Charles,
I know you don't support the idea of group buys. Enough said. Fact is
I've done group buys with high-end equipment before - it wasn't
difficult at all. If you are comparing a public distributor to a closed
membership buying club, you aren't comparing apples to apples. I sure as
hell don't want to create a distributor organization.
However, as our discussion continues, I might be willing to send Jim,
George, Brian or whomever offers a group buy $2600 for 10 Canopy SMs if
the buy is 100 units and we're all lined up. I don't need support,
training, stocking, any of the services that distributors offer.
Frankly, I don't need my distributor under cutting me to sell direct to
customers. You have your pros and cons for going to distributors for
*everything*. Certainly what's being discussed here isn't pretending to
create a distributor that has *everything*..
Frankly I think the board with the exception of myself, uniformly
doesn't support group buys.
The buyers create the relatonship for the purpose of the buy, it ends
when the product is delivered.
Charles Wu wrote:
<snip>
You would think it would work that way, but Volume Buying ends up eating
the organization and the organization becomes caught up in being a
volume club.
</snip>
We all know that there's more to a WISP than just putting up an AP and
getting a T1 line
Having run both a WISP and a distribution company, I can personally attest
to the fact that there's more to distribution (which is what your proposing)
than breaking up a 500 pack amongst WISP
Have you considered all the risks / implications that the buying group
faces? For starters, there's the question of payment -- given that the
buying group has no / limited credit, chances are that any vendor will
require cash up front for the purchase
So, for example, say Motorola Canopy is the product WISPA chooses
Then WISPA / Buying Group needs to come up w/ $100k to purchase that 500
pack (at say, $200 / unit for simplicity's sake)
Then, WISPA / Buying Group needs to come up w/ a warehouse to store stuff
Then, WISPA / Buying Group needs to come up w/ a shipper/logistics guy to
repackage / ship stuff
On top of that, chances are, 50% of the WISPs who committed to purchasing
the packs will renege and/or delay their deliveries due to unforseen things
that always happen in deployments (e.g., lightning, customers don't sign
on, interference from competitor, DSL coming to town)
So now, WISPA / Buying Group needs to hire a sales guy to sell excess units
Now, you've added overhead (and you need to add an administrative fee /
margin to compensate)
In the meantime, either
1. Motorola to announce a 50% price reduction in their Canopy line, and all
WISPA members now wanting the new lower price (therefore causing a huge
loss)
2. Trango (or some other company) to come out w/ the new "flavor of the
month" and no one wanting the inventory anymore, sticking WISPA w/ $100k
worth of boat anchors
-Charles
-------------------------------------------
CWLab
Technology Architects
http://www.cwlab.com
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