Lately there seems to be a lot of people with the notion that online membership discount sites selling snowboard gear for cheap are killing our industry.
I’m assuming they’re talking about member sites like TheClymb.com which sell random bits of outdoor and snowboard gear for huge discounts:
The thing is, these snowboard shops aren’t actually hurting our industry and it shows a lack of understanding with how all of these membership discount sites work.
Here’s why these discount sites don’t hurt the snowboard industry:
Snowboard gear acquired and sold is bought from leftover stock
Ever wonder why the sizes and selections for snowboard gear on these sites is very random and all over the place? It’s because they don’t order their stock like a normal store.
Membership discount sites operate by finding warehouses and local stores that have leftover stock that isn’t selling well or stock that they need to get rid of and they buy it at a heavily discounted price.
They then take this gear and resell it on the site. That’s why what they sell at any given time is so random. Their stock depends on whatever snowboard leftovers they can get their hands on.
Remember, the stock they sell is snowboard gear that companies, stores and warehouses NEEDED to get rid of either way, otherwise it would have sat around losing even more value.
This is also why you’ll notice that most of the gear sold on member discount sites are from the previous snow season’s production run.
The bottom line
I’m not saying don’t buy at your local shop. I actually think supporting your local snowboard shop is a great idea if you want to help the industry. However, I don’t think attacking membership discount sites without all the facts is fair to them.
These membership discount sites are actually a great way for many snowboard companies and shops to get rid of excess stock that they have sitting around gathering dust.
You can’t lump them into the same category as big warehouse snowboard retailers such as Dogfunk.com because they operate completely different from your typical online store.
- Jed
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You have obviously never worked snowboard retail or know anything about how these sites hurt snowboarding. Please for the love of god do not write about topics you know nothing about.
These sites are one part of the bigger problem and as long as they exist they will aid in helping to destroy snowboarding.
I fail to see how sites modeling woot.com’s business model affect our industry.
You can’t just dump them into the same category as places like dogfunk.com when their model is nothing alike.
If there’s one area I do understand it’s the online business side of how these woot.com/jackthreads.com copycat sites function and they do not even attract the same customer demographic as local stores.
This is post is so informative! I guess, most people choose on discounted snowboarding items to cost cut on the budget. Anyway, what is important is the winter family adventures. Thanks for sharing!