Mission Product availability in Europe

[nummer55 10]

First of all I would first want to say that I absolutely love Mission products, think it is amazing that their product manager is on this board and that I am a dedicated Mission product user. Also, I realise this is not a real consumer thing, but I just want to ventilate my thoughts

But...

In the Benelux (and as Est wrote earlier, also in Great Britain) the local distributors have made a mess of the company's brand name and availability. Customers in the Benelux (Belgium, The Netherlands and Luxemburg) can not buy Mission products anywhere. Sure now and then you see some old models, but the 2005/2006 models you won't find anywhere in shops. All Mission consumers (which most of the time are very loyal) have to buy their products from websites. As a consumer and as a retailer I am pretty desperate about this fact. I have had a long e-mail conversation with Jeff Hammond from Mission-Itech, but as he is looking at this problem from the top, is putting his confidence in the so-called distributor. This distributor does not really exist, though. None of my e-mails are returned and calling only gets me to their virtual office assistent.

I know the Benelux is a very small market and especially now European countries' borders are disappearing I don't really understand why the hockey companies don't choose for a West-Europe distributor (based in Germany for example). Now I can't order from the German distributor because they are not allowed to interfere in each others markets.

Well I just dropped my problem here. It is not relevant to any of you Americans, but maybe you can look at it as a 'Third World' problem. The smaller countries get left behind and this only creates a gap between the main roller hockey countries and the rest of the world. In the end we all want it to become an Olympic sport right?

Please let me know if any of you guys have thoughts about this. Maybe Est can also restate his problem in this topic.

Regards,

Tim

[ash_96 0]

Hey, I'm a consumer from great britain, and it is almost impossible to get the new mission products! there are a few mid range things about but not the 9500's or 10,000's I wanted.

Est was telling me that he's trying to get them but theres no distibutors that he can get it from. So i tried to get some online and it said 'no mission equipment can be shipped out of the USA' so this means it is impossible for me to get the high end mission stuff.

i really wanted to try the 9500's but i guess i wont be able to for a while.

And also we get stung on the prices! when the D1's first came out over here they were £400! which is roughly equal to $810 CAD and $695 US!

Not sure if anythin can be done, but just wanted to release some frustration and let Nummer know its happenning all over Europe.

[nummer55 10]

Markets in France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, etc. are just fine. It's just GB and Benelux...

[sdcopp 1]

Is there something stopping inter-country commerce in Europe? Being in the USA, the idea is a little foreign to me since we can go from one state to another to solve demand issues. If some of these countries do have good supply chains and whatnot, why can't Benelux and GB get in on it too, or at least utilize the consumer end of things between countries? Sorry if that seems dumb to ask, but again I'm not there so I have no idea how simple or complicated that would be.

[ash_96 0]

Man that sucks! now I feel a bit more annoyed! lol.

I'm going to Denmark later in the year with team great britain.... maybe I can get a pair then!

[nummer55 10]

Distributors protect each other's market, so for example the German distributor won't sell to me as being a Dutch shop owner. End users can of course buy from other countries, but buying skates you can't fit is not going to work. Also, shipping and taxes make it cheaper to order from the US. (for example Mission 9500 = EUR 400,00 including shipping from US and retail in Germany is EUR 439,00).

[nummer55 10]

O and Ash I will meet you in Denmark as being The Netherland's team manager...

[est 0]

I spoke with great lenght to Jeff at Mission, seems theres nothing that can be done as long as Mission stand by their appointed Disatributors .................

My view for what its worth .... SACK all the current Disatributors & set up a dedicated Mission Warehouse/distribution Centre for Europe.

The Europen players must out weigh the USA in numbers, guess Mission are not intersted in making money ????

Sorry for you Americans reading this, but its like you wanting to buy a new car & being told all you can buy is last years model at a non discounted price because thats all the Distribiutor has & wont buy in any new models untill the old ones are sold !!! How many of you would take that attitude ???

The Internet has allowed any one to buy anything from anywhere .......... unless its Hockey equipment.

This is not a new problem, my Company have been importing Mission & before that Builtrite since 98 through the back door.

Any one in the Uk or Europe , Pm me & ill get any Mission item within 7 days.

[est 0]

PS

yes i know i spelt Biltrite wrong !

[steve66 45]

The Europen players must out weigh the USA in numbers, guess Mission are not intersted in making money ????

I'm not so sure that we out number the north american market, more so the roller hockey side of things. But for sure the setup is not very efficient in a number of european countries. I think minor changes would result in an increase in sales and customer satisfaction.

Perhaps if the number of minimum units could be reduced so that the Benelux and UK distributors are more likely to sell their complete stock, and therefore be able and more willing to import the current product lines. I think if this were to happen it would make the market less stagnant and re-generate some buying interest in these areas. Assuming that is the reason of the problem.

[mrjet 0]

No Mission in Norway either, this has given Tour 80 procent market share,

We need to get one warehouse and one company selling to all stores in whole Europe, not small importers with there own small market shares, believe me, Tour is much bigger than Mission in Europe by number at this date, mostly due to lack of action from Mission, there products are great!

We have to take it inn the back door, this is hard and to much work and fuss, better to sell CCM our Tour, there product chain is working out fine

[Patrick67 1]

nummer55 Posted on Mar 23 2006, 10:43 AM

  Markets in France, Germany, Sweden, Finland, etc. are just fine. It's just GB and Benelux... 

Play in Sweden.. and nope Mission availability sucks here too. Most ppl play with Tour/Bauer skates, or buy online.

ash_96: where in Denmark are you supposed to play? Know some guys who play ball-hockey there (IISHF) and they ain't holding tournaments this year (major lack of facilities)

Btw Mission is a joke in Denmark as well, but they have a very good CCM/Rbk store in Copenhagen where you can get PF10's, Rbk8kPumps and what THC offers of other top-end equipment.