Your online fishing community.

I had the privilege of attending the Fly fishing trade show at the Denver convention center this week. Amazing to see all the new technology that's going into today's rods, reels and other gear.

It's also amazing to me how much less things cost at wholesale. I understand that dealer networks are an effective way to distribute a product and one of the only ways to get a product widespread awareness and placement, but the money we could save if fishing companies all sold their products direct astounds me.

Dealer markup on most items is almost equal to the cost of the item to the dealer. Meaning, if the wholesale price of a product is $50.00, the dealer (fly shop) will usually sell it for $100.00. The markup is the profit margin for the fly-shop and gives them incentive to sell the product. The higher the mark-up, the higher the profit.

The manufacturer provides an "MSRP" (manufacturer's suggested retail price) so dealers know roughly how much margin there is on the item.

This is how most retail works, in the fly-industry and most others. It's great for manufacturers because they can leverage a huge network of dealers to push their products to consumers. For the consumer though, the cost is effectively double what it could have been if they had the ability to buy direct.

Makes me want to open my own fly shop ....