West Marine now price matching this is a game changer

[robert843]

Well its at least a game changer for me and probably several others with a West Marine close by. I usually only buy from West Marine when they have items on sale or I need something now as they are usually a little bit pricey. Now they are offering pricing matching even up to 30 days after the sale so this now enables me to get the products I want now instead of having to order online and wait for shipping. I plan to get a VHF radio and antenna in the next week or two and plan to put this to the test then.

https://www.westmarine.com/CustomerService/Price-Policy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=25&v=qV6SkPWTRuM

 

[Bruce]

That is going to hurt West Marine badly!!!

 

[robert843]

That is going to hurt West Marine badly!!!

It will be interesting for sure. I shop for about 100% of my boat purchase in store so I can see the product in person but currently only buy maybe 20% of my purchases there after seeing them in store as they are usually significantly higher priced then I can find the product else where. I'm guessing they did market research and found that many people probably do the same and are hoping the gains in additional sales will offset this.

 

[Foobar]

That is going to hurt West Marine badly!!!

I think it will help them. They lost a lot of sales from people like me who looked at their price, said WTF, and bought it somewhere else. Reduced revenue from a sale is better than no revenue from a sale.

 

[Adrian @ JB Solutions]

That is going to hurt West Marine badly!!!

Did you not see Best Buy turn show-rooming into their advantage? Stock is up 5x since they decided to price match.

Great move by West Marine, their only kinda competitor here (Dicks) also price matches.

 

[Mainah]

They just opened a new store near me a few days ago. I had never been in one before Sunday. The front of the store is set up more like a boutique outdoor store then the back has the heavy duty shelves. Very clean layout and will be great when I don’t want to wait for something.

For those in the Columbia SC area it is now in Harbison over by Bed Bath and Beyond. My Wife was looking for a new duvet and I saw their sign. Guess who had to chase who down. On the plus side my Wife even thought it is was a neat store since they have clothing and sandals too.

 

[njmr2fan]

Wonder if the competitor needs to have a brick and mortar store as well

 

[PEARCE]

The only West Marine store that was somewhat convenient to me closed last year. The times that I've walked through the store and they've actually had what I needed and wanted to pay for was very rare. The store clerk would either open a catalog or look on there website to see if they could order the item I was shopping for. It was a waste of time usually for me. I could have done that from where I was, which was usually at the lake! After losing everything to the fire in July we had to restock most of our boat and dock stuff. We bought most of our stuff through Amazon. It was just easier and cheaper then running all over the place and then places not having what we needed. Good for WM for price matching, but I think their days as a brick and mortar store are numbered.

 

[robert843]

Wonder if the competitor needs to have a brick and mortar store as well

Look like the will price match Websites as well in there restrictions it just says no auction sites.

If you find a lower price on an identical product (Brand and Model) at a retail competitor’s store or website

 

[Bruce]

I suspect they will define “retail competitor” as retail competitor with a storefront. But hopefully they match online retailers.

There a no West Marines in my state. I do occasionally find a bargain in their sales to order online. When I visit the stores I am always shocked by the prices.

 

[RedBarron55]

I bought a Garmin EchoMap Chirp 74 sv at West Marine for $499.99 and a few days later I was at Bass Pro in Leeds Al. and saw a sale flyer listing the same unit for 449.99 - $50.0 difference.
I will test the low price guarantee before the 30 days is up!

 

[Hawksr30]

Bought a new boat recently and tried to stop in one at 5:05 on a Thursday afternoon only to find that they close at 5:00 on weekdays. Granted here in Michigan it's not really "prime" boating season just yet however, a better business move may be to actually be open for a period of time after most people get out of work. I'd like to think not but I suspect they'll soon be a casualty of the Amazon age. Personally not a fan of the price match game. If I take the time to shop for the lowest price, I'm most likely going to go with the guy that had the lowest price. If I want it now, and they have it, I'll buy it and be done with it.

 

[Ancient canoe]

Unless you want to be turned into a showroom for Amazon brick and mortars need to price match. Even then you may just be delaying the inevitable.

 

[Foobar]

West Marine price matched an item for me on Amazon. Hell, the guy that worked there scanned the bar code with his own Amazon app for me. It didn't matter if it was a 3rd party seller putting their wares on Amazon. They still matched it.

I will buy more from West Marine if they continue to do this. I would rather buy it from there because of their return policy, which is pretty awesome.

 

[vanmurray]

Well its at least a game changer for me and probably several others with a West Marine close by. I usually only buy from West Marine when they have items on sale or I need something now as they are usually a little bit pricey. Now they are offering pricing matching even up to 30 days after the sale so this now enables me to get the products I want now instead of having to order online and wait for shipping. I plan to get a VHF radio and antenna in the next week or two and plan to put this to the test then.

https://www.westmarine.com/CustomerService/Price-Policy

https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=25&v=qV6SkPWTRuM

Thanks for sharing. I too will be buying vhf radio and antenna soon.

 

[Scott griffith]

I bought some spark plugs from them yesterday online for 4.88 a piece for the cr9eix the cheapest I have ever found them I usually buy mine from rock auto for 5.99

 

[BassLakeAR195]

I have a funny story about this. Just last week I walked into my bedroom and told my girlfriend I wanted to go get a Garmin GPS from West Marine because they price match Amazon. She replied, “How do you know they price match?” I told her I had just googled it a minute ago. So we park the car. First thing we notice is a big yellow “WE PRICE MATCH!” sticker on the door. Well that’s new. We start laughing. We walk in, the employees are literally holding balloons that all say the same thing as the sticker along with bright, brand new, blue and yellow t-shirts. Moral of the story she knows not to question me anymore! Lol! We got a good laugh out of it.

 

[vxooxv]

I bought some spark plugs from them yesterday online for 4.88 a piece for the cr9eix the cheapest I have ever found them I usually buy mine from rock auto for 5.99

This is good for for those that have a store close by. I'd certainly support marine specific stores online vs amazon however the $99 shipping kills it. Case in point i'm looking around for a cheaper alternative to Amazon for the cr9eix. That keyword doesn't even return on westmarine's website lol You can't pricematch something that doesn't exist. Geez