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EBondo

Bauer Experience store in Burlington, MA

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I know its not an apples to apples comparison, but Nike has a retail "Nike Store" in downtown Toronto. It doesn't seem to have had any tangible effect on the Sportcheks of the market. I still see tons of Nike merch sold elsewhere. Food for thought.

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Good example. That Nike store is for people looking for Nike product only and want to experience the brand. The people who go to the Sportcheks are looking for running shoes, and may nor may not be brand-inclined. Replace Nike with Bauer and running shoes with hockey equipment.

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I just feel like if you work in a shop, you should be a bit worried at this. Stores aren't going to be fans of this, especially with the way it went announced. Whether you're a Mom and Pop store, or a bigger store.

I can totally envision one coming to the Philly area, what happens to all the pro shops in the rinks around Philly? Then you have HockeyGiant in Cherry Hill, Monkey an hour and a half away, and Total Hockey in Exton. Really curious to see what happens to our Bauer stock in the coming months if a store is announced in the area.

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In a sense no matter where you are it is next door. Players travel so much on weekends that Philly kids playing in Boston will make it a destination stop during their time in Boston. That is what had been happening for years with Pure in Mass when Atlantic District players went to Marlborough Mass for weekend tourneys. Bauer knows this.

Players (parents actually) in my area used to plan major purchases around trips to Delaware in order to avoid the state sales tax. Now, many plan around trips that take them near the bigger chains and they are all more than an hour away.

I just feel like if you work in a shop, you should be a bit worried at this. Stores aren't going to be fans of this, especially with the way it went announced. Whether you're a Mom and Pop store, or a bigger store.

I can totally envision one coming to the Philly area, what happens to all the pro shops in the rinks around Philly? Then you have HockeyGiant in Cherry Hill, Monkey an hour and a half away, and Total Hockey in Exton. Really curious to see what happens to our Bauer stock in the coming months if a store is announced in the area.

The market has already been largely gutted by Giant, Monkey and Total. I remember when all the rinks had good shops and all the Del Val locations, among others.

I think after they are established, they'd just tell Dukes, sorry we are closing your account, or not offer booking discounts, or prostock availability, long reorder times, no custom orders, etc. Make it so tough that they couldn't survive. They won't be able to compete. This is what the Monkeys have done to the little shops (I actually hope this move tanks Monkey big time, but that's another thread).

The online box stores who have opened retail locations pay in the $8-12 range. Bauer is going to have to offer way more than that to attract and keep quality experienced people.

I would think that any actions like that would trigger a review for antitrust violations.

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The market has already been largely gutted by Giant, Monkey and Total. I remember when all the rinks had good shops and all the Del Val locations, among others.

Fortunately, Mark (DelVal) was able to move on to HG

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Well if it is the case that most of the big guys new then they are not cringing. However from the comments on here it sure does not appear that most had known. And let's be real here it will only really hurt the mom and pop smaller size store. Box stores and others will adjust the thing's they buy.

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The smaller shops will continue to survive as evidenced in my area. Despite Pure Hockey having multiple stores north of Boston the shops that were open prior to Pure Hockey are still open. There are some consumers who will continue to support the smaller shops whether it be out of loyalty or exemplary service. Who knows, unless Bauer plans to sell below their MAP there just might be a few that use the Bauer store to demo their next skate purchase before going to their LHS. And Bauer is business savvy so I'm sure they've thought about this as well.

What they're banking on is increasing their sales in non skate product. While they dominate in skates, CCM/Reebok, Easton, and Warrior protective sell well in some areas. As for not distributing to other stores in close proximity to their retail store that's probably not going to happen. They're in the business of manufacturing and selling, not making sure that the retailer selling their product moves it.

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We'll have to see how the pricing is. For example if it costs Bauer $10 to manufacture a shin pad and wholesale price is $30, they'll have 2 oportunities to offer better pricing (and margin) than the retailer, both when new and during closeouts. Can really move some product that way with a huge advantage over the retailer. Exactly what the big box stores have done to squeeze out the little guys, often their advertised and closeout pricing is less than the LHS's payed for theirs making it impossible to sell an item except at a huge loss. I'm not sure of the arrangement Apple has with it's authorized retailers but I will say this, when the IP6 came out, it was only avail at the Apple store. I tried to buy mine at the ATT store, they told me it was a 4 month wait. Guess where I bought it?

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An old friend of mine is the marketing manager of a very large motorsports company. About 8 years ago, he yells me that they're in the process of "reducing and expanding" their 80/20. He told me their goal was to reduce their dealers that do 20% of their business by reducing their discounts. If they want to keep the discounts, they would require them to buy more across all disciplines of their product line, which included apparel (which nobody wants to carry). They also increased the MOQ to meet the discount requirements.

Bauer is going to sell at their MSRP price.

Of course, consumers will continue to support their local store because of things like loyalty or exemplary service, however, there will be a temptation to see what this "buying direct from the manufacturer" is all about.

