Warehouse stores

CKTHIS_at_aol.com wrote:

>The biggest problem we all face are the internet Warehouse stores who are
>selling all the racquets just above cost and strings at cost. I don't see
>much future for local pro shops if this trend continues. I find people want
>to come in and demo my racquets then purchase over the internet. The racquet
>manufacturers talk a good line about preventing the new merchandise from
>being sold below the "advertised" prices, but they have not stopped places
>like Tennis Warehouse.

This is undoubtedly very true. But what is one man's
(or woman's) famine in another's feast. While the
warehouse stores have had a terrible impact on pro
shop sales, the warehouse stores are the only ones
that have really invested in supporting online tennis
publishing (such as Tennis Server) by advertising in
our publications. Because they have invested in
supporting our activities, we have been able to bring
the joy of the sport of tennis to hundreds of thousands
of people.

Support from the tennis manufacturers as well as all
the tennis organizations has been virtually non-existant
in our experience. Eventually, the tennis manufacturers
and organizations will realize that the online
publishers provide a great venue for them to build their
brands and enter into substantive and synergistic
relationships with the online tennis audience -- but so
far, the tennis industry seems to be lagging far behind
many other sports industries -- golf in particular -- in
realizing this. The single exception to this has been
the warehouse stores, which clued into this early and
have built tremendous business by leveraging the
strengths of Internet marketing.

Best,

--Cliff

Cliff Kurtzman
Publisher and Editor-in-Chief
Tennis Server
http://www.tennisserver.com
Moderator, TennisBiz


Received on Mon May 01 2000 - 10:51:04 CDT