Chester Posted March 22, 2013 Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 We are saddened to hear that some of our friends and important customers among the Shoe Repairers forum have been unhappy about our presence in stores online. It is not our intention to annoy or offend our customers and we feel we ought to explain the reasons for our particular interest in the online market. Online marketing has the benefits of quicker transactions, faster turnover and immediate measurable results. The internet is fast becoming an e-commerce powerhouse and we all need to embrace the opportunities and challenges this brings, not only for ourselves but also for our customers. We are acutely aware that to compete in the same marketplace as our customers will cause some friction but we have instigated strict rules and checks in order to minimise any upset. • We will not knowingly sell any of our products below our recommended retail price and ask any of our customers to inform us immediately of any misdemeanours. • We will police the internet for any customers who sell any of our products below our recommended retail price and enforce compliance. We hope this goes some way to pacify any bad feeling amongst the members of the Shoe Repairers community and we apologise for any distress this may have caused. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny King Posted March 22, 2013 Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 Closed my account. Your choice Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windycity Posted March 22, 2013 Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 whats the name of your wholesale company? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenB Posted March 22, 2013 Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 For this comment to mean anything, I would suggest that rather than hide behind an anonymous user name, you should at least say which company you are representing. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Posted March 22, 2013 Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 • We will police the internet for any customers who sell any of our products below our recommended retail price and enforce compliance. So what you are saying is your happy to steal your clients customers, but not happy if they steal yours??? O'boy this is a cracking first post & topic opener Chester........ Lee Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windycity Posted March 22, 2013 Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 Bet i can guess that this was sent from a wholesaler to a client and i reckon its ............................ i seem to remember such a response be directed to me a while ago. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Danny King Posted March 22, 2013 Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 I thought this was shoe string , so I might be wrong lol Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenB Posted March 22, 2013 Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 Caroline from ShoeString is a member of the forum, so I'd expect any corporate statement from them to come from her. So come on then Chester, we're still waiting... who are you? (I bet we never hear from Chester again) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
x minit uk Posted March 22, 2013 Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 Shoe string I would have thought. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k4mrc Posted March 22, 2013 Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 who ever "Chester" is, I am sure it is not Shoestring, and if "Chester" has any balls, they would state there company name and then we could all judge if we still support them. to say - We will police the internet for any customers who sell any of our products below our recommended retail price and enforce compliance. is a load of balls in itself! we can sell any item at any price we want, there is no law on this, otherwise every price war, that goes on would fill the court system Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cobblers&keys Posted March 22, 2013 Report Share Posted March 22, 2013 I thought it could be zippo but then it could be anyone. Why give a statement without identifying yourself ?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
petercoulson Posted March 23, 2013 Report Share Posted March 23, 2013 Very odd statement and look when they joined - nearly 3 years for a first post Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Posted March 23, 2013 Report Share Posted March 23, 2013 Perhaps disapproval from their account holding customers has seen an overall drop in sales? nearly 3 years for a first post this is how we roll! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hibsjo(SCO) Posted March 23, 2013 Report Share Posted March 23, 2013 I can confirm today that i still dont know who the supplier is? carry on! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
slippy Posted March 23, 2013 Report Share Posted March 23, 2013 Whoever you are. You obviously don't understand the concept of wholesale internet trading from our point of view. You sell your products at rrp, make a bigger profit and also take trade away form us. Please. Tell us who you are so that we can return the favour. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
StevenB Posted March 23, 2013 Report Share Posted March 23, 2013 It is not our intention to annoy or offend our customers and we feel we ought to explain the reasons for our particular interest in the online market. I'm afraid you seem to have failed. The internet is fast becoming an e-commerce powerhouse and we all need to embrace the opportunities and challenges this brings, not only for ourselves but also for our customers. As a wholesaler, if you think you can use the internet in this way, why not use your marketing muscle to promote your products effectively & then direct customers to us to sell them for you. A 'Find your local distributor' facility would not be too difficult to set up, and it would guide customers to us, the retailers to provide advice as required & make the sale. We are acutely aware that to compete in the same marketplace as our customers will cause some friction And yet you carry on? We will police the internet for any customers who sell any of our products below our recommended retail price and enforce compliance. Isn't price fixing illegal? We hope this goes some way to pacify any bad feeling amongst the members of the Shoe Repairers community and we apologise for any distress this may have caused. I suspect not. I think we all look forward to finding out who you really are. Over to you Chester. (I bet we never hear from Chester again) Prove me wrong... