Reviving the Local Model Shop

[FunnyFlyer]

Hi folks,

 

Can't help thinking that something game changing needs to be done to prevent the demise of this institution. eBay and on-line only shops seem to be fuelling the race to the bottom - competing only on price.

 

Is there an opportunity to create new value? How can the bricks and mortar outlets offer something new and different? Will they dissapear from the High Street and be consigned to the industrial estates and show lines?

 

Are there lessons to be learned from others? Look how bookshops responded to the Amazon-isation of their patch. You now have cafes and easy chairs where you can browse your prospective purchases in un-hurried comfort.

 

This forum is full of people with ideas and opinions. Let's see if we can crowd source and create a collaborative blueprint and business plan for the future!

[Tony Bennett]

how about their own flying field where you can see the plane you want to buy flying.

assistants who know what they are talking about and show an interest in you.

a builders corner where you can be shown how certain building skills.

 

 

[Plummet]

A close relationship between clubs and shops?

 

A good shop will not sell, say a spitfire, to a total beginner. A shop might encourage such a person to have a go on a flight sim to appreciate the learning task, and to then introduce the person to a club to get training.

 

In return, clubs should welcome such introductions. Give them friendship and experience.

 

Shops might sponsor club competitions - which should encourage trade and building. Clubs, in return, might encourage use of the shop, put adverts on their handouts, perhaps erect banners at their flying site.

 

Shops should be aware of the power of club gossip. I heard a conversation about one shop person who (perhaps) was having a bad day. The club member found him sullen and unco-operative. By the time this had been marinated in a couple of drinks the club member was encouraging others to avoid the shop.

 

Plummet

[FunnyFlyer]

@Tony B

Love the idea of having small scale "How to do it" sessions - or at least some sort of area where you can see "under the bonnet". Hobby Craft does this very well and to good effect.

 

@Plummet

Yes - a simulator version of some of the major brands you stock is a great idea - a virtual try before you fly. Wouldn't take much investment or wit to set this up.

 

Keep the ideas coming!

[Ben B]

The only thing the LMS has over Ebay etc is the personal touch. So how about friendly knowledgable staff for a kick-off? As mentioned how about a sit down + tea area for a chat and a cuppa? Even an offer of a cuppa whilst leaning on the counter would suffice. How about fuel deliverys to the patch? Free pre-maiden once over on any models bought at the shop (especially useful for beginners). How about a 2nd hand / swap shop corner- okay the mark-up won't be massive but if the prices go down to HobbyKing levels they won't be anyway. They could evenhave a parts recycling service for crashed model bits (e.g. a help yourself box for clevises, horns, snakes etc). Inevitably whilst collecting the freebies it will mean getting some epoxy / balsa / etc etc, perhaps even a new kit. So the loss of earnings by giving away 2nd hand free bits will be compensated by people buying other stuff whilst they're in the shop. And if the help yourself box doesn't have an appropriate part I'm sure most will end up buying in the shop anyway.

[FunnyFlyer]

Ben - yes it's coming through loud and clear from this and other threads that getting the right staff is an issue.

 

This should be a hygene factor - something that is taken for granted - but this is often seldom the case.

[Erfolg]

I am assuming that the question is not compltely tongue in cheek.

 

I would suggest that the issues are in some ways obvious. In that the MS viability is the "difference between the income - the outgoings = viability", as long as the value is +ve all is happiness, as Micawber said.

 

One of the biggest outgoings is rent, water/charges, and business rate. The cost of heating and lighting are minor compared with the big 3 for shops. Maybe the answer today is a wrinkly tin shop on a business park, where the landlord will waive a substantial part of the big overheads, at least for a time. Then the business will need to consider relocating. Apparently not all business parks have permission to operate as a retail outlet, so that aspect could be an issue.

 

The second major challenge is stock. It seems that the well known wholesalers/distributors are expensive source for goods, compared to their point of origin. I guess they have the same issues as the MS. It seems you need to be innovative and establish a trading arrangement with a Far Eastern agent, who has access to a wide range of products at advantageous prices. Additionally a working arrangement is needed with a local shipper to rent space in a ISO container, at typical freight costs. The disadvantage that it will take months to get here. All of this takes upfront money, which is costing until you can sell, and repay the loan.

 

Is the LMS viable in this era? There are a lot of basic issues, the Asda's, M&S,Primark's of this world have organisations and contacts as well as a market that keeps their operations viable, in addition to making the wholesaler/distributor a function that is not in their process .

 

[FunnyFlyer]

Erflog - everything you say is true to some extent.

 

But the exam question is how do you work within this to create value for your customers and yourself - the shop owner.

 

Apart from price - where else can value be added for the customer?