Closeouts to shops are done. Bauer will now retain those, distribute to their own stores, AND, sell direct online. They'll have three day ground shipping to anywhere in the US via their DC in IL.

I don't expect to see Bauer hold shipments back from stores unless they are behind on payments.

What you will see Bauer do, however, is tighten their terms on the accounts they sell. Net never terms are now in the past.

As far as the larger stores teaming up with CCM (next largest company) to fight Bauer, until their product is on par with Bauer and hyped the same way, they will continue in second place.

The way Bauer has stayed on top for so many years has been impressive. Nobody can deny that. Can CCMs new owner (if it happens) create a similar success to that of Bauer?

Consequently, if adidas shuts down CCM, if the deal doesn't get done, then Bauer's gamble in doing this will be even more justified.

Fantastic business explanation.

I actually thing for myself it will be a positive because I do not sell any products per say. As long as I can continue to get parts and do my little thing and sell sharpening and profiling I will be just fine. However I will still continue to send my clients to the Mom and Pop stores that have reliable knowledgable sales staff like the Just Hockey's and others. I do not think anyone will argue a shop that has been around 20 plus years with some staff that has been there that long is a better option for the purchase of skates for instance.

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This is definitely a bold move by Bauer. I do feel like there very bold goals will fall short in a couple of different ways. First and foremost the Bauer Experience will be a difficult one to achieve unless you are willing to pay a knowledgeable staff a real salary which i am almost postive they will try to avoid because at the end of the day it is still retail. One thing they may institute to be different is a sales compensation program of some kind for there sales crew but that is a stretch to say the least.

Although I do believe there is a large following for bauer gear I still feel variety is still very neccessary when making such a financial commitment. Like it was said earlier in this thread take a look at your gear are you head to toe one brand? I know I am not.

Unless Bauer gets real aggressive and downsizes the product they give to the pure hockeys and total hckeys of the world(which they would be crazy to do) I dont see this as anything more then an interesting novelty that might effect a small mom and pop shop but will have no real effect on the overall corporate food chain of retail hockey.

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For me as a consumer, it would be nice to check out, but I would much prefer a place with all the manufacturers, or at least a majority, present. This I think will mostly appeal to those who are younger and might not grasp the differences of fit etc that each piece of gear has. If one comes to Michigan, might check it out once, but places like Total and Peranis will continue to be my go to's.

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If Bauer is selling at their MSRP then I don't really see it being any different than just one more retailer to choose from. I'd honestly prefer to shop somewhere that isn't just Bauer and I imagine I'm not the only one who feels that way, so I don't think the other retailers really have much to worry about.

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Whoever compared this to Niketown earlier in the thread is spot on. Essentially, that's all this idea is. Niketown hasnt killed off all the other retailers that sell Nike products. It seems to me a lot of people here are overreacting. If you're a dealer and want to try to get an understanding of how this is going to affect you, study what happened to local retailers when a Niketown moved on the other side of town, that'll give you a realistic feel.

Closeouts to shops are done. Bauer will now retain those, distribute to their own stores, AND, sell direct online. They'll have three day ground shipping to anywhere in the US via their DC in IL.

Long term maybe, but I disagree in the short term. Bauer isn't going to be able to sell all of their closeouts through eight stores in strategic locations. Five years from now if they have 40 locations and an online direct selling presence, then you could see that happen.

I'm not sure of the arrangement Apple has with it's authorized retailers but I will say this, when the IP6 came out, it was only avail at the Apple store. I tried to buy mine at the ATT store, they told me it was a 4 month wait. Guess where I bought it?

Don't know where you're located, but I got an IP6 in Los Angeles on the day it was released without a pre order and I had the option of getting it from two non-Apple sources. What happened with the IP6 release is the carriers rationed phones to their "authorized retailer" stores and held them for company owned retail locations. I went to a Verizon "authorized retailer" locatiom (it looks exactly like a company-owned store and comes up when you search the VZ website) and they only got four phones for the day and were sold out. I drove 2 miles to a Verizon-owned retail location (this is around 3pm) and they had plenty of phones, but also had a four hour line. So I went down the street to Best Buy and was in and out with a phone inside of half an hour. I'd venture to guess the ATT location you went to was an authorized retailer, not an ATT owned location.

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The idea of comparing this to Niketown is painting the canvas with a very wide brush. On the face of it the similarities are obvious. Major brand category supplier opens their own retail store. The difference maker is specifically what the retail category is that we are comparing: athletic shoes and apparel against a major niche category sport, hockey. Everyone needs athletic shoes and apparel. The demand is there is allow all sizes of retail store names to carry and sell this category even with a Niketown or Nike outlet store nearby. The same cannot be said for hockey equipment. It is a niche sport with essentially specialized retail shops selling the equipment. Ok, I know you can buy hockey gear in Canadian Tire and Sports Authority but the majority of purchasing is either LHS or the big box boys. This is where the Niketown/Bauer store comparison gets washed out. It is in the details of the products they are selling and the size of the marketplace for the product. Millions of people need shoes and apparel. Less than a million even buy hockey equipment.

