Billabong wrote:
My first bike ever (age 5) was a Huffy.
To be fair, depending on how old you are that might have been before 60%? of Huffy's were sold at Walmart. It could have been a very different bike.
That'll change a company when you're significantly dependent on one retailer. Especially one that's known for squeezing price from vendors.
Not making any judgments on Huffy or Walmart. Just an observation.
I make stuff Walmart buys. I can tell you, they are always looking for a better price or a product improvement. That's one of the reasons why Tide has a "new and improved formula" every year, but isn't noticeably "better". That being said, manufacturers are left with a choice when they are increasingly dependent on one customer. Deliver at that price, or risk losing a potentially company killing chunk of your business to another vendor.
There's never a right answer to that. Except it almost always feels like the one you didn't choose. Fortunately for us, they're very little of our business. And nobody else makes what we make, like we make it.
This is all a very interesting move by Walmart. Maybe because they smell blood in the water with Sports Authority and Gander Mountain going under and Cabelas having....issues. And that's just in sporting goods. They have the online storefront presence that's supplementary and complimentary to their brick and mortar. It wouldn't be hard for them to target some of the online cycling business that beat prices of the LBS. Which in a roundabout way could be good for the LBS?
