Do you sell cues and billard supplies?

JB Cases

JB Cases

www.jbcases.com
Silver Member
If so how are sales? Can you compete with the internet shops?

If your answer is no then I can tell you how to compete with them and win more loyal customers to boot.

Discuss for a bit and tell me your thoughts then I will tell you mine on this subject and what I would do if I owned a pool room today.

FWIW I did own a pool room and we had a full fledged "pro shop". Just so you know I have been there.
 
Our Community Room sell Cues, and Cases. mostly very low end stuff. Cue in the $35.00-$70.00 Range, Cases in the $10.00-$20.00 Range, and a few Willard's, gloves, and most has like 15% MARK UP. Think when the SNOW BIRDS Return the DEAD INVENTORY will move.

A Couple of YEARS AGO they got some SNEAKY PETES, and 1 x1 Soft Case that they sod for $20.00 RETAIL. Lasted all of 4-6 weeks, and the two dozen were gone. They were a Dufferin Knock Off, said ONTARIO on the Maple Leaf.

Most RETIREES don't spend money on Pool Equipment, but with SPEND LIKE IT IS GOING OUT OF STYLE ON GOLF?
 
I'm not a business expert or a pool room owner, just a customer with a love for the game and equipment. FWIW, I think that a down economy is usually good for pool. Most of us in a good economy are going to the lake, camping, or on long trips to pass the time. In a time with no overtime, I'm more likely to hang low and shoot some pool. With a little luck, someone might talk me into a cue under $1000!!

That said, I think this would be a hard business. If I want a cue, I want a custom, made for me or very close to what I want. . .How do you stock that for all customers? IMO, the best way might be to carry a line of production cues from like $75 - $500 and maybe a selection of $300 - $1000 customs which you find especially appealing. . .

I'm not sure, but is anything over $1000 just bought off the rack?

Anyways, that business sounds hard. . .
 
OK....I am all ears....besides offering service after the sale, repairs, and access to my knowledge....Is there something I am missing?

besides my case of course....
 
All right.

Here is my formula for competing against the internet houses. It's super simple.

Have a kiosk set up which is essentially your website which has every product that every shop on the web sells. Also have ALL the web shops book marked for easy comparison.

So then you advertise to all your customers that you will match ANY price found on the web. You explain that the item will come to YOU, you will inspect it first and make sure all is in order and if not then YOU will do the work to take care of the replacement. If the cue needs a new tip or a new wrap or anything then YOU will take care of it for the customer at YOUR place.

In other words they order through you and pay the SAME price as on the web and you take the risk instead of them. They get all the choice of the entire web and you get the sale.

Where is this profitable for you? All that WORK for a cue sold at a discount???? Who would do that?

Well, the alternative is that you don't make ANYTHING on the cue sale and you don't make the purchaser any more loyal to your business.

You know that as a business owner you are entitled to the same discounts on merchandise as any other reseller in the billiard business. In other words you have the SAME discount on catalog items and the same opportunities to buy for stock at an even lower price as EVERY web-only store on the net. You have the same satisfaction guarantees, the same customer service.

What you have that the web shops don't have is the ability to speak to the customer face to face. So if you match price but offer a little more service then you have an advantage.

And honestly when that customer shows up on the day their new cue arrived and you have inspected it and tuned it up where do you think that they are going to spend their first evening playing with that cue?

Someone tell me the downside to this plan? I see only positives as a pool room owner. I'd have the biggest banner in the world letting everyone in the room know that they can purchase ANY cue or other item found on the web through us. I'd have tent cards on each table letting them know that, I'd make sure all my staff knew it. I'd program my wi-fi router to serve up my home page whenever anyone got onto my network so that everyone would see it.

Beyond that you will have a real live web shop which would bring in business. There is NO REASON why you, as a pool room owner, can't compete on the sales level with every web shop out there. All it takes is time to put up the shop and maintain it. And since the business is ancillary to your brick and mortar business it's really gravy if you think about it.

This appllies equally to billiard supply shops. There is no reason why any of these places should be a competitive disadvantage.

Oh I hear it now, but we have overhead that they don't and we need that extra profit. Well here's a hard calculation for you. Your profit on no sale is ZERO. So when you have ten to twenty cues on display at full retail and you are competing against THOUSANDS of models on the web at 20% discount you don't have to wonder why sales are slow. Across the board in retail people are shopping online first to arm themselves and if they can't find a price locally that is close then they will order online.

So be the LOCAL point where anyone can order and feel secure that they won't get screwed or have to be inconvenienced if something is not right.

And that's my simple method to compete and take back a signifcant share of the sales.

When a customer walks in your room with a new cue they should have gotten it from you.
 
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