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yeah, the Niketown example is a bad one. Dicks sporting goods can survive a Niketown much easier, because Nike is only part of what they sell, and a small portion. As mentioned, your talking about stores carrying a niche product with a narrow market, and the main manufacturer which sells a large chunk of that niche getting into retail. Its a way different scenario.

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and the apple thing is a bit different as well. Apple stores were created to give a unique customer experience, in depth demo of product and showcasing of new product, but they really started popping up during a boom in the industry, and as a means to kind of build the apple brand name, create an image of a company which at the time was kind of struggling to gain footing in the market. This wasnt the industry leader coming out and creating this. Computers are something most people enjoy, as well as portable devices, they wanted the stores to be a destination where they could sell people on the apple products. The difference here being, people aren't going to buy skates if they aren't already interested in/playing hockey, and Bauer isn't struggling relative to other hockey manufacturers, they are the top.

While the stores can be successful, there will be some hurting to the LHS, some of that niche market will be gone. In Michigan, and most likely other areas, the mom and pop shops have been mostly chased out for chain stores by now, they would only hurt further if one of these places open up. Bauer has every right to pursuit this as a company, but saying it wont hurt because it has worked in other markets, and wont be that big of a deal, will be false.

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As I said when making the comparison between Nike and Bauer, its not apples to apples. Having said that, its not as different as its being made out to be. The Nike store sells golf equipment and apparel. The local Golf Town and Sportchek stores both sell way more Nike golf product than the Nike store.

I think you need to see how it plays out before declaring the death of the LHS.

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I think any attempt by Bauer to sell at their retail locations below MAP (while still requiring other retailers to follow their MAP) would probably violate the antitrust laws as unlawful price discrimination. Regardless of legal consequences, it would certainly alienate their entire distribution network, and I don't see them making that kind of move at this point - they still need stores across the country to sell their stuff. While there are some fanboys who would travel for the "Bauer Experience," most are going to go buy their gear at the local stores or online, anyway. As it stands, MAP at this point probably benefits smaller retailers more than the big guys at this point because it takes away HM, IW, Pure and others' ability to undercut their price with 20% discounts and the like.

Separate note, I'm curious to see how they're going to follow through with the try before you buy approach. Just stock skates in each size as samples? Separate rack of sticks? I could see this ending poorly for them as a place where kids just go to play around with the newest stuff and not buy anything.

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Right - was just about to touch on that. Bauer still needs retailers in their business model - while selling direct means that you're able to maximize profit, it also means that you are the sole distributor of your product. Selling to retailers and getting money 3 months later is still needed on their part. Most cases in which you've seen hockey manufacturers sell direct is because they couldn't get into stores, or the product is a niche or custom product.

It will be an interesting store. As far as the rink in the store, it will be interesting how that is executed. I would imagine there would be fit stock there as well as sample sticks - it wouldn't be a good idea to have every customer try out the ACTUAL pair they were looking to buy. As someone who manages a store with a similar experience (35x15' shooting booth), our booth 95% of the time is being used by people looking to kill time while waiting for their skates to be sharpened. It does work when you're trying to explain the differences between sticks, but the time-wasting aspect of it happens more often than not.

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im no golf expert, but unless things have changed, Nike isn't to golf what Bauer is to hockey. Nike is one of the names in Golf, Bauer is THE name in hockey. the nike stores I have been in mostly sell running and fitness clothing, so I dunno maybe they are different in Canada.

Im not claiming death of the LHS, I am just saying its another mouth to feed wherever they go. I have a feeling a higher percentage of people would be willing to go to a Bauer store for all their hockey needs than would a Nike store for all their golf needs.

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I think any attempt by Bauer to sell at their retail locations below MAP (while still requiring other retailers to follow their MAP) would probably violate the antitrust laws as unlawful price discrimination.

Just FYI - Selling at a lower price in a company owned store isn't price discrimination. Price discrimination is selling something at one price to me and a different price to you and it's a profit maximization concept. What you're talking about is selling at different prices through different channels. In general price discrimination (in the economic sense) isn't illegal - airlines do it every second of every day - it only becomes illegal if the discriminating factor is something that implies discrimination along the lines of race, religion, age, etc, etc, which isn't technically price discrimination, but just out and out discriminaton. Think of it this way - you and I both go into a shop and buy a pair of skates, but you know the owner of the shop and I dont so the owner charges me more than you (or he gives you a discount but not me, same difference). That is price discrimination - we were charged different prices for an identical product - but it's not illegal. It only becomes illegal if the reason the owner charged me more is because I'm an African-american, or I'm gay, or I'm Jewish, etc. Also, price discrimination is not an antitrust issue, it's a consumer protection issue.

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