Dutchware spring sale?

[stevebo]

Does any one know if Dutchware is having a spring sale this year?

[Dutch]

I really don't do sales. I am struggling to not raise prices and also just keep up with orders. I do Black Friday sale and sometimes I try to move an item that I have overstock of.

[KayakerBee]

I really don't do sales. I am struggling to not raise prices and also just keep up with orders. I do Black Friday sale and sometimes I try to move an item that I have overstock of.

Thanks for just pricing good quality items fairly and not being one of those “flash sale” and “biggest sale of the year…until our next sale” types.

[cougarmeat]

"Sales" can sometimes be a slippery slope to the Osborne Effect.

For you youngsters out there, once upon a time, there was a world without small computers. Yes, really! What we had was called "Big Iron". These were computers that took up a whole room. And that room had to have a reinforced floor and special air conditioning. But then arrived computers as small as a tabletop sewing machine appeared. One was Osborne, and then came Kaypro. The story varies a little bit depending upon the source, but essentially, to counter the competition from Kaypro, Osborne announced a future new model that was still in the prototype stage.

Dealers cancelled their orders for the Osborne 1. Customers stopped buying the Osborne 1 in anticipation of the new model. Cash flow for the Osborne company dried up and they went out of business.

How many of us are going to buy from our cottage industry friends but hold off, waiting for that sale? During that time, those vendors have to pay rent, utilities, employees, etc. But if no one is buying because they are holding off for a sale ... then what? If the vendor could market an item at a sale price all the time, and still be financially healthy at that level, that sale price would be the regular price.

So it's a gamble - grocery stores do this all the time. It's called a "loss leader". They sell an item with little or no profit to them with hopes that while you are in the store, you will buy other items at the regular price. Later, an analysis is done (or used to be, I've been out of the computer biz for a long time). The store knows what you bought and what coupons you used. So they can see if the net purchase was worth the discount on the sale item.

One company, Mariner Kayaks, carried a secondary line, Seda. Each winter the Seda's would go on sale. At that time it was beneficial to the manufacturer to buy at the sale price because, being winter - out of boating season - sales were down anyway. But Seda didn't want to lay off their trained workers and endure the hassle of finding/training new employees the next spring. So they priced the boats just enough so the workers could be kept on the payroll.

"Sales" are great, but if all of us only bought items that were on sale, waiting for those couple of days a year (except HG seems to be having a perpetual sale ) Many good cottage industry folks might not be around.

[stevebo]

Thanks for the info! To be honest, the prices at Dutchware are very reasonable- and the quality is excellent! I am planning a future diy project and was wondering when I should order materials. ( I will probably place an order soon!)