An Even Playing Field
Koi dealers in the United Kingdom face an uncertain future, especially with current economic downturn. Over the last few years it has become evident that the koi industry is in decline and the need for koi dealers to diversify their business is the only way for many to survive. I believe there are a number of reasons for this decline.
1) The Internet.
2) Working from home.
3) Fuel costs
4) Wholesalers.
5) Koi societies.
Lets take a look at these issues more closely, first of all the internet has become an enormous entity and many people now shop online. Most UK dealers cannot compete with internet prices because they have fixed overheads and have to carry stock. Over the last few years we have seen our overheads almost double. Unfortunately for us the profit in koi and dry goods is forever decreasing. Our initial contact with new customers is usually to sort out fish health problems or give advice on pond building. There are times I have sat down for hours with customers, guided them through either building a pond or helped them with koi health issues. My reward for this was them telling me they bought their filters,pumps,etc somewhere cheaper. Yes they probably saved themselves fifty pounds, but can you take your koi back to the internet or if you have faulty goods would you be able to exchange these straight away? This is what a good Koi dealership provides a service that you can rely on.
Over the last few years we have seen the emergence of more and more dealers working from home the majority of which know very little about anything to do with koi and see this as an opportunity to make a fast buck. The advice they give is nothing more than their own opinion and has little to with scientific fact. Many of our customers have bought what they believe to be high grade koi from such dealers only to see no future development in these fish; this has a knock on effective for dealers who sell better grade koi, the customer becoming disillusioned with the hobby. Another consideration to take into account, proper retail outlets by law have to have a Pets licence, Public liability insurance, Employers liability insurance, Building insurance, Contents insurance, Retaining fee for a local vet these are just some of their outgoings. How many of these dealers even declare their earnings, I wonder how many would survive if they came out on an even playing field. I have even heard that koi dealers need to sharpen their pencils in this economic crisis, funny this coming from someone working from home.
Another major factor to hit koi businesses is soaring fuel bills, we have seen our fuel bills double over the last two years. Again geniune koi outlets will have all their ponds individually filtered and heated. Customers also have had to bear these costs, so what can be done to offset these increases. You can change pumps to low wattage or another alternative if you run sand filters or bead filters is the use timers. We have found that switching 15mins on and 15 mins off has no detrimental effect on the filters whatsoever and reduces your running costs by half.
When I first started out in business retailers had to have premises, had to be a limited company and they needed to have a pets licence. I now believe wholesalers have lost control over their products and pricing, yes everybody needs to be competitive but there has be a profitable resale value on their products or what’s the point. The internet has seen a shift for wholesalers in the fact they will allow internet sites to display their products online without actually stocking them, they will even send them out for you, so any packaging costs are born by the wholesaler. The internet sites then reduce the value of the products, so retail outlets cannot compete and they lose the business. An online shop is a set of photographs displaying products and a retail shop has to have stock for sale, wholesalers rely on retailers to buy in bulk in order for their business to thrive. By supporting these internet sites the wholesalers are letting retailers down and if the trend continues genuine koi outlets will become a thing of the past, this would definitely not be good for the koi industry.
The number of koi society’s members has been on the decline for a number of years. I believe the internet to be directly responsible for this. The mystique we all felt about koi and Japan has been laid bare by forums and so called experts. Some of the heated arguments that go on put many new hobbyists off keeping koi. These people with faceless names say whatever they want without any recrimination .In fact most of them would never say anything if they were face to face with someone. Most newcomers to the hobby are directed to their local koi club for information and in the past this would have been the only channel available to them. Now a flick of a button and all the knowledge is at your fingertips. Koi clubs need local koi shows to generate new blood .Photographic shows are not the answer and I am saddened to see this trend becoming more popular. Without the influx of new koi keepers everybody suffers from societies to dealers. Obviously there are no easy solutions to be found but koi clubs need to have a new format to attract new membership and old membership alike. The only other sad thing that seems to be on the increase is people holding key roles within those clubs and having a vested interest in the sale of dry goods and koi. New members again are targeted and sold items or fish they do not need. If these people want to be koi dealers, leave their koi clubs and come out on an even playing and let your knowledge and expertise be a benefit for all of us. Far better than lurking in the background, oh and by the way it will only cost you a couple of hundred thousand.
Tony Yellen
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