Typical Thomann...

breakstuff

I've just Googled this thread and it's coming up in third place.It's like J Con.all over again.We'll soon have them out of business,the slackers.

imalone

GuitarZero said:

There will likely be some kind of tax charge if we are out of the EU and purchase from the EU.  This will probably mean any financial gain we have now by buying from the EU will be lost.

Well, you wont have to pay german sales tax, but you will have to pay VAT on import, and duty if there is any (though the EU exit people tell you there wont be as it will all still be free trade). Likely because it's not free market anymore it will go through the same ransom import system that stuff from the US goes through.

57Deluxe

/\ US stuff should be cheaper actually...

johnonguitar

I placed an order a few weeks ago around midday for a few things. About 90-120 minutes later I emailed them to ask if I could add something else to this order. I never got a reply within half an hour so put the added item through using PayPal anyway assuming it would flag up that a) I had emailed as per their system for adding items to an order and b) that I had two orders on my account. Both were well within business hours.

Unfortunately the email was never replied to and the items were sent out separately, arriving a day apart (even though both were before the cut off).

I've emailed to ask if there is anything that can be done so will report back as to the answer.

Dave_Mc

GuitarZero said:

There will likely be some kind of tax charge if we are out of the EU and purchase from the EU.  This will probably mean any financial gain we have now by buying from the EU will be lost.

I dunno. I mean, we already pay VAT (which is the vast majority of any import taxes from outside the EU), and if we leave the EU and don't have a reciprocal free trade agreement, presumably we'll only pay an extra 3-4% (as currently happens with stuff from the USA, Japan etc.) which isn't a massive amount more- though the ~£10 parcelforce charge for getting it through customs for you would make small purchases not worthwhile, probably. However, considering you have to pay 10 euros postage for small purchases anyway, you could make an argument that small purchases are already not worthwhile.

Of course, we could always still have a free trade agreement, like (I think) Norway and Switzerland.

Chalky

Extremely likely that there would be a free trade agreement. Always remember - the EU sells £Billions more to the UK each MONTH than we sell to them. So they aint going to want tariffs are they?

Dave_Mc

^ I would have thought so too, but you never know. But as I said, even if there isn't it's unlikely to be that much different from the current situation.

Drew_TNBD

57Deluxe said:

I hope nothing changes that attitude when we leave the EU then...

We wont be leaving the EU.

UnclePsychosis

GuitarZero;656506" said:

There will likely be some kind of tax charge if we are out of the EU and purchase from the EU.  This will probably mean any financial gain we have now by buying from the EU will be lost.

If we leave the EU then spending a few quid more on pedals will be the least of our worries.

usedtobe

Drew_fx;656888" said:

57Deluxe said:

I hope nothing changes that attitude when we leave the EU then...










We wont be leaving the EU.

Hope you're right.

usedtobe

UnclePsychosis;656973" said:

[quote="GuitarZero;656506"]There will likely be some kind of tax charge if we are out of the EU and purchase from the EU.  This will probably mean any financial gain we have now by buying from the EU will be lost.

If we leave the EU then spending a few quid more on pedals will be the least of our worries.
[/quote]
You're right.

TTony

Just to be boring for a minute or two - doesn't this highlight the difference a bit of forethought and investment makes.  The UK retailers aren't losing out just on price - they're losing out on a combination of lower price AND better service (which is a nice trick for any retailer).

I'm guessing that Thomann has linked its stock control system with its website, so you get real-time accurate information when your thinking about ordering.  Link in the automated stock-picking system and 5 mins after you press "buy" and the item is in a box waiting for dispatch.  Obviously, the website was updated immediately you pressed the buy button, so the next person thinking about buying that last one in stock sees that they were too late and its now out of stock - before they press the buy button.  

Link in the stock ordering system and the supplier gets an automatic order for more stock as soon as inventory falls below the trigger level and that system is tuned so that popular items shouldn't go out of stock and that sales aren't lost as a result.

The customer is happy with this service.  Aren't we.

The company saves money (having someone on staff to update the website with latest stock numbers and someone else to deal with angry customer emails when they don't get what they ordered).  The company might save so much money that they can cut prices just a bit.

Which makes customers even happier, they buy more and the company saves more.

It's not just about the price, most of us would pay a little bit more to know - for sure - that what we ordered was actually available to buy, and would turn up when promised.  But with Thomann you get both price and service because that's they way they've designed their business.

And that's why Thomann are better.

not_the_dj

I work for a competitor of the company that built the Thomann warehouse and supplied their WMS (Warehouse Management System). It is amazing that a music retailer has a site like that. It's comparable with the sites I know in the UK run for the big supermarkets and clothes retailers. A world of difference from a UK shop with a bit of racking in a manual warehouse. It's like a corner shop competing with Walmart. 

underdog

TTony;657335" said:

Just to be boring for a minute or two - doesn't this highlight the difference a bit of forethought and investment makes.  The UK retailers aren't losing out just on price - they're losing out on a combination of lower price AND better service (which is a nice trick for any retailer).



