I just want someone to listen to me, to tell me that everything is going to be OK and that I am not alone in this cruel world.

I'm logging off now, guys. I need some time to myself.

They're pretty much the trad shoe of choice in North Carolina. I have no use for an uncomfortable shoe for short sport routes.

just get what you want at moosejaw, 15% off, no tax, free shipping, 5% back in "rewards points", 5% cash back through ebates

Dingus, I get that they might not want to stock it as a regular thing in their stores, but it's a different matter entirely for the company to say that if it's above a size 45, they'll buy it for you but won't let you apply their sale discounts, dividends, or anything else.

Yes how can they do that?

Well, with item movement information, for starters. They have software to analyze the sales performance of clothing goods sold in the past. They rely on that information to make inteligent guesses about next season's stock.

The apparel industry is TOUGH. See you gotta buy next summer's clothing and shoe lines between now and Christmas, to get them built and delivered to your stores on time.

How many size 12.5 canoes, er, Mythos, will be needed in Phoenix next summer? Sacramento? Philadelphia? Will the weather have an impact on sales?

The average apparel retailer, even the highest end retailers, sell typically less than 50% of their top line merchandise at full list retail price. For a given range of clothing (size range) the bell curve serves well. The bulk of the sales will be in the 'money sizes' of the curve. The outliers do not make any money at all, strictly loss leader.

Then the markdowns begin. A lot of retailers will mark down goods once, twice or even three times. Others mark down once and then sell any remaining goods to companies like SierraTradingPost, reasoning that its cheaper in the long run to just get rid of unsold merch than to store it (Cost of storage and capital locked up in merchandise is STAGGERING)

Shoes present a particularly challenging retail environment. Shoe retailers order a range of shoes for a given style and then allocate the order to their various stores.

After a month of sales what they end up with are fractured bell curves all over their enterprise, fractured ranges.

Do they just mark them down and push them out the front door? Some do.

Do they try to consolidate all the broken and unsellable ranges from all stores into complete ranges into the stores that DO sell them?

Some do that too. Depends on the cost of goods and the cost of moving them around. Good retailers analyze all this information before deciding what to do.

Just *finding* an unsold pair of shoes, in the back room of the typical shoe selling store or area?

If you've never tried it.... ask if you can go back into the stock room with your sales clerk some time, just so you know what they have to go through (only SOME shoe clerks are smoking pot when they claim to be looking for your shoes, the rest are simply lost).

Now REI is among the better run outdoor apparel retailers, I shit you not. They DO analyze movement data and they don't stock shit for simple bragging rights. They stock it to sell it and get a return on their owners' investments (us!)

DMT

Don't confuse me with facts. I just bwant what I want.
This is kinda funny since I believe I remember DMT knocking rei bad one time. They pretty much lost my business when I ask them about the difference in the auto belay function between a guide and a reverso. They told me they couldn't tell me. If I didn't know how to use the device they wouldn't explain it to me. I almost told that guy what an asshole he was but bit my tongue, was polite, and got to talk to the climbing guy when he got off the little wall. He did not sound like he knew what he was talking about so I didn't buy either. I did not buy the gift card for my friends birthday that I came in for either. Screw em. I'll shop elsewhere.

This is kinda funny since I believe I remember DMT knocking rei bad one time.

Good point. But do keep in mind REI won't get anywhere close to the same gross margin on a customer order of 1 pair vs, the 10,000-pair seasonal buy.

Why would a retailer want to discount a special-order to begin with? They would make even less money and perhaps take a loss.

Sale discounts in apparel are typically designed to move non-selling merchandise out the door, or are funded by suppliers who want to move product out THEIR DOORS. Outdoor apparel retailers typically do not fund their season lead-in sales - the suppliers do this by reducing cost with an agreement that the retailer will also reduce sale price - presto, seasonal sale designed to sell more Marmot than Arc Teryx for example.

The retailes fund their season-ender sales but again, the purpose of this is tpo get rid of unsold merchadise to free up warehouse and store space for items that do sell at full price.

Full price sell thru.. very important concept to leading apparel retailers. One almost-guaranteed full price sell thru is customer special orders.

All retailers vary of course. But when you compare best in class performers you'll see similar management tactics.

Don't get me started on grocery...

DMT

Of course they don't profit the same from a special order, but they take pretty big losses on their return policy as well.

They keep doing it because that sort of customer service keeps people coming back to REI, even if they take an occasional loss from it.

In my case, I feel like I got bad customer service and ended up realizing that I don't even get a cost benefit from shopping at REI over my local store.

= If they can't offer either service or price advantages over the little guys, then what have they got?

I feel like I've got no reason to go back for anything now that I've actually taken the time to compare prices.

What a ridiculous story. You want to actually learn something from talking to an REI sales clerk? Why? If you want knowledgeable clerks, go to a local climbing store. If you want chain outdoor retail, you know where to go.

No need to get disgruntled about it.

GO

Do they? What sort of numbers are we talking here? How BIG are these losses exactly???


If it lost them money they would not do it. Period.

Suppliers play a huge role in that return policy, btw.

On the whole, they're going to lose a pretty good chunk of change from it, but they do it because that service leads to a net profit from return business...

Crack some heads and light just may creep in!


Well they can't and never could offer service advantages. Sorry to break that to you. But you are right as rain - if you can't realize a price advantage by shopping at REI, then they got nothing; one trick pony. Oh and the fact that often they are the ONLY pony.


Oh you'll be back. You're American, right?

DMT

So are they losing a good chunk of change or making one?

Cheers!
DMT

I was looking forward to using my 20% off coupon on a new pair of Galileos, but they don't carry them any longer.

Their shoe selection sucks balls right now. WTF happened?