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What products are worth buying from GNC???
- Thread starter ronron912
- Start date
jcmbbfuture
New member
Go look at companies like biorhythms or nds. What about universal or ultimate nutrition. Even optimum nutrition. These are all top quality companies that we sell more than our own products and prices that can't be beat (since we price match) U can't argue with this. It is a fact. Saying that GNC sucks and everything in it sucks is line saying every piece of clothing in the mall is not worth a dirty rag. There is no logic there. Ntbm I am sure is a great company. That's fine. Just saying the GNC sucks mentality is due strictly to misinformation. Period
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So you admit that if the quality of GNC improved, then it did so in response to the quality offered by internet retailers.
Thus, GNC is not cutting edge but taking its cues from online retailers ("increased immensely because of online competitors") and is thus not a leader but a follower.
So why buy from a follower and not a leader?
jcmbbfuture
New member
How does that even matter in terms of sales? Just follow online because they did it first? Really? How about the fact that u can get an online supplement for an online price but walk in to a store and get it immediately. That makes more sense to me.
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no, you missed the point, again. By your own definition your quality lags behind online retailers because your corporate model is competition responsive and not proactive. Your corporate model is like a trying to turn an tanker ship--by the time you adjust to the competition, they have already taken the next step.
As far as "makes sense" it makes sense to patronize a retailer that has a vested interest in quality and customer service b/c if the online retailers (the one that set the standards) fails, then history teaches us that GNC will return to business as usual: earning the largest profit the market will handle over people and quality.
jcmbbfuture
New member
I never said our quality lags. I said it has been forced to meet standards. If its good its good. Regardless of who started it. Not to mention u keep comparing our store model to a corporate one. Again, we are a franchise with a completely different model. If anything we are the pro active model. Online products and prices at walk in convenience. This is something that online supplement retailers can not offer unless they build a concrete store.
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so your business model is price match when required, otherwise charge as much as possible to cover the brick & mortar overhead, which as a rule, is about 8:1 -13:1 more than an online storefront.
Thus, the only person who should shop at GNC should shop for the best price first, and most certainly not rely that GNC is in any way competitive with the market except when required.
Moreover, as a franchise, you must purchase from the corporation and remit a certain percentage of sales for the fees and coop stuff. Thus your overhead is even higher than a corporate store so your ability to compete long term is probably not very good.
jcmbbfuture
New member
I am sorry sir but u again are wrong. Most all of the products at my store are already at reduced price and we price match to guarantee this is so. We can not always be aware of what online retailers charge there fore it is impossible to make sure everything is always at the greatest reduced price. And yes a 10% portion is paid in royalties but that doesn't mean we raise prices for this. For instance every time I sell a on gold standard whey I actually lose money. Again we make our money by volume. Not to mention one of our stores has been running for 15 years, the other almost ten and we have one that has been opened for nearly a year and a half. Ling term is not a problem.
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your long term survival relies on the health of the franchisor (which is not good); take away the benefits derived therefrom like volume pricing/distributorship agreements/marketing/geographic restrictions etc. and the business will not survive.
Without a house brand (e.g. like Needto) or the ability to buy in volume you cannot match the online model--the numbers simply are not there--the margins are just too thin. Even with loyal customers, it is virtually impossible to develop the critical mass necessary for certain types of business to survive, much less survive. I put together, take apart, and advise businesses for a living and have done so for 14 years--you may have a solid business today--but take the agreements away (that I suspect you have not even seen as they are very confidential) and you wither and die.
Without a house brand (e.g. like Needto) or the ability to buy in volume you cannot match the online model--the numbers simply are not there--the margins are just too thin. Even with loyal customers, it is virtually impossible to develop the critical mass necessary for certain types of business to survive, much less survive. I put together, take apart, and advise businesses for a living and have done so for 14 years--you may have a solid business today--but take the agreements away (that I suspect you have not even seen as they are very confidential) and you wither and die.
jcmbbfuture
New member
I am not gonna keep arguing. U are stating assumptions and I am stating facts. The stores I work with have been around long term and due to the fact that we have multiple stores we can buy in bulk and distribute and keep prices down. Again one of the most profitable chain of GNC stores does this. This is a fact. This is the future business model and if all of the GNC stores did this there would be no need for online retailers. We on average make almost 50% more than the average GNC store because of the volume we push. Not the price. The numbers are clearly there. Most of our top sellers we buy direct from the supplier and we are the cheapest place to get those products. Period. We can keep prices extremely low and still have a profitable margin. I will say again as I have said before...not all GNC stores are the same. We do have some top of the line products at unbeatable prices and this model has been shown to work. Period. U can't argue or refute this. We even occasionally take a hit to make sure that customers are satisfied and come back. This again is a fact. We still in turn have and have in the past years had one of if not the most profitable chains in the state. This again is a fact. U can speculate all u want but I know these things to be true. I see it every day. I see the numbers, the margins, and the cost. I make the orders and deal directly with some of the independent supplement companies we order from. These things u can not argue.
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