Now is the Time

[minutemen]

For those rinks that have suffered from the drop in inline hockey across the US, now might be the time to start to advertise. With the economy the way it is and the high fees for ice hockey, families may be looking into the better bargain. So go out and market your rink to your area. Offer practice time to those ice hockey teams that can't get rink time or can't afford it. A lot of rinks back in the 90's got business for that very reason. Hoping that this all works out, learn from the past and organize your leagues better then those from the past. Build a High School program in your area, make deals with HS ice hockey teams to come practice and start a league. This is the only part that is lacking in inline hockey and why so many left the sport. No advancement for their kids and kids want to play for their HS. Work with other inline rinks in your state or region to start youth travel programs, make a regional or state championships. Work with your local AIHL, MLRH and PIHA and have the players run clinics. Make your rink a fun family atmosphere and have family skate nights, raffle prizes, discounts for students with good grades. Start after school open hockey for those parents that work, so they can drop of their kids. Become part of the community and show them that your there for the kids and love for the sport. Do anything to get them in the door and playing.

The ice hockey rink I grew up in was packed 7 days a week, now you go there on a Saturday and it is empty. We had a good youth travel program and a huge in house. We had a Pee Wee tournament each year and had teams come from Alaska, Russia, Michigan, Colorado and now the program is hurting. The reason why we were so big back then, was because of the people, we were a hockey family. We ran the schedules and practices, now the program is run by the rink and its managers. So rink owners do not try and do everything, let the parents get involved and help build the rink with you. Mak ethem feel like the rink is there 2nd home.

Finally to all those hockey equipment companies out there, lower your prices so that rink pro shops will open again. I owned a Pro shop for 4 years, and was always upset that we have a limit to how low we can sell product, but online companies and places like Dicks Sports get away with lowering there prices considerably. Richard if this paragraph is a problem and upsets your sponsors, you can take it down. But I think it finally needs to be said. The main reason why most rinks do not have Pro Shops and new kids do not start the sport, way too expensive. In the long run you will make more money.

Just a few things that came to me today. Please add anything to this and lets start to build this sport from the ground up and make it work this time. Everyone on this board has been through the ups and the many downs in this sport, NOW IS THE TIME. It will take a lot of work but we have a lot of great people with great ideas, lets put them to work.

[jawz&chum]

All good points Justin.

[CUDangled]

Finally to all those hockey equipment companies out there, lower your prices so that rink pro shops will open again. I owned a Pro shop for 4 years, and was always upset that we have a limit to how low we can sell product, but online companies and places like Dicks Sports get away with lowering there prices considerably. Richard if this paragraph is a problem and upsets your sponsors, you can take it down. But I think it finally needs to be said. The main reason why most rinks do not have Pro Shops and new kids do not start the sport, way too expensive. In the long run you will make more money.

Your intention is good, but don't you think the manufactures WOULD lower their prices if they could? The prices for equipment are not arbitrarily set. They are based on their cost of the good, plus their overhead. Then the pro shop purchases the goods at wholesale (or whatever “their cost” is), they must then add their markup to cover their store’s overhead. Staff their shop, rent, marketing, etc. This is just basic economics. A better solution may be to approach the manufactures and ask them to be more strict as to what prices their authorized distributors charge of the equipment.
I used to own a business in another industry and the online retailers were killing the “brick and mortar” stores. The manufactures realized the impact on the industry if the stores were to collapse and they forced ALL retailers to charge a MINIMUM price for each item. This allowed brick and mortar stores to compete.
Just an idea…

[Mlrhnorthfan]

The equipment companies themselves arent the problem. Its the other retailers and pro shops.

This is a scenario that really happens:

Large proshop= sells 500 composite sticks a month at full retail.

Small proshop/rink in same region as Large pro shop = asks company to sell them 50 sticks at a reduced cost (lower than Large shop is getting them for) for their shop.

Large proshop finds out and says they will stop carrying said companies product if the company makes the deal with the small shop. Equiment company sees the value here.

500 sticks at full price per month versus 50 sticks at reduced means the large company wins.

Then players go into small proshop and see no stock or only low quality equipment. They go to the large shop and see that the prices are outrageous.
Players then go online and buy everything even cheaper.

In this equation everyone loses.

A good idea would be to start a not for profit youth hockey organization and ask online retailers for taxable donations in the form of equipment.

[quick_dry]

A better solution may be to approach the manufactures and ask them to be more strict as to what prices their authorized distributors charge of the equipment.
I used to own a business in another industry and the online retailers were killing the “brick and mortar” stores. The manufactures realized the impact on the industry if the stores were to collapse and they forced ALL retailers to charge a MINIMUM price for each item. This allowed brick and mortar stores to compete.
Just an idea…

that may be legal in the USA but in much of the world, pricing agreements like that will just land your company directors in the slammer. As a manufacturer you can set your sell price, and state what your RRP is - but people can sell it for whatever they want.

As it is, you can't buy Bauer, Easton, etc from online stores shipped to an address outside the USA - some places won't even sell to you with an overseas credit card, not because of fraud, but because of agreements forced on them by the manufacturers.

