In a recent blog, I outlined reasons that divers should buy dive gear from local dive shops instead of online. I received many educated comments on the blog, and learned about the reasons people choose to purchase dive gear online. In today's blog, I address the issue of equipment availability (a problem I frequently face in Mexico) and what one ingenious Florida dive shop has done to remain competitive with online retailers.
Many of the comments I received on the "Don't Buy Dive Gear Online" blog dealt with the fact that some kinds of gear (technical gear, for example) are simply not available at a local dive shop, forcing clients to turn to online retailers. I can sympathize. As a tiny female cave diver, I tore apart the entire Riviera Maya looking for an extremely small pocket for a back-up mask. After weeks of searching through gear intended for 6-foot-tall men, I finally gave up and decided to order the pocket online from the states.
Because I believe divers need to support dive shops with equipment purchases, I was feeling very guilty about ordering my mask pocket online until I discovered a dive shop with an interesting business model, CaveAdventurers.com. Cave Adventurers is an actual dive shop located in Florida. The shop fills tanks, services gear, allows divers to try out gear before purchase, supports local diving, and does everything else a diver would expect a good local dive center to do. What makes this shop different is that it has made most of its stock available for sale online.
Putting a dive shop's equipment inventory online is a great solution for a local dive shop. The dive shop in question has widened its customer base while staying local. By increasing sales through the internet, the dive shop can compete with the prices offered on other diving equipment sites and offer those discounted prices both to their online and local customers. Everyone wins, and the profits go to support a real dive center.
While offering the convenience of online equipment sales, Cave Adventurers still provides the service one would expect of a local dive shop. When the pocket I ordered was not in stock, a dive shop employee called me (long distance in Mexico) and spent 20 minutes on the phone helping me to find a suitable substitute. A physical dive shop with on online inventory can provide good customer service because it is not only a warehouse, but has real, knowledgable people operating both the in-store and online sales.
Following this business model, most of the problems associated with buying dive gear online are eliminated. The dive shop stands by the gear that they sell. They service gear, allow divers to try on gear before purchase, and support local diving. I would prefer to buy gear from my local shops in Mexico. However, when they don't have and can't order what I need, I now turn to my favorite local dive shop -- in Florida.
This impressive and clever business model combines the best of both online and in-store shopping. Perhaps if more local dive shops adapt to the online sales market, they will be able to compete with strictly online gear sites, increase their equipment sales, and stay open for business!
Speak Up! What do you think of this business model? Is it the wave of the future?
Image copyright istockphoto.com, Alsos
Comments
I couldn’t agree more…there’s a couple issues overcome when going this route and dive shops need to remember that it can be quite tedious to enter their inventory into an online shop, maintain correct pricing etc., but it’s well worth it. Many manufacturers can provide an inventory list that can be imported into the shopping cart of their choice.
Shops then have the choice of either integrating an online store into their current website or they can have it as a subdomain of their current website (shop.domain.com) if integration isn’t possible.
Although not sure that I agree on the pricing of gear until they are moving more product.
Safe Diving!
Rich
Don’t feel guilty about buying what YOU need online. If your LDS don’t sell it, then go to someone who does.
I can sympathize about trying to find stuff around Tulum as I lost a double ender in Jailhouse and could not find something that I take for granted back home in the nearby hardware stores.
I have often suggested that my dive shop provide an internet “kiosk” in their store to allow for online browsing for things that they don’t sell or have in stock. Ordered items could be provided at some savings since the dive store didn’t need to stock or inventory the item (and the diver had to wait for them). Immediate gratification has it’s price
Just came back from Akumal (reef and Cave diving) and found the dive shop fairly well equipped. My problem is that I am 6′2″ and most things were stocked for smaller (Mexican) clients.
I agree that online shopping is the way to go sometimes but online if the site is from a fully supported dive shop that will provide the service you need also. Places like Leisurepro are not one of those places. Their prices are cheap but they will not support their products. Another place is Scubagear Plus which is an actual dive shop in Pennsylvania and they will bend over backwards to provide service.
I have made the suggestion to my local dive shop to do both online and in store. He says the Equip. Companys would not allow he to do to market his things online. Do some companys discourage this practice.
I could not agree more . Scuba diving equipments are fit for personal use only. So if you buy them online, you may get troubles like less safety, spreading diseases or low quality ones can harm your diving trips.Thanks for sharing