Its not just Railway Modelling where retailers are feeling the pinch. Borders bookshop is apparently offering its 17 UK stores for sale because the book market is increasingly being dominated by the internet.
Restricting product to non internet retailers is not the answer. I think the only way that retailers will survive is to embrace the internet and sell on the web as well as through their shop.
The one advantge that they do have is in service and the abilty to see /test run the model before purchase. To me this is a big benefit. I know Hattons etc will replace product if faulty but its just too much hassle posting goods back. For this reason I am always prepared to pay a few £ extra to see the model first.
I am very interested in the model railway retail trade and have been investigating some possibilities. However it is leading me to conclude that you cannot rely on model railways alone - diversification is the key! You really need throughput, something to increase turnover. The ability to commission Limited Editions may be a money spinner. However as a modeller I really hate Limited Editions as in my view they limit choice - worst case example the Bachmann First Barbie 158 which was available for about 6 hours before it sold out! A good profit for the retailer but not good for the modelling community as a whole. But thats another argument!
Russell
Restricting product to non internet retailers is not the answer. I think the only way that retailers will survive is to embrace the internet and sell on the web as well as through their shop.
The one advantge that they do have is in service and the abilty to see /test run the model before purchase. To me this is a big benefit. I know Hattons etc will replace product if faulty but its just too much hassle posting goods back. For this reason I am always prepared to pay a few £ extra to see the model first.
I am very interested in the model railway retail trade and have been investigating some possibilities. However it is leading me to conclude that you cannot rely on model railways alone - diversification is the key! You really need throughput, something to increase turnover. The ability to commission Limited Editions may be a money spinner. However as a modeller I really hate Limited Editions as in my view they limit choice - worst case example the Bachmann First Barbie 158 which was available for about 6 hours before it sold out! A good profit for the retailer but not good for the modelling community as a whole. But thats another argument!
Russell