[leccyflyer]

Posted by Ben B on 24/10/2011 14:23:29:
The only thing the LMS has over Ebay etc is the personal touch. So how about friendly knowledgable staff for a kick-off? As mentioned how about a sit down + tea area for a chat and a cuppa? Even an offer of a cuppa whilst leaning on the counter would suffice. How about fuel deliverys to the patch? Free pre-maiden once over on any models bought at the shop (especially useful for beginners). How about a 2nd hand / swap shop corner- okay the mark-up won't be massive but if the prices go down to HobbyKing levels they won't be anyway. They could evenhave a parts recycling service for crashed model bits (e.g. a help yourself box for clevises, horns, snakes etc). Inevitably whilst collecting the freebies it will mean getting some epoxy / balsa / etc etc, perhaps even a new kit. So the loss of earnings by giving away 2nd hand free bits will be compensated by people buying other stuff whilst they're in the shop. And if the help yourself box doesn't have an appropriate part I'm sure most will end up buying in the shop anyway.

The liability issues of a model shop offering up crashed model bits as a freebie would turn a shop owner's hair grey .

 

Lots of model shops do have 2nd hand models, either sold on commission, or in the form of credits to be spent in the shop. They don;t tend to sell rubbish though - for similar reasons.

Some shops also offer a brew and a biscuit - but remember those are overheads and, in a busy shop at least, the staff have work to do and they do have customers to deal with, rather than just having a chat with the punters.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[PatMc]

Would it be any great loss if the LMS was just left to wither & die out completely if it couldn't survive by good retail business practices ?

[FunnyFlyer]

@PatMc

You could be correct.

 

But what should the LMS of the future look like? How do we avoid the withering? How do we embed those good practices? What are those practices?

[Erfolg]

FunnyFlyer

 

I agree with you, I do not answer the question.

 

I can see that wrinkly tin sheds, can lower the overheads a little, but is not the complete answer. It seems inevitable that most shops will go. A few big outlets may survive, serving a large region. Vechcio did post some pictures of either Austrian or Italian shed, which is the reality that fits this picture. But are UK costs the same.?

 

Increasingly I see the internet being the source of modelling products, as has been suggested. But this solution is not a MS.

 

The implications of the MS disappearing are far ranging, it suggests that some of the organisations we are familiar with, will need to change dramatically. NO shops, there is no need for the wholesalers. So where will the radios come from, all via the internet? If this is so, I hope that our present distributors, slash their overheads, deal via the internet. The manufactures may prevent imports from low cost countries (if this suites their interests), as they have done with Jeans, using copyright legislation. It will not be possible to stop trading from within the EU (free market legislation).

 

The demise of the MS and the LMS has implications which many of us are unaware off. Yet a market will remain, just different.

[Biggles' Elder Brother - Moderator]

Wow, that's a loaded question Pat. Of course it would be no loss to see the bad shops go to the wall. But for some good ones I know - yes it would be a loss to the hobby. Now you may well argue - with some justification - that if they are good they won't go under. I wish I was so sure!

 

My plan?

 

1. Model shops are specialist outlets - I would guess very few people stroll down the high street, pass a model shop and think "Oh, I'll buy an R/C model". So get out of the towns and off the high street - you don't need the shop window and the premisses are expensive. Instead go "out of town". Cheaper, larger, premisses and lots of parking. Us modellers need to take our cars because we are often carrying big boxes away.

 

2. You have to have capital to be sucessful. This is not a business you can run on a shoestring. You need really high levels of stock. Not just kits and engines but all the "bits and pieces". No one likes buying a kit only to find that you don't have the clevises to finish it. So invest in stock and stock your shop well. Stay on top of your stock - if someone rings up and says "Do you have an X" you need to be be able to say "yes we have 3 in stock".

 

3. Know your regular customers. Have a loyality scheme - encourage them to divulge to you what they model, know their buying patterns. Who buys wood, who buys foamies etc. That way you can have intelligent stocking policies that suit the customers you get.

 

4. Run an internet shop alongside the main shop. Offer a small discount on the internet for members of your loyality scheme. That way you encrourage a habit of your "drop in" customers using you for internet shopping as well. Offer a "no postage" variant of the internet shop - where customers can order goods on the internet and pay for them "on collection" when they call in and everything is nicely packaged up for them. Offer a gaurentee that items ordered this way will be in stock given reasonable notice unless a reponse is given within 24 hours that they simply cannot be obtained.

 

5. Stock (or obtain promptly) spares for popular ARTF's and engines!

 

6. Offer "How too" clinics on a weekday evening one night a month. Bee seen to support your customers.

 

7. Train your staff. Its not enough for them be just knowledgable about models - they have to know how to look after customers as well. Every customer is important, the lad buying a cheapy model today could be buying a £700 radio off you in few years.

