Ecotech joins BRS as a sister company..

[Forty-Two]

The parent company may in part be making the purchases to trade in the latest incarnation of oil - which is data. For sure Neptune has a wealth of data, BRS has a wealth of data - and I’m sure so does Ecotech Marine. All of the IOT devices gather data on us - which then in turn can be used to market or sell - whichever is most profitable.

Maybe there is some thought process of better integrations b/w Neptune and Ecotech but that is not the prime motivators. I think at this time we need to re-think our generalized idea of BRS just trying to be a friendly retailer trying to provide information and good customer service. These moves are aggressive industry consolidation moves and should be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism.

 

[robbyg]

EcoTech has it on their company-news page so I doubt it's because no one wants to spook loyalists. Bertram (the company that owns BRS/Neptune) purchased them, pretty sure it's a controlling shares situation, but it's not been confirmed. EcoTech is referring to Bertram as its "Parent Company" on their website so it is at the very least controlling shares if not in its entirety. Bertram seems to have a penchant for buying companies and not changing a whole lot it seems. Their portfolio is quite diverse. See here: https://www.bertramcapital.com/portfolio

As of yet, EcoTech is not listed there, but EcoTech HAS posted the information on the company-news page, so pretty sure it's legit.

Reading that Link its pretty much confirmed.

"For you, our customer, this change in ownership will probably flow as easily as a VorTech pump."

The rest of that announcement is so typical. Nothing is going to change, we will still keep all the staff, the same customer support. Blah Blah Blah!

We all know that in 2 years time Ecotech won't even be recognizable anymore.

@BroccoliFarmer is right, they have started to move into phase two, which is eliminate the competition. It is up to us to decide if the only retailer in our not to distant future is BRS.

 

[tharbin]

Bought, merged, partnered, joint business relationship…they are all different ways of structuring and saying the same thing.

I think the bigger thing we should be worrying about is the actual problem. I am not sure if you noticed in the give aways, but all of the gifts seem to be donated and not actually from BRS. These are definitely bribes coming from vendors to stay in BRS good graces. Given other merchants are not getting the same thing… do you think they are going to survive if everyone is buying everything from BRS in hopes of scoring a random giveaway. This is another variation on monopolistic practices to kill competition and most of us are willing participants. I wouldn’t be surprised if one or two of the other players don’t go under in January.

Unfortunately I think I agree with this. The Dream Tank started out great and is still very thoughtfully put together but now instead of some random Preferred Reefer already being selected it is a list of ten and the first one they get to on the list that answers their phone and seems to be suitably overwhelmed wins. It went from a simple gift to a game show.

The daily giveaways I'm beginning to find annoying. They are not "giveaways" unless you buy something so the only customers that can win something are those that have enough money to not need to win. I understand their reasoning but it just seems like a marketing gimmick that they are asking the vendors to underwrite. Giving away gifts to your customers is a nice gesture. Making it contingent on a purchase that day... much less so.

It will make it very hard on the competition that don't have that leverage with the vendors.

That said, I still believe that the crew at BRS try to be helpful and do a lot of very good and useful videos.

 

[acropora4u]

I stopped shopping BRS For a smaller vendor with saltwater In their name. Rather support smaller company than one growing too fast. Just sayin.

 

[robbyg]

I stopped shopping BRS For a smaller vendor with saltwater In their name. Rather support smaller company than one growing too fast. Just sayin.

Shhhh. They might get bought out

 

[ingchr1]

I stopped shopping BRS For a smaller vendor with saltwater In their name. Rather support smaller company than one growing too fast. Just sayin.

This one?

SaltwaterAquarium - Aquarium Supplies

Shop The Best Saltwater Aquarium Equipment & Supplies at Saltwater Aquarium. We Carry Everything you will Need for your Fish Tank.

www.saltwateraquarium.com

 

[DK450reef]

If BRS owns a few of the large suppliers on their site will they stay unbiased or just promote products that they have a financial stake in??? Lack of another online aquarium equipment supplier “could” lead to higher prices we all pay

 

[JNalley]

If BRS owns a few of the large suppliers on their site will they stay unbiased or just promote products that they have a financial stake in??? Lack of another online aquarium equipment supplier “could” lead to higher prices we all pay

*stay* unbiased? They're not unbiased now... I never see them promote GHL Products (at least not since the Neptune acquisition), but it seems nearly every other video I'm told about the Apex. Of course, they're going to promote their own products in their videos. They may give the illusion of remaining unbiased, but their product placement will tell you otherwise.

 

[flourishofmediocrity]

Everyone is biased one way or another including everyone here on R2.

 

[jasonDeReefer88]

I’m sketched out by BRS the more I watch the videos. Always kinda felt they leaned way hard on ecotech as the end all be all.

 

[Butcher333]

I’m not comfortable with a Monopoly. Didn’t Microsoft do this and then Apple came out with products everyone wanted.
Won’t we eventually just be asked “hey, do you have a BRS tank”?

 

[robbyg]

I am more worried about getting into a warranty or other issue with them over one product and then finding out that I am blacklisted and my Vortech pumps or Trident also gets the same treatment.

 

[joshwaggs]

I am more worried about getting into a warranty or other issue with them over one product and then finding out that I am blacklisted and my Vortech pumps or Trident also gets the same treatment.

I recently read a post that someone got blacklisted by GHL for blasting them on here. Their order was canceled by GHL.

 

[rhostam]

The parent company may in part be making the purchases to trade in the latest incarnation of oil - which is data. For sure Neptune has a wealth of data, BRS has a wealth of data - and I’m sure so does Ecotech Marine. All of the IOT devices gather data on us - which then in turn can be used to market or sell - whichever is most profitable.

Maybe there is some thought process of better integrations b/w Neptune and Ecotech but that is not the prime motivators. I think at this time we need to re-think our generalized idea of BRS just trying to be a friendly retailer trying to provide information and good customer service. These moves are aggressive industry consolidation moves and should be viewed with a healthy dose of skepticism.

My employer has been through several rounds of acquisitions and mergers over the last decade. I can tell you that, at least for some, Founders can have the best intentions at the onset. In fact, they can maintain those intentions all they want. However, the reality is that these are businesses and what we end up seeing is Boards actively intervening to make decisions that realize short-term gains over long-term ones. This has had an unmitigated and disastrous effect on the base products (pre-merger/acquisition) with QC, QA, etc going down the drain and leading to a mass exodus of tenured talent. Some fully expect the cash infusion to allow them to grow and improve their businesses and if they can manage to do so in a way that delivers returns fast, then there is no need for them to intervene. But I've also worked for gaming companies where if returns aren't being realized within months of launch they just offload the business in a fire sale.

Skepticism is good. But don't forget, unfounded claims and/or wild theories can harm a company and its reputation just as much as bad decisions and bad customer care.

I absolutely expect BRS and these other brands to do their best to maintain momentum, but it may not be up to them for long if they don't deliver. Ryan et al seem like level-headed and cautious guys. I don't think they are going to let the bling-bling potential cloud any larger plans to boost this lucrative, albeit niche, market.

Finally, let's not pretend like there is no incentive for these brands to do better! There are fierce and highly competent competitors on their heels with the likes of GHL, and others. