Stores loose money on Boxing Day sales?

[SeaHorse_Fanatic]

It's not so much the cost of the fish, corals and supplies that is expensive but the crazy cost of transportation that hurts the bottom line. For instance, a few hundred dollars worth of livestock can easily be over $1000 in shipping, transhipping fees, etc.

[MarkoD]

Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic

It's not so much the cost of the fish, corals and supplies that is expensive but the crazy cost of transportation that hurts the bottom line. For instance, a few hundred dollars worth of livestock can easily be over $1000 in shipping, transhipping fees, etc.

Shipping is expensive on livestock because its time sensitive. But dry goods are way cheaper to ship

[msjboy]

I think typical dry goods on a day to day basis have at least a 50% to 60% markup... as for corals and fish, it's probably 50% ( before shipping).

Stuff like groceries at the big box markets could be as low as 2% but they have huge volumes.

msjboy

[MarkoD]

I think it's more like 30% on dry goods and 50% on livestock

[Mrfish55]

Originally Posted by MarkoD

I think it's more like 30% on dry goods and 50% on livestock

Any business running on that margin will not be in business for long, commercial overhead is costly, the sales you see this time of year are typical for business looking to unload excess inventory from Christmas, anyone that has ever worked retail will tell you Jan and Feb are usually pretty lean months. That being said it is nice to score a deal or two for those who have any money left after Cashmas.

[Aquattro]

Originally Posted by Mrfish55

Any business running on that margin will not be in business for long...

Absolutely! I'd figure another 0 on the end of those figures. Some higher end stuff is marked up less, 10 or 20%, but some dry goods are marked up 100% or more. Livestock can be up to 300% or more. figure costs of shipping, covering losses in shipping, supplying the environment to keep it, staff to maintain it, food, the shelf and fridge space to keep the food in, water, etc. It all adds up..
Salt for example is sold at close to cost, mostly because the market has driven it to that. So if the store doubles or triples the cost of the fish to go in that salt, I'm ok with that, as without profit, there wouldn't be a store to shop at.
As for the original question, yes, some stores lose some money on some items.

[Nano]

^ +1 Dry goods are alot easier to sell at cost or below as said, cause they mark up everything else anywhere from 10% or more to cover costs, Like brad said fish can be marked up as much as 300% I sold 1 1/2" Cichlid fry to a LFS once for 2.50 a piece and they sold them for 16.95 at the same size. but they have to do this to pay staff and power bills are enormous in Fish stores

[phi delt reefer]

salt and other heavily marked down items are called "loss leaders" - they attract you into the store with the hopes the client will also purchase other items where they will make up the loss.

when i worked at futureshop (when the original xbox and PS2 were new gaming consoles) - we lost $10 per console when selling them at regular price. Our managers reminded us daily to push additional controllers/memory cards/games/extended warranties with each sale to ensure the department's profitability.

[MarkoD]

Originally Posted by Mrfish55

Any business running on that margin will not be in business for long, commercial overhead is costly, the sales you see this time of year are typical for business looking to unload excess inventory from Christmas, anyone that has ever worked retail will tell you Jan and Feb are usually pretty lean months. That being said it is nice to score a deal or two for those who have any money left after Cashmas.

Sorry what I meant is live stock cost is half of the price. So 100% markup.

My bad

[Ryan]

Originally Posted by SeaHorse_Fanatic

It's not so much the cost of the fish, corals and supplies that is expensive but the crazy cost of transportation that hurts the bottom line. For instance, a few hundred dollars worth of livestock can easily be over $1000 in shipping, transhipping fees, etc.

Where do you get this information? I used to work in this industry (less than 2 years ago) and your right there is a few hundred dollars in fish but if your paying $1000 to ship please ask for vaseline when they rape you. We rarely seen shipping costs at half that and we had to fly stuff to calgary then to lethbridge (and extra $100). Generally it was $300/box when they got to Calgary international Airport.


I will however say you guys in edmonton are getting SCREWED HARD! I was up in october and visited a few shops about the only one I seen with decent pricing was RCE. I didnt get a chance to stop at Blue World but I will say I stopped shopping when I seen a Purple Tang for $300 at another shop. Same fish is a $90 fish in Calgary.

Thankfuly Lethbridge stores have finally clued in that people are making trips to calgary for cheaper prices, ordering from JL, and thankfuly they have lowered their prices to keep people local.