Anyone else notice that the adverstisement in the Woodcraft flyer does not match the local store sales? I drove 20 miles (and 20 miles back) to a Woodcraft and they said the sale item I wanted was not on sale, yet it is on the website. Why would a franchise be undersold by the parent company? Now I shop online, and don't visit the local Woodcraft store.
That's the case for many brick and motor stores, even national non-franchise stores. Many have different online and in-store specials.
Greg M
Many if not most Woodcraft stores are franchises, privately owned. All the Texas stores are owned by a single group. Local stores do and will have their own sales that are good for its geographic area. You can always order the web sale item from the web site.
If my local Woodcraft was 20 miles away I would shop on line also regardless of price. Fortunately my new local store is now about 3 miles away, it was
20 or more and has moved farther away.Why would the parent company undersell the locals? Overstocks, close outs, bigger volume of sales to name a few. Why shop locally? No shipping charges, answers to questions, hands on touchy feely, you can take it home today, support for the local economy, unadvertised specials, to name a few more.
Maybe you should get on the "Local" mailing list. The sales flyer that I get is often particular to the Houston stores.
I've yet to have the local store tell me they can't provide an item from the website at the same price. Even if they have to order it they'll do so in order to keep me coming back because they know I'll probably buy something else while I'm there (which is how they got me into the store three times in the past two weeks).
However matching web prices is often very difficult for a local store. Their costs are higher than a mail-order source and price-matching can slice their profit margin so thin there's little point in them making the sale. Good advice from the staff and the ability to eyeball the merchandise before you buy it is worth something, it would be a shame if the only place around to buy tools and supplies was Harbor Freight and Hell Depot.
I have seen sale prices on the WC website, called my local store to see if they had it in stock and at that advertised price and had them say "we'll match that price."
It think it is less a factor of the mother company underselling the local store so much as it is the local store deciding not to offer the discounted price. You must recall hearing or reading the term "at participating locations". As a marketer who has had occasion to sell through an in-direct channel (dealers, agents, etc.) we do lots of research and strategic planning at "the mother company" to set prices and offer special deals, etc. We try to get the channel to follow our lead because we believeit will genereate the best business for them and us, but every owner or manager makes their own decisions on pricing and it is generally illegal to have it any other way. I can't even set global proces within my own corporation, each region has the authority to sell my products at any proce they choose. They do have a cost to their margin contribution but they get to choose.
That being siad, you can use methods of not allowing discounts but they are really more about revoking their right to resell your product so companies like Sawstop can hold their price in the market with no discounts by telling their resellers if they do discount, they will not have their resale contracts renewed.
My only "non internet" experience with Woodcraft is with the Sacramento, Calif. store.. I've ordered several things from them, including my Nova lathe, and they're always matched or beat the web page prices..
They also hold items for me for weeks at a time, until someone traveling down my way can pick it up for me.. Very good customer service, etc...
mac
Please remove splinters before emailing
Harbor Freight has *three* divisions: the local store, the web site and their catalogs. All are separate from each other and there may be three different prices on an item at any one time.
The store will honor a catalog price if you bring in the catalog, and the Internet price if you print the page out. The local store mails out fliers, but these are separate from the national catalogs.
There seems to be some confusion here between "flyer" sales and "website" sales. As an ex-employee, I never heard of a store not honoring a flyer price unless the flyer had expired. Occasionally the website will offer a clearance or closeout special on something they're dropping from the product line. Local stores don't have to match those prices, although we did most of the time.
DT wrote in news:20090220-184245.843.0 @DT.news.wowway.com:
That explains a few things about the HF website. The Harbor Freight Tools has tools and prices, while the Harbor Freight USA has the tools, but no prices listed. However, the HF USA site does have their current ad(s).
(There's also harborfreight22.com, which appears to be their user/login server.)
Puckdropper
To clairify, The OP is complaining about the local store not honoring the parent company "flyer". The flyers that I get are only from the local stores and it is indicated on the flyers that they are not necessarily honored by other stores. Often the local stores or company stores will be offering discounts on discontinued items and those items may not be available at other locations.
Agreed.
On the occasions that my "old" Woodcraft store was out of a sale item they would honor the sale price and have it direct shipped it direct to my home at no additional charge.
I haven't looked at a Woodcraft flyer in a while, but my recollection is that their prices were so high, it's hard to believe they couldn't turn a profit from any item they advertised in either a local or national flyer, from any location. Guess that's why I stopped shopping there.
I've not found them to be so far out of the park not to shop there. Yes, their prices are higher than the discount stores, but I've always received excellent service, advice, quality, etc. I do go there for some items, other store for others too.
As for turning a profit, selling for more than the product costs to buy is just one factor. Rent, overhead and other items come into play. Oh, and getting customers into the store seems to help.
I buy from HF online and also get their ads in the mail..
If the ad price on an item is lower than the price on the web site, there is a place to put the item number from the ad (has a different code ending, as I remember) and the price is reduced to the ad price..
mac
Please remove splinters before emailing
Many Woodcraft stores give a discount to members of turning clumbs, woodworking guids, schools etc. I try to support woodcraft store as much as possible so they will be there tomorrow. Our store would certaily match the parent co sale price to keep you coming back. Talk to the owner or manager and try to support them
I haven't found Woodcraft to be significantly more expensive than online for most things. Sure, a little more, but not too much. I want to be able to support the local store, so that if I break a router bit on a Saturday, I can run down there and get a new one, as opposed to waiting 3 months for Amazon to ship a router bit that is "in stock and ready to ship". (That actually happened to me, fortunately I wasn't in a big hurry).
I agree with the other poster that it will be a sad day when the only brick and mortar places to buy tools is Harbor Frieght and Home Depot and we are forced to get everything online, sight unseen.
snipped-for-privacy@yahoo.com wrote: ...
I'm _STILL_ waiting for the Freud 13" planer knives after over a year...
I have an automated 'bot the replies to the periodic e-mail that comes out monthly asking if I still want them; it says "yes". _IF_ they ever do come, they've promised free shipping (they weren't eligible initially).
Hmmm....that's a thought, let's check....ok, order was placed Dec 13, 2007.
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