Originally Posted by
Squeeze
A question for anyone "in the know" about modern business: Do dealers of products still have to meet minimum order requirements from distributors in order to get lower-than-retail prices? That's how it used to work. You'd wait until you had $X to order from your distributor and then place an order over the phone after referring to their catalog for part numbers and such. The distributor would traditionally buy directly from manufacturers (or was a manufacturer) and didn't sell to end-users.
That's the only reason I can think of why a LBS (or similar specialty retailer of goods) can't (or won't) have something there tomorrow while we as consumers can by ordering individual items online. I'm guessing they still have to meet a minimum order requirement of dollars or quantity. They could probably order item X from Amazon, just like we as individuals can, but then they would have to pay the retail price.
Just curious if this business model continues from the 20th century, from where I remember it as an employee of both manufacturers and dealers at different times, or everything has changed by now.
From my time in the LBS business, I can tell you how it works here in the great white north at least.
If your shop meets the standards set by the large distributors and you are granted an account, you need to place a minimum spring order to qualify for in season orders.The in season orders typically have a minimum threshold for free shipping, usually in the 3 to 4 hundred dollar range.
Generally, an order placed to one of these distributors will arrive at your shop the next day anywhere in the country, but depending on the time of year and daily volume, many shops will opt to order once a week to save on shipping costs.
In the busy season however, it was not unusual for me to place multiple orders per week from multiple suppliers.
Then there is the issue of distributor stock. Like any other business, they don't want to be left with a warehouse full of stock at the end of the season, and they stock more of the items they anticipate to be the high demand stuff for the upcoming season, and when they run out, they may or may not be able to re stock from the manufacturers. It was very common to find lots of items unavailable by the time July rolled around.