08-16-2005, 12:28 AM
Kent, heres my opinion.
Not that it matters much.
But I thought that you know enough about my personal situation that you might be able to appreciate my perspective.
Cabelas and sportsmans whse are not interested at all in customer service.
Yeah, guys who work there will tell you customer service is thier code of honor. And the managment pounds the idea of customer service into the employee's heads.
But in all reality, the big box retailers are about two things and two things only.
1 Price.
2 Selection.
Think its not true?
Think about it. Go into sportsmans or cabelas and try to order a product from a vendor they dont carry.
They will send you away without even trying. Thats the way the big box retailers work. They buy certain items in bulk to get big price breaks, stock the shelf with lots of popular product, and sell it cheap.
The guys that are in the customer service buisness are places that bend over backwards to do ANYTHING for you. Places like hooked, or custom sports in hyde park, or fish tech.
The small shops compete in customer service, they dont compete in price or selection. Thier buisness base survives on customer service.
The big box boys dont have a clue what real customer service is, they know how to move bulk product.
Neither sportsmans or cabelas has the power to order all the items in thier store, at the store.
Its all done at the corporate headquarters by buyers who dont work in the stores.
Even to get new product in the stores they have to go get approval through the corporate.
Thats not how the top end customer service happens. Thats how you negotiate bulk pricing, and sell loads of gear.
The idea that cabelas or sportsmans is even in the customer service buisness is insane.
So, my take is, its not about service at the big stores, its about price and availabilty of the specific product I want to buy.
Whoever has the product and has the best price wins the buisness.
Guys who are excited about the glitz, and glam of fanfare boggle my mind.
The last thing I am interested in is spending hours in a store.
In and out, best price, and have what I want on the shelf.
In todays wolrd, a guy can get anything he wants online. You can now buy direct from just about any manufacturer. So selection is wide open.
Its critical to have the product on the shelf, since if I have to wait to get it from cabelas, I might as well wait and have it delivered to my house from the manufacturer.
Having product available on the shelf at the exact time I want it, at the best price is all I care about.
Basically bad fish is right.
I know a couple of the guys who got jobs at cabelas in thier fishing dept.
These guys arent getting paid much, and at their pay level the idea that they will own much of the equipment in the store is unrealistic.
If they dont own and use it, the idea that they will know much about it is pretty slim.
You can find out more about a product on your own most of the time, but occasionally you get a guy who knows his product, but chances are he doesnt know all the products available.
I know that for some reason there is a lot of people who cant see past the fancy show room, and the name.
My opinion.
I am glad cabelas is here. Why? Well, I have already done my comparson. Over the past ten years cabelas hasnt been cheaper on price, or had a better selection than what I could get locally, but I am glad they are here.
Not because they will get any of my buisness, but because people will hate you just because you are the only game in town.
Anglers inn was hated by the vast majority because they were the only option. It wasnt a bad store. Thier customer service was no different than thier competitors.
They were simply hated because they were the only choice a guy had other than po-dunk garts.
Cabelas gives the haters a choice. It also gives people who hate cabelas a choice. If cabelas was the only game in town and sportsmans moved in the rage would be about sportsmans in the hater circles.
These people are not interested in price and selection. They are just interested in satisfying thier hate.
Dont believe that?
Just ask anyone who says he is excited about one or the other, and why.
If they say I would rather pay more money for the same product........
Whatever.
If cabelas happens to have the product I want, and they have the best price on it, I will get it there. If they dont have it, or dont have the best price, I will get it somewhere else.
One thing I wont ever expect is customer service from a place that is set up to compete in the big box retail world.
Cheap pay, cheap prices, and so much stuff theres no way one guy could know it all in a lifetime.
[signature]
Not that it matters much.
But I thought that you know enough about my personal situation that you might be able to appreciate my perspective.
Cabelas and sportsmans whse are not interested at all in customer service.
Yeah, guys who work there will tell you customer service is thier code of honor. And the managment pounds the idea of customer service into the employee's heads.
But in all reality, the big box retailers are about two things and two things only.
1 Price.
2 Selection.
Think its not true?
Think about it. Go into sportsmans or cabelas and try to order a product from a vendor they dont carry.
They will send you away without even trying. Thats the way the big box retailers work. They buy certain items in bulk to get big price breaks, stock the shelf with lots of popular product, and sell it cheap.
The guys that are in the customer service buisness are places that bend over backwards to do ANYTHING for you. Places like hooked, or custom sports in hyde park, or fish tech.
The small shops compete in customer service, they dont compete in price or selection. Thier buisness base survives on customer service.
The big box boys dont have a clue what real customer service is, they know how to move bulk product.
Neither sportsmans or cabelas has the power to order all the items in thier store, at the store.
Its all done at the corporate headquarters by buyers who dont work in the stores.
Even to get new product in the stores they have to go get approval through the corporate.
Thats not how the top end customer service happens. Thats how you negotiate bulk pricing, and sell loads of gear.
The idea that cabelas or sportsmans is even in the customer service buisness is insane.
So, my take is, its not about service at the big stores, its about price and availabilty of the specific product I want to buy.
Whoever has the product and has the best price wins the buisness.
Guys who are excited about the glitz, and glam of fanfare boggle my mind.
The last thing I am interested in is spending hours in a store.
In and out, best price, and have what I want on the shelf.
In todays wolrd, a guy can get anything he wants online. You can now buy direct from just about any manufacturer. So selection is wide open.
Its critical to have the product on the shelf, since if I have to wait to get it from cabelas, I might as well wait and have it delivered to my house from the manufacturer.
Having product available on the shelf at the exact time I want it, at the best price is all I care about.
Basically bad fish is right.
I know a couple of the guys who got jobs at cabelas in thier fishing dept.
These guys arent getting paid much, and at their pay level the idea that they will own much of the equipment in the store is unrealistic.
If they dont own and use it, the idea that they will know much about it is pretty slim.
You can find out more about a product on your own most of the time, but occasionally you get a guy who knows his product, but chances are he doesnt know all the products available.
I know that for some reason there is a lot of people who cant see past the fancy show room, and the name.
My opinion.
I am glad cabelas is here. Why? Well, I have already done my comparson. Over the past ten years cabelas hasnt been cheaper on price, or had a better selection than what I could get locally, but I am glad they are here.
Not because they will get any of my buisness, but because people will hate you just because you are the only game in town.
Anglers inn was hated by the vast majority because they were the only option. It wasnt a bad store. Thier customer service was no different than thier competitors.
They were simply hated because they were the only choice a guy had other than po-dunk garts.
Cabelas gives the haters a choice. It also gives people who hate cabelas a choice. If cabelas was the only game in town and sportsmans moved in the rage would be about sportsmans in the hater circles.
These people are not interested in price and selection. They are just interested in satisfying thier hate.
Dont believe that?
Just ask anyone who says he is excited about one or the other, and why.
If they say I would rather pay more money for the same product........
Whatever.
If cabelas happens to have the product I want, and they have the best price on it, I will get it there. If they dont have it, or dont have the best price, I will get it somewhere else.
One thing I wont ever expect is customer service from a place that is set up to compete in the big box retail world.
Cheap pay, cheap prices, and so much stuff theres no way one guy could know it all in a lifetime.
[signature]