SEMA Show in Sin City!!!!!
 

I got back at 2:00 AM from Las Vegas NV. Had to drop off a 38 Top Gun TS at the SEMA show. WOW!!! is all I can say. The show was just getting set up and it was already breathtaking. The whole town had custom cars, tow vehicles, you name it driving around. It was like "The Perfect World" for the whole day. about 50% of the cars on the road where "Show Cars", kind of bizarre driving around. Anyway, if you get a chance to Fly out and spend a few days there I can tell you it is well worth the cost of the ticket. I know that many OSO Members will be at the show.

Talked to my bud this morning.....all he said was HOLY SH&% ....and exactly what you said...wish i would have gone now....

I have to pick the boat up Friday at noon. I am trying to find a way to sneek out on Thursday. So far I was floored by the Skater with Twin Dodge Viper Power Being towed by a 2003 Dodge Duelly 3500. SWWWEEEETT! Many Many Other toys.

What does SEMA stand for?

DallasHeat

SEMA
 

Specialty Equipment Manufacturers Association

This is the place to see the latest customization trends and upcoming neat stuff' for the automakers.

Ten years ago you only saw wheels and tires.

Now DVD system add-ons, suspension, motor mods etc.

If you are on the west coast go for a day.

Wannabe

I'll be there all day Friday - (610) 496-2703. :D :D :D :D

Re: SEMA
 

It's actually Specialty Equipment Market Association, and the website for SEMA is www.sema.org. It's not just for manufacturers, in fact, many of the warehouse distributors are larger than the companies that make the products.

Re: Re: SEMA
 

And the traditional Warehouse distributors ALL fear the business model of Atech Motorsports (ie. Summit Racing Equipment).

When you see the Summit guys at shows like SEMA and PRI you would swear if they were to stop abruptly in an aisle, you would need a team of proctologists to extract some of the Manufacturer's heads out of Summit guy's asses.

Competition Specialties in Washington even goes as far as the use "CSI Superheros" often depicted doing battle with the "evil mail-order giants" like Atech and Buckeye Sales (ie. JEGS)...

Funny stuff.

It's only a matter of the manufactures letting their product lines get distorted by the mail order companies. These guys are in business to make money just like the rest of us. If you could get rid of your competition wouldn't you ?

Distorted? Trust me.

From a manufacturing perspective, mail-order houses like Summit are where the big purchase orders come from. Oncemore, Summit is extremely easy to deal with.

The main reason your traditional warehouses absolutely hate mail-order is Summit has eliminated a step out of the traditional three step distribution network. They pass a percent of that savings to the consumer and ship without headache to the end-users doorstep.

Meanwhile, the traditional warehouse is refering consumer sales to a retailer who inevitabley does not have the product in immediate stock.

The competition part of the business isn't what bothers me. The manufacturer's could eliminate people like Summit and Jeg's from strong arming the prices. The little guys are what put these people on the map with the buying public. Then they drop them for large mail order companies. If they companies would lock in pricing like Westin does this wouldn't be an issue.

Buck
#183

I will agree with you there buck. It is ashame that manufacturers ALLOW themselves to be strong-armed price-wise. Many, many times I have watched manufacturers drop extreme points to entice mail-order to take their line. Don't hate the player, hate the game.

It's a game played by all...

1) Lot's of compainies have MAP (minimum advertised pricing) policies, It is against the law to mandate what anybody sells your products for.
2) Atech (summit) actually has a very good wholesale program, but a lot of small shops refuse to buy from them because they do not want to support the competition. So they'll pay more, make less money, and go out of business.
3) Most small shops don't realize that they can generally buy parts through a warehouse for the same money, (probably get it quicker) or close when you consider freight policys.
4) Having the parts in stock is the KEY to any business being successful. Would you have your local supermarket order you tomatos so you could make a salad ?

And it's Atech and Buckeye that allow them to do this. They won't sell to Summit or Jegs direct "technically", but Atech sells to Summit, and Buckeye sells to Jegs "technically" to circumvent that whole thing. It just mean the little guys have to have that added value service for the extra money spent. Or specialize in something where tech advice or product variety exceeds anything they can offer.

I don't think places like carparts or racesearch are doing so well, they spent too much too fast.

And "locking in pricing" is illegal. That's huge thing we battle in our industry (not auto aftermarket).

If Walmart or Target carried Edelbrock, for example, you guys would be in for a rude awakening on how the world works. Summit and Jegs issues would be dwarfed. And they'd have to buy assorted boxes of Holley carbs. LOL!

Remember when Jobber price meant something?:D:D:D

But everyone is out there to make a buck, and the long term effects are not always predicted perfectly.

Rum:

Now I see the perspective you're coming with. I agree, if you are a jobber and buy from ATECH, you need to have your head checked. I was soley playing devil's advocate (hehe) and speaking from both the manufacturer's and consumer point of view.

AH yes, and if you do not comply with MAP, you can lose co-op dollars. And a place like Atech probably gathers a couple million in co-op funds each year. So, they'd stand to lose MORE $$ than a smaller WD because of their size if they do NOT comply. If they do comply, it makes them even more money. (or they can undercut non-map'd items and make money in that respect.

Summit's old trick used to be offering the Holley carb (1850) for an awesome price, but carb kit, jets, etc were not priced that well, so they made up the money on the complementary sales. Not sure if they still do this sort of thing or not.

[QUOTE]Originally posted by RumRunner
[B]1) Lot's of compainies have MAP (minimum advertised pricing) policies, It is against the law to mandate what anybody sells your products for.


Westin started regulating their prices about 2 years ago. If a warehouse is caught selling Westin to me below a certain price they WILL be cut off....PERIOD.

There was a large price war with my warehouses a couple of years ago on Westin products. After the SEMA show that year EVERYONE started selling at the same price.....hands down. It is still enforced to this day.

I like it. I know my competitors can't buy cheaper then me. If they decide to sell cheaper that's up to them.

Buck
#183

You can bet your ass they still do this. Every SKU in the database has related complementary SKU's so even the dumbest of phone clerks can up-sell with that whole scenario in target.