In reply to Hay:
> (In reply to zebidee)
> [...]
> I work for Tiso but won't get all horribly defensive ... why do you say think that?
I think it's disappointing when any market gets dominated by a single organisation - whether it's Tesco, Dobbies, or Tiso who are dominant in Scotland in the supermarket, garden centre & outdoor shopping markets respectively.
It removes the opportunity for variation of suppliers to a market. This was obvious in the bike market back in the 90's when a particular distributor thought that they could dictate their terms to retailers because they were the dominant force.
For example - in the climbing equipment market you stock nuts & wires by DMM and Wild Country. You don't carry nuts/wires by other manufacturers (e.g. Black Diamond, Metolius) - why not? Supply and demand - probably. Distributor clauses in contracts - less likely but still possible.
Some of my favourite kit are my Camp Tri-Cams and BD Hexes on a Wire:
http://www.joe-brown.com/outdoor-equipment/camp_tri_cam_set_of_4
http://www.joe-brown.com/outdoor-equipment/black_diamond_hexcentric_set
Both of which were bought elsewhere (Cotswolds - I think - and an outdoor shop on Broadway in NYC).
I'm just using nuts & wires as an example case here to demonstrate what can be less than perfect for a consumer.
It's fair that you can't carry every manufacturer and I wouldn't expect any store to do so ... but ... if you've got the market sewn up to the point that you're the only player in town then that's ultimately bad for the edge case consumers.
Another case in point, I have particular shaped feet (wide at the front, very narrow heels) and wanted a new pair of winter boots so I spent the day going between Ellis Brigham at Braehead, Cotswolds & then Tiso trying different brands to find which ones fitted me best. Which ended up being a pair of Asolo Sherpa GV's from Tiso.
So fortunately in *this case* I was able to do that ... but guess what - you don't appear to stock any Asolo boots any more:
http://outdoor.tiso.com/search?w=asolo&asug=
> All the other multis have the same access to the same suppliers, so do the single-unit independents. Most just deceide to run a smaller range of proven winners and lower risk lines; Thunders, Jokers, Mad Rock etc.
> It would be unfeasible for Tiso to run it's Ratho range over all the shops as there would be 25-30 lines with at least 12 units per line but we do try to get a decent range into shops with active local climbing communitites.
I think that what you do with your stores targeting the appropriate local demographic is very sensible. The Ratho store carries by far the most variety in kit out of all of your shops. There would be no point in stocking that kind of kit in all your stores.
> We also try really hard with the Ratho range in terms of new 'high risk' performance shoes ... down-toe shoes make up half the range out there.
>
> Am genuinely interested to hear how we could do that better.
Hope this helps explain what I meant.
Dave.