I'm guessing that Thomann has linked its stock control system with its website, so you get real-time accurate information when your thinking about ordering.  Link in the automated stock-picking system and 5 mins after you press "buy" and the item is in a box waiting for dispatch.  Obviously, the website was updated immediately you pressed the buy button, so the next person thinking about buying that last one in stock sees that they were too late and its now out of stock - before they press the buy button.  

Link in the stock ordering system and the supplier gets an automatic order for more stock as soon as inventory falls below the trigger level and that system is tuned so that popular items shouldn't go out of stock and that sales aren't lost as a result.

The customer is happy with this service.  Aren't we.

The company saves money (having someone on staff to update the website with latest stock numbers and someone else to deal with angry customer emails when they don't get what they ordered).  The company might save so much money that they can cut prices just a bit.

Which makes customers even happier, they buy more and the company saves more.



It's not just about the price, most of us would pay a little bit more to know - for sure - that what we ordered was actually available to buy, and would turn up when promised.  But with Thomann you get both price and service because that's they way they've designed their business.

And that's why Thomann are better.

Great post, but it's not just that, I can understand another shop like GAK not being able to have such an automated system but it's no excuse for letting customers down. Knowingly having "available to order" on the site even though it's quite possible they wont get it for weeks or months just to stay on Google shopping page is counter productive.

They do it to show up on Google shopping but then piss the customer off who not only doesn't get the item but lose their money for 5days which probably prevents them from buying else where.

Also having worked for a company that designed and owned lots of business specific software I know there will always be a stripped down version of software for a lot less money for the smaller business to use.

Dave_Mc

UnclePsychosis said:

GuitarZero;656506" said:

There will likely be some kind of tax charge if we are out of the EU and purchase from the EU.  This will probably mean any financial gain we have now by buying from the EU will be lost.

If we leave the EU then spending a few quid more on pedals will be the least of our worries.

Yeah we'll have to fork out for new power supplies when Farage puts us up to 260V just to piss the EU off.

streethawk

underdog said:

TTony;657335" said:

Just to be boring for a minute or two - doesn't this highlight the difference a bit of forethought and investment makes.  The UK retailers aren't losing out just on price - they're losing out on a combination of lower price AND better service (which is a nice trick for any retailer).



I'm guessing that Thomann has linked its stock control system with its website, so you get real-time accurate information when your thinking about ordering.  Link in the automated stock-picking system and 5 mins after you press "buy" and the item is in a box waiting for dispatch.  Obviously, the website was updated immediately you pressed the buy button, so the next person thinking about buying that last one in stock sees that they were too late and its now out of stock - before they press the buy button.  

Link in the stock ordering system and the supplier gets an automatic order for more stock as soon as inventory falls below the trigger level and that system is tuned so that popular items shouldn't go out of stock and that sales aren't lost as a result.

The customer is happy with this service.  Aren't we.

The company saves money (having someone on staff to update the website with latest stock numbers and someone else to deal with angry customer emails when they don't get what they ordered).  The company might save so much money that they can cut prices just a bit.

Which makes customers even happier, they buy more and the company saves more.



It's not just about the price, most of us would pay a little bit more to know - for sure - that what we ordered was actually available to buy, and would turn up when promised.  But with Thomann you get both price and service because that's they way they've designed their business.

And that's why Thomann are better.

Great post, but it's not just that, I can understand another shop like GAK not being able to have such an automated system but it's no excuse for letting customers down. Knowingly having "available to order" on the site even though it's quite possible they wont get it for weeks or months just to stay on Google shopping page is counter productive.

They do it to show up on Google shopping but then piss the customer off who not only doesn't get the item but lose their money for 5days which probably prevents them from buying else where.

Also having worked for a company that designed and owned lots of business specific software I know there will always be a stripped down version of software for a lot less money for the smaller business to use.

I'm working on a website for my tiny online shop and the stock management is part of the (mostly free) software.

No excuse as far as I can see. Either you want to be honest with your customers or you have other priorities.

rawk100

I like the way they handle returns and don't try to "shaften sie in der poopen-holen" when you want to send something back......

Chalky

'Allo 'Allo is back! /\

bingefeller

John_P said:

When I order form thomann   (4 orders so far this year) it arrives on a thursday.   Tracking has been pretty much spot on every time, but I select the option to update me at every stage.

It's definitely part of some evil plan to make me buy lots more gear.

Oddly enough my Thomann parcel is out for delivery today too.  Effiziente Deutschen mit ihren lieferungen !!!!

bingefeller

Parcel just came!  I, however, did not but I suppose that'll have to be another thread.