Propools - 3:58 pm on Jul 19, 2010 (gmt 0)

I will chime in here - I have a real problem with my suppliers selling direct - AND selling thru me - a very good (bad?) example of how bad this is can be seen in shop-a-tron - where manufacturers can set up this really complicated process whereby THEY sell their stuff but YOU ship it - you have to go in manually and 'bid' and well, it sort of works, but its really a ridiculous time suck.

I wonder to this degree if the manufacturer’s position might be that their retailer’s are not doing enough to promote their product? Though I will say that a similar thing has been done in our industry too on both the manufacturer side and the wholesaler side.

How much better would it be if they simple pointed to their list of retailers - gave me link juice, and allowed me to compete openly in the marketplace against other web retailers.

Yes, it would be nice. But it seems that both the mfg’s and distributor’s are more interested in doing it their way rather than focusing on doing what’s best for their immediate customer base. Long term business strategy, this may work out for them but that is still several years away before we know for certain. Plus, a lot of it depends on the industry you are in.

But its' very hard to compete against the brand itself. So I am basically against it - unless you go completely on your own - which some specialty retailers do.

We don’t compete against a specific brand but rather brand our products as them being Propools’ products along with our better/higher customer service level.

In general though, I would say manufacturers should stick to one side of the fence. Drop-shipping is another matter entirely, and if you are prepared to sell via the web, why not just enhance your relationship with your retailers and offer to drop ship?

Agreed. Pick a side, stay on it, then enhance the other side, of the fence that is.