massive adoption of the internet, it was the dealers and magazines that drove sales. Now, it's the Facebook pages and forums. So ya, this all seems to be an inevitably that the other manufacturers will probably follow.