 

7. Make a policy of visiting every club in your catchment area at least once a year - offer to do a talk, take questions on products, bring along new products to show. Offer modest discounts for purchases made on the night

 

Just a few thoughts!

 

BEB

[Keith Simmons]

My LMS has an added burden of the local council wanting to put up parking meters and the shops in the area is fighting to prevent that happening. Very helpful staff and they are members of a local flying club. Expert flyers whom know what needs to know and full of helpful advice. i was shown a jet turbine worth £3500 which was ordered by another customer. I help out by buying all sorts of stuff from them and I do hope they survive.

 

For Dragons Den, you need to show that you can expand and there is a huge market to grab and they are after profit plus a return for their investment.. (Perhaps a workshop for repairing crashed models?)

[Ben B]

A workshop offering repair services would be an excellent idea. Lots of fliers nowadays are ARTFers- I can't imaging having to have an article on how to repair a built-up model 15-20 years ago. So why not offer repair services? Many a good ARTF has been binned just because the owner doesn't have the skills to repair it. Especially if trade at LMS decreases using the knowledgeable staff to do repairs is an excellent idea.

 

My LHS is hardly overly busy, providing this service would not only offer something that Hobbyking etc cannot offer but would also be a useful service to local flyers if they could observe / watch the repair process (no doubt buying stuff at the same time!).

 

Think of it like with cars- your LMS should be like the MOT / service / spares / aftermarket Halfords type / tuning garage or the 2nd hand car show-room. When you buy a new car you go direct to the dealer. ....

 

My LMS is on a busy London street, the parking meters are £2 for half an hour and the shop charges a lot. Yet they insist on stocking lots of ARTFs I'll never buy because they're substantially more than over the net. So I end up going there for fuel, spare parts, spinners, props etc.

[FunnyFlyer]

@BEB

Good points.

 

The Customer Relationship Management (CRM) is something that is sadly lacking in many UK (shop and online) operations. Look how Hobby King do it. I think at can done at a simple level without the going over the top with technology. How many shops ask for your email when you buy in person.

 

I also like the idea of order online - collect in store. Many DIY retailers and Argos do this. But as you say - this will require good stock management systems and confidence in your ability to supply to order.

[Devon Flyer]

I wish someone would come up with a way of running a sustainable LMS around here.

Large rural area and small population means that it's about a 200 mile round trip to get to a decent MS.

Thank heavens for the internet.

[FunnyFlyer]

Posted by Devon Flyer on 24/10/2011 17:03:25:

I wish someone would come up with a way of running a sustainable LMS around here.

Large rural area and small population means that it's about a 200 mile round trip to get to a decent MS.

Thank heavens for the internet.

 

So what are your ideas, DF?

[Devon Flyer]

I'll just keep on using the internet - seems like the only viable solution.

[Lazygit]

Posted by Ben B on 24/10/2011 16:16:25:

A workshop offering repair services would be an excellent idea. Lots of fliers nowadays are ARTFers- I can't imaging having to have an article on how to repair a built-up model 15-20 years ago. So why not offer repair services? Many a good ARTF has been binned just because the owner doesn't have the skills to repair it. Especially if trade at LMS decreases using the knowledgeable staff to do repairs is an excellent idea.

 

I doubt it will be viable. If it is helicopters, the repairs are done by replacement, helicopter flyers are usually prepared to spend money (because they have to), and it is relatively straightforward, and they can be like new when you've done it.

 

Wooden fixed wing repairs are often longwinded, and can use parts that would mean a repair easily becomes more costly than buying another kit. Unless the repairer is highly skilled, the repairs rarely look like new. Fixed wing flyers are not so ready to part with money as heli flyers.

[Vecchio Austriaco]

@ Erfolg - don't make jokes about my tiny shed - I am happy that I have a place where I can escape to. And it is at an OX postcode - Italy was 15 month ago

The main street shop gives a lot of advantages - after a few visits you know the guys - you get better service if they are noy completely grumpy - and you can see what you buy.

 

I use the internet only for things I am sure of, and normally only from shops I know. (Fast lad was the exception - used it already when I lived in Italy as there was a nice price difference and they had the spares on stock - my Italian high street guy had to order them...)

 

A lot of the guys selling you find also in the local clubs - and they can give you normally good advice at the field or even have some spares in the car...

 

So I will try to keep them alive - even my budget is not that big.

 

Cheers VA - from his small shed somewhere in north oxfordshire

Edited By Vecchio Austriaco on 24/10/2011 18:57:18

[Erfolg]

Vecchio

 

I am not advocating the demise of the LMS, I remember the advantages, I am commenting on what is happening. That is in the dark cold north, that is the place before you come to before the land of serpents and dragons.

