peoples thoughts and opinions on calgary lfs??? - Page 2

reefwars · #1 10-22-2012, 06:24 PM

i went in to one of the lfs a few months ago , i asked about a torch coral, the shop keep said ....... " were having a special on torchs this weekend , he said all torch reardless of heads are $70"

i thought humm maybe i will so i said ok give me a bit to browse still...ten mins later i went looking for the guy but he was gone so i said to the other guy whats the price on the torch coral i wanted again??

he said " were having a special on torchs this weekend all torchs are $50 regardless of heads"

to say the least since that very day i lost respwect for them......

reefwars · #2 10-22-2012, 07:11 PM

i would love one of the sponsors or store owners on this site to pls reply and give us your take on customers, running a store and what your goals are.

we are all talking about this from a custoer point of view i would like to see what a business has to say about the comments made and their take on things in this business.

Reef_Geek · #3 10-22-2012, 07:28 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by reefwars

just looking at all the replies and attention this thread is getting tells me we are hurting for a change in business in this city from our lfs , we all know it.

red coral was off to a great start , ive always had nothing but great things to say about kevin and the gang, its sad what happened to them but we need a replacement for their store , the few we have are older stores and set in their ways , they are not about to change so we as the public need to demand what we want .

in the end its us who provide the business that these stores get , if it works they are not about to fix it....why right??

its about time we had a place that WANTS to serve the city and WANTS to expand and become part of what this city has to offer.

we have a very large poulation, it is dominated by asian store owners(this is fact) all these stores run in a similiar way and all have stemmed from another lfs who still runs in this fashion.

calgary needs someone willing to change things and make them at par with the rest of the country.

ps.....i actually get along great with all the stores in the city , but fact is there are problems that n eed addressing sooner than later.

We need BATfishMAN!

Seriously though, I'm not sure if this one is a little bit of a runaway on passion of the moment (Denny does get fired up!)... don't believe there's anything so far as 'broken' here so much as opportunity for improvement... or direct feedback usable for any given incumbent to take back and raise their level of competitiveness. I would call this market saturated in terms of LFS count to population ratio. This town has money to spend when its economy is in the boom phase... but difficult on discretionary spending when it's flat.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kien

On the issue with pricing, I wonder if it is partially a cultural thing? Of the 5 traditional stores that sell marine stuffs, 3 of them are owned and operated by asians and those are the ones that NEVER have prices on their tanks. It is in their nature to expect haggling. From their point of view, is there a point in putting a price up if someone is just going to come along and knock it down ? Also, I think that the cost on livestock fluctuates wildly from shipment to shipment. It is possible that a Blue Tang from one shipment will cost them $40 while on the next shipment will cost them $50. In the meantime, the Blue Tang from both shipments are still hanging out in the same tank. I'm guessing that the store owners kind of want to hide this from the customers. Anyway, I'm not a store owner so I'm just speculating :-)

And on the issue of Preferred Customer pricing. I don't see an issue with this. It is no different than any other business with a Preferred Customer system. I am a "Preferred Customer" with Avis Rent a Car so I get to the front of the line. "Preferred Frequent Flyer's" with Air Canada get special treatment (seat upgrades, meals, perferred boarding, etc). This is normal business practice.

I don't see the issue. There are 3 prices. 1) the asking/starting price. This can be posted or not posted. Whether it's marked on the tank, priced on the car window, advertised in the newspaper, or the price not written but you ask when viewing a house... it's the asking price. 2) there's the target price. The seller knows they're not always going to get the asking price, whether it's posted or not, it's the price at which the seller would be satisfied. 3) then there's the selling price... the actual price at transaction that is mutually agreed upon. It can be the asking price, it can be at or above the target price... but typically not below the target price as the seller would back out or wait for another buyer.

Net-net, starting price can be, but does not have to be posted. The market is efficient and will work either way. I believe one shop sells at such good prices that their turnover of livestock makes it a pain to price and update all the time... meanwhile the other two have spun off this one and have beliefs that this is the way to go... or likely a mix of laziness and opportunity.

PS-one place has several guys and only one of them has the authority to make the call on lowering the price. You have to know what is not negotiable (ie with the guy that just works there) and who you're negotiating with. I wonder if price discrepancies arose from this.

jorjef · #4 10-22-2012, 06:52 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by kien

On the issue with pricing, I wonder if it is partially a cultural thing? Of the 5 traditional stores that sell marine stuffs, 3 of them are owned and operated by asians and those are the ones that NEVER have prices on their tanks. It is in their nature to expect haggling. From their point of view, is there a point in putting a price up if someone is just going to come along and knock it down ? Also, I think that the cost on livestock fluctuates wildly from shipment to shipment. It is possible that a Blue Tang from one shipment will cost them $40 while on the next shipment will cost them $50. In the meantime, the Blue Tang from both shipments are still hanging out in the same tank. I'm guessing that the store owners kind of want to hide this from the customers. Anyway, I'm not a store owner so I'm just speculating :-)

And on the issue of Preferred Customer pricing. I don't see an issue with this. It is no different than any other business with a Preferred Customer system. I am a "Preferred Customer" with Avis Rent a Car so I get to the front of the line. "Preferred Frequent Flyer's" with Air Canada get special treatment (seat upgrades, meals, perferred boarding, etc). This is normal business practice.

I have read the last two pages of posts and this is the only one that I find has any merit in reading a second time....Hope others will read again.

Store owners run 'their' stores the way 'they' want. If I was the owner I wouldn't want people telling me how to run my business.

reefwars · #5 10-22-2012, 07:01 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jorjef

I have read the last two pages of posts and this is the only one that I find has any merit in reading a second time....Hope others will read again.

Store owners run 'their' stores the way 'they' want. If I was the owner I wouldn't want people telling me how to run my business.

no but if you were a smart business man you would want feedback , if not how do you know your full potential or problems people or your own customers have?? and since when does a business not care about what its customers wants??

i guess sure maybe joes aquarium is happy selling goldfish and half dead corals.....maybe joes aquarium has a clientele and does not care for new business, thats fine but we are customers you cant admit our needs dont matter to them , without us there would be no moneys ...period

still to me that equal lazy , im not trying to change how our current lfs works im trying to find out what this city wants in a lfs and believe me there are things that we dont have and want....why do you think i sell coral?? simply because its lacking in this city..... up untill about a month ago i was the only person selling frags.... now since ive started and word has gotten around one other store has started to make frgas as well.....i can almost guarantee it is from talking with people who come to my house, i think its great that what im doing is catching on to the stores...so mabe theres hope for more turn around no??

cheers

reefwars · #6 10-22-2012, 07:08 PM

i guess what im saying is we are forced to shop at these places.... if something better comes along then guess what...they are going to lose their clients for a better store...its that simple, its not marrige so if i dont like the store im not gonna work it out through counselling im just gonna go to the next store.

when this happens the store is going to close...why??

because they were not up to the task of providing the services they origionally intended to do and didnt listen to their customers.

business rule number 1:

always respect your customers wishes and opinions, in the end they make or break your business.