jan van daalen
Well-known member
I have not read the original post, but here is what I have found when wanting to find the
top Zeiss models, in the sporting goods stores in my area. The only Zeiss models that are
stocked are the Conquest HD and Terra, at Cabela's, and at 3 Scheels stores that I get
to several times a year. They are good sellers, but the only premium optics found are the
Swarovski EL and SLC HD. The Leica Trinovid, is stocked and discounted as well as the
Geovid, but not the Ultravid.
Last summer, I did find a Zeiss HT at a smaller but great sporting goods store, 2 years after
its introduction.
The clear leader in sales on the high end are the Swarovski's.
Zeiss has a lot of work to do, to just get some of these stores to stock them. The next thing is to help train the sales force in the retail stores to know the difference. Many of these guys don't use binoculars often or don't have experience or the budget for the higher end.
If I were in charge of the Zeiss sales side, I would have an active sales force with a demo program for the optics dept. in these larger stores. I would provide 1 or 2 samples of the HT and the new SF binoculars, and let the staff get out and spend some time with these binoculars.
I have a feeling if these guys had some time with these premium optics, they would come back and tell their customers, these things are really good !
I have spent over 30 years in sales, and over 20 years in commissioned sales, now an experienced observer, with lots of opinion.
Some optics companies pay bonuses to retail sales reps for sales, and I have found at Cabelas, Vortex is featured
on a top shelf. Cabelas also has to sell their own brand.
Go to a grocery store, the brands have to pay for shelf placement. It is the same with optics, that is why Swarovski has many product buyers visit Austria each year. I suppose and expect Zeiss invites those same buyers to Germany.
I got a little long here, just food for thought.
Jerry
Hi Jerry,
I can only speak from personel experience in this matter.
Zeiss offers 2 bins of free choice as demo to their dealers, so what you've requested is already in place.
All A-brands have a education program the dealer has to follow before he is in the position to sell that brand.
Only after a certain sales level, the dealer is invited for a factory tour (this may sound stupid, but factory tours are no fun! If you have seen one, you've seen them all).
AFAIK only Nikon and Canon give local sales reps a seperate sales bonus.
Zeiss/Leica/Swarovski provide a extra bonus every year depending on the sales level (between 3-10% of the total volume).
No brand pays for shelf placement, there is no francise and you pay for what you get within 30 days.
The reason why the big chains don't stock Zeiss/Leica/Swarovski full stock is that only Swaro sells in the full line, so it's profitable. A full line of Zeiss and Leica is called expensive wallpaper. Untill two years ago you had it to provide the customer a choice, knowing the choice will be Swaro.
Zeiss is now offering a three tier product line and with the coming of the SF/HT, the Conquest HD and the new Terra's they play a much bigger role in sales because the customer is positively pleased by the new range that Zeiss offers. No more FL's and Hungarian Conquest that they had for years.
Leica upgrades their models but for the customer it is still the same models that he has seen for years (and years to come), so sales in Leica is slow which means NO STOCK.
Jan