[Rattler]

I used to own a business in another industry and the online retailers were killing the “brick and mortar” stores. The manufactures realized the impact on the industry if the stores were to collapse and they forced ALL retailers to charge a MINIMUM price for each item. This allowed brick and mortar stores to compete.

Sure sounds like the ski industry to me. Am I wrong?

[Rattler]

that may be legal in the USA but in much of the world, pricing agreements like that will just land your company directors in the slammer. As a manufacturer you can set your sell price, and state what your RRP is - but people can sell it for whatever they want.

Not sure about your country, but in the ski industry this is a common practice across the globe. The tire industry in the US is very similar as well.

[quick_dry]

Not sure about your country, but in the ski industry this is a common practice across the globe. The tire industry in the US is very similar as well.

key words "in the US". In the USA you are allowed to have vertical pricing agreements (so the manufacturer can dictate pricing to its resellers e.g. Apple), but not horizontal pricing agreements (e.g. Barnes and Noble, Borders and Amazon can't all collude on pricing). Your courts have decided that on a case-by-case basis it can actually be pro-competitive, but I don't think many other locales would follow that lead. In many other first world countries you can't have vertical OR horizontal pricing agreements.

In Australia you can set the maximum price, but not the minimum (though there are also anti-dumping laws because it is anti-competitive)

In the EU there are laws regarding minimum pricing. A few years ago countries in the EU had the EC going after them for setting minimum pricing on tobacco products because it wasn't allowed under EU law.

Is ski industry 'around the globe' == 'in the US'? Cause it doesn't sound like you could have price floors set by manufacturers on ski gear in the EU - a fairly large part of the skiing world.

P.S. very cool avatar/logo you have there.

[RichardGraham]

Steve,

Is there anything you don't know? Man, you're sharp. No wonder I loved Australia so much when I hitchhiked some 10,000 miles through your great country as an 18- and 19-year-old way back when. Oz rocks!

[Rattler]

It has been a long time since I have been a part of the snow sports industry, so I checked with a friend of mine to brush up on the rule. The rule is if you want to retail a particular manufacturers product, you cannot advertise a price below the minimum recommended price (for that current years line only) prior to Feb 1. You can however sell for what ever you want, just can't advertise it. He said it did apply to Europe, but since it only listed Feb 1 as a date, and your winter (or season) is much different than ours, we both assumed it did not apply to the southern hemisphere. Either way, back to the original topic. I never had a problem with someone if they wanted to buy online and save some $$$$. I would imagine the big problem with the brick and mortar shops is someone coming in and trying on a bunch of skates, and getting a bunch of expert advise on other gear with no intention of buying there. Then going online and searching for that super cheap price.

[hockeymum]

would it be possible for smaller shops to organize themselves into something like a co-op? joining to gether to purchase larger quantities could provide bargaining power. in areas where numerous rinks are separated by a relatively small distance(2 hrs or less?) it could work i would think.

[Outcastshockey]

There is actually something like this in place now within the hockey industry. The major manufacturers (Bauer, Reebok/CCM, Warrior, Easton, etc) have M.A.P. pricing (minimum advertised pricing) on most mid-to-high end items. You can't advertise (whether online, print, TV, or other) below their set pricing for a set period of time. When product is shown pre-season, dating for when the M.A.P. will be active is presented and retailers know well ahead of time how long a protected pricing life cycle will be.

The retailer I work for would be considered somewhere between a small "Mom and Pop" and a medium sized chain. We have multiple locations both stand alone and inside ice facilities but are just local to one metro area. I can tell you that without the M.A.P. pricing we wouldn't have been able to survive as long as we have. Before M.A.P. was enforced, a certain "marsupial" online vendor basically dictated what prices were going to be for everything in this market on any given day. With the volume the larger online retailers order at, and the lack of retail overhead, they can decide to just blow something out on a whim that a smaller retailer might be highly invested in, forcing them to sell at many times a loss just to get it out the door.

With M.A.P. enforced in the industry, the smaller retailer can now put customer service and expertise in play. You can get it from us (right away) at roughly the same price AND get sized correctly, have someone to service your purchase down the line, and have someone on hand in the future if there's a problem. The key for the smaller guy is to make sure you don't over order and move your product before the M.A.P. protection runs out.

I can't stress this enough... SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL RETAILER. Saving a few bucks on three year old crap that nobody wanted when it was new might seem great right now, but where will the online guy be when you need 4 rivets put in your skate and you have a game in an hour?

Nick B.
Tour Outcasts

[quick_dry]

Nick I must have a mental block in place, but I can't think of any online hockey shops that use a marsupial. Giants, monkeys, "excellent skates", weather events, and warehouses... but Hockey Possum or Kangaroo doesn't ring any bells

The "crap, I need it fixed NOW" problem is exactly why I support local hockey shops where it makes sense. Unfortunately when an S17 costs well over 500 dollars here, and I can go online and get 3 for that price when family go to the states... it is a bit hard to justify buying locally given that price difference.