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul_ Posted March 23, 2013 Report Share Posted March 23, 2013 As no response seems forth-coming from Chester lets try this the other way around. Could all wholesalers start ruling themselves out. I'll start, although I'm only a tiny company compared to some I'm still a wholesaler to the trade and it wasn't me. NEXT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lee Posted March 23, 2013 Report Share Posted March 23, 2013 Paul, I expect you've built your connections with manufacturers on being a wholesaler & you will build a customer base & your business will grow to the point where you will have board meetings on the best ways to move the company forward during which you will decide to move into the same markets as those who spend money with you forgetting your grass roots & those who brought you this far, will you not? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamparker Posted March 23, 2013 Report Share Posted March 23, 2013 This isn't just happening to the shoe repair industry but some safe manufacturers have been doing this for years. I really do hope Chester will come forward and tell us the company name because if i deal with them i will not continue to do so. Small independants like us build these businesses into what they are and if we all remove our support we can cause them to come crashing down with a big bump. Just because you can, doesn't necessarily mean you should. Not saying its them but i just found this while searching ebay. http://www.ebay.co.uk/usr/wholsalesolutions Yale blanks have been sold on here if you look through the feedback. http://feedback.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI ... =10&page=3 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Paul_ Posted March 23, 2013 Report Share Posted March 23, 2013 Paul, I expect you've built your connections with manufacturers on being a wholesaler & you will build a customer base & your business will grow to the point where you will have board meetings on the best ways to move the company forward during which you will decide to move into the same markets as those who spend money with you forgetting your grass roots & those who brought you this far, will you not? Good question Lee, but as it stands I don't deal with the public. Even when working for Colledges I know how much it pee'd people off and a few closed their accounts and I know a few now who no longer deal with Shoe String for this reason. I find it amazing that wholesalers get their staff spending time processing orders for small amounts when surely they'd be better off concentrating on increasing trade with existing trade accounts or devolving new ones! Say they sold a tin of polish to Joe public and made 75p profit and had to process the invoice, wrap the product, process the payment, get it to the post office. Makes no sense to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hibsjo(SCO) Posted March 24, 2013 Report Share Posted March 24, 2013 but on that tin of polish if they are doing 10,000 of them it makes sense? its called turnover its back to the old age 10 at a pound or one for a tenner who do you want coming through your door and how many? Im not condoning wholesalers selling their wares to the retail sector but internet sales are a thing that will eventually kill the high street off so get prepared get smart its about using all the tools at your disposal. its a joke the way some of yous react to our wholesalers selling "their" goods (its probably one of the reasons they are still in business and offering us the prices they do) i sell a hundred pair of laces a week never going to sell anymore never sell any less people will come through my door for laces. Tescos sell laces so on that basis you guys dont shop in this store? this is slightly off topic as Chester is out of order trying to fix prices but you see my drift? carry on! I love Keys 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Muppet Posted March 24, 2013 Report Share Posted March 24, 2013 I agree. Why shouldn't they sell their own stuff at full retail price? They are kind enough to give you trade discount on account so you can make money too. They sell online, they don't give a personal experience that can brighten someone's day like I'm sure you all do. When I buy from the Internet I'm not bothered which site I use, but when I want something from a shop I normally use shops where I know I'll have a good all round shopping experience. I would have thought a lot of people are the same. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
windycity Posted March 24, 2013 Report Share Posted March 24, 2013 at the end of the day who really gives two hoots I used to, but i just could not care less now. when you have one company who have numerous retail outlets and a massive wholesale network gaining the buying behavior of a large share of the independent market it just makes it easier for you to decide who to buy from. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shoe String Posted March 25, 2013 Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 Hi Guys Just been informed of this post by a fellow on the forum, I am not sure who Chester is but it's not me. I think I have said before the purpose of our consumer website was to give our retails a customer service angle being able to offer all products with out having to stock every colour. Many retailers use this knowing that if the consumer goes to our site they will pay more than the price on their shelf. Full recommended retail plus an additional carriage charge. A couple of months ago a customer informed me of a product where the price was lower than his and it was changed 10 minutes later and also that we had a multi buy option to save the carriage and this was also removed following their point of view. We have many shoe shops that find this service invaluable to be able to send their customers somewhere to offer a solution . That makes it sound that our internet sales are great, they are not we work to promote the high street. I have always followed a policy of working with our customers. The internet is a retail platform, Cherry Blossom won an award only the other week for the best web retailer, I haven't seen their retail site but it beat the online shoe retailers on our table who were hoping to come somewhere. It is the way of the world. Any queries, please, please ring me I can only improve what we do with your input and all comments are welcome but I only seem to get on the forum when someone gives me a nudge. My direct line is 01858-438251 Thank you and wishing you increased sales as the roads turn to slush. Many thanks Caroline Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
keithm Posted March 25, 2013 Report Share Posted March 25, 2013 Not fair to name a Company if you are not sure of the facts Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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