 

The number of MS in this part of the world has reduced, the numbers are debatable, though I would argue by about 75-90%. I could tell a tale of shops closing, new ones opening, only to close, the same as many modelers.

 

I was actually commenting on a very large, incredibly well stocked modern shop, on what appeared to be a retail park. You mentioned that there was a similar outlet somewhere close, though in that case Germany. There was a link to their site.

 

I can see small number of similar outlets being potentially viable in the UK. Although in the present economic climate, I cannot see any one risking their money, particularly with the very high UK overheads.

 

My LMS, struggles to survive, providing the repair services that many advocate. Customer care, in the form of teas and coffee is difficult to provide on a low turn over.

 

I see the internet doing to MS something broadly similar to the coming of the Supermarkets, relative to corner shops. Corner shops exsist, but not as we knew them.

[Erfolg]

I have been musing on the various TV programmes with respect to the retail industry.There have been many, although what they tend to discuss is what has happened, rather than indicate the future.

 

Bookshops (UK) has some similarity with the MS, although i would suggest more people read books than model, yet the market is small and probably shrinking. The ending of the "Fixed Book Agreement"" was argued would devastate book retailers, I would argue the decline is broadly the same as earlier. Some book retailers have tried innovations such as creating a relaxed atmosphere, combing coffee shops. Yet Borders have been liquidated and many independent high street bookshops continue to disappear. The upside is E-books and Kindle type devices.

 

There has been a programme where manufacturers have worked to control both the image and price of the goods produced, to maintain the Brand and maintain margins. This was done by selecting limited numbers of outlets, preferably of a size, that no individual retail outlet had sufficient selling power as to loosen the grip of the manufacture and active monitoring of the retail price, relative to the recommended price. Apparently these practices can be sailing close to the wind, with respect EU Competition law. Although there are numerous exceptions in the EU, based on cultural norms etc.

 

I have seen a programme, which addressed the issue of how manufacturers managed their sales, where the brand name was synonymous with a product type and both competitor and supermarket own brands, threatened to reduce their product image and margins, to yet another unexceptional item for the shopper to choose from. The solution seemed to be heavy advertising, refusing to sell at a price which did not reflect the premium that the manufacturer sought. Sometimes these products do disappear from super market shelves, sometimes reappearing if the shoppers are convinced that there is only one product worth having.

 

The haberdashery trade did seem to have a lot of similarities with modelling. The stocked items being significant, from a wide range of buttons, cloths, cottons, linings sewing machines and so on. Most items being much the same as others, other than the sewing machines, form a range of suppliers such as Singer, Brother, Toyota etc. Like the MS, this retail trade has seen many changes, disappearing from the high street, with the exception, which proves the point.

 

All the pointers seem to indicate, that the long term viability of the high street MS, as has been suggested, is not generally viable, though some will exist. Although I have not mentioned it, it has been suggested, that larger MS, who are innovative, will miss out the the UK diribution/wholesalers and purchase in a similar manner to supermarkets. Spefically using trading companies located in places such as the Far East, to miss out a UK distribution Teir. Again as has been suggested the internet will be far more important, the ONS (office of National statistics) staes that 8% of all UK retail sales are now via the interrnet.

 

For modellers, perhaps the future could be brighter, than the present situation. Shopping in the real world taking place in larger, well stocked, out of town Wrinkly Tin Sheds. On line shopping bringing many items straight to the door. The changes could well continue to contain prices rises, perhaps some real price reductions (adjusted for inflation). Our main worry could be maintaining our flying sites.

 

I guess Tim has the best insight on the true workings of the UK retail trade and understands better, where it is possibly heading. Though as a moderator, I guess he keeps out of this type of discussion.

 

 

[r6dan]

I would love to see the lms stay alive, but for me its down to cost and service, if I can get something cheaper online, which 99 out of 100 times I can, I will buy it online,

If the LMS really pushed online sales they would stay put, but they need to get really good simple to use, clear and concise web sites .

[Steve W-O]

Reading through the posts here,there doesn't seem to be anything new that hasn't been said before in the many threads that have discussed service levels, distributors, suppliers and retail outlets in the past.

 

 

So it seems that what people look for is recognised and well known, and not really rocket science.

 

Makes you think why it has not been done before.

 

From there, I would suggest it will never change, either can't change or to expensive to change, and that before long we won't have any local shops, and the distributors will collapse. After that, some shops will start buying direct, get better prices, to give better service while still making a profit.

 

 

I think we have a long wait though, in the mean time, look after your pocket. Rather like putting your oxygen mask on first, so you are able to help others.