Question. On pricing.

Cool, what was the respective discount structure like for bulk purchases passed on to your customers? What's your discount structure like now for your best clients?
At one point Wholesale Sports was the largest sporting arms and optics dealer in Canada yet they barely even broke the base volume discount from most US suppliers (there were numerous US individual stores that sold more than all of Wholesale combined) so how do you think our retailers compete with that buying power. Not to mention the punitive tax and regulation structure(s) that exist in this country for any small business that isn't sucking Trudeaus ####.

Were scopes priced differently before 2015?
 
Cool, what was the respective discount structure like for bulk purchases passed on to your customers? What's your discount structure like now for your best clients?
At one point Wholesale Sports was the largest sporting arms and optics dealer in Canada yet they barely even broke the base volume discount from most US suppliers (there were numerous US individual stores that sold more than all of Wholesale combined) so how do you think our retailers compete with that buying power. Not to mention the punitive tax and regulation structure(s) that exist in this country for any small business that isn't sucking Trudeaus ####.

Depends on the client, which tier they were in at what volume they would buy in, and what contracts we had signed them in for on a service basis. Others were open competitive bid design and proposal.

Don't bs me on the punitive taxes, and Trudeau/Government Schtick, competitive open pricing can and still does exist.

Whilst some can point the finger at purchasing power, truth be told you make and give your best deals on an open market to the end user while leaving some meat on the bone on all 3 levels from production, to wholesale to retail, and in some cases it means your wholesaler goes to the manufacturer, and secures better pricing. Takes a great deal of work, but it is absolutely necessary. In some cases that means flying thousands of miles away to meet with the end user or the manufacturer.
 
I'm only speaking from my sporting goods background in wholesale and retail. Canada is relatively huge in skis etc being a winter country and all so we pay less for skis than most places. Still there are some channels that end up cheaper but even I as a smallish retailer can compete.
Hook and bullet industry in Canada is something like 4% of the US? Not a big player at all so again the discounts probably not available?
I know what my friends in my industry pay in taxes etc less than an hour away in the US and yes we are punished for being Canadian by our respective gov'ts.
 
Care to tell us through PM who this is and how to avoid paying through the nose?

Same distributor behind M10X fiasco.

The only companies deserving business/canadian pricing in Canada are the ones who do warranty in Canada. If it's shipping to US regardless where you bought it, then what's the point?

P.S. The way to show them a finger is to use 3rd party import companies.
 
Retailers in this industry need to make more than 10-15%, most need 20% just to keep the lights on and keep the sales folks paid. So for an optic to have 30-35% margins is not outrageous in the grand scheme of things. Plus value needs to be kept in the product in the form of these margins because if the retailer doesn't make money, he will move on to a different brand that he can. Some of the better optics companies are still relatively small independent businesses, where as an optic brand like Bushnell who is part of Vista group that has literally dozens of brands behind it to pool margins and profits that make it feasible for 20-30% off rebates and sales. Other optics brands don't have that kind of financial backing.

I am self employed, and have been most of my adult life. I have done everything from contracting/construction work to sales and consulting. My price is my price, when someone asks for a lower price I politely explain to them why I charge what I do and move along. Everyone deserves to make some money when they work hard and provide good service, and I generally don't complain about pricing, if I don't like it, I move along.
 
Why is it that there is not much disparity in optics pricing in Canada?

I see 9 different prices from Sightron/Leupy/Minox, Hensoldt/US Optics (50-350.00)/ Nightforce (2-300.00)in different stores in the USA, and some of them even have sales on glass...

In Canada, there is almost no difference at all between vendors. Why is this? There seems to be almost no competition even between retailers. Or is the issue on a wholesale level?
I agree with other posters about the MAP being pretty prevelant for optics. I did get lucky around Christmas when Vortex dropped the Viper scope prices by $200 and most vendors passed this on and advertised the new price. There was no mention of a price drop on the more expensive Razor spotting scopes in anyone's advertising so I had nothing to lose by calling/emailing several vendors at least two of which would drop the price. A few mentioned that they could not advertise the prices they were willing to sell at if lower than the MAP but contacting them directly allowed them to offer a lower, unadvertised price. These were authorized dealers with full warranty etc.
While folks in business deserve a reasonable profit it usually pays to just ask politely if there is a chance of a discount. BTW the price I paid in Canadian dollars was better before and after tax than the internet prices of vendors in the US with out hassles of shipping, duty etc, a bonusšŸ˜€. Even the regular price in Canada was about even for the same product in the States, at least for Vortex.
 
Exclusive distributors in Canada buy scopes from manufacturers. They are the middle men we have that take a markup for this "service" of storing product in a warehouse with little overhead. They sell those to retail outlets who also need to markup to make a profit since they operate storefronts and have high overhead.
####ty system really, but it's getting better. IRUNGUNS threw a wrench into a lot of this, Basspro brings their own glass over from the US which forced Leupold to warranty scopes not imported by Korth which was a win for us as well.
 
Exclusive distributors in Canada buy scopes from manufacturers. They are the middle men we have that take a markup for this "service" of storing product in a warehouse with little overhead. They sell those to retail outlets who also need to markup to make a profit since they operate storefronts and have high overhead.
####ty system really, but it's getting better. IRUNGUNS threw a wrench into a lot of this, Basspro brings their own glass over from the US which forced Leupold to warranty scopes not imported by Korth which was a win for us as well.
I found out something interesting when scope shopping which makes your post more depressing in that some vendors and suppliers in Canada do not actually have everything they have for sale in stock, or even much stock at all, and they drop ship directly from the Canadian distributor and the item does not even go anywhere near the store that"sold" it to you. This really keeps their costs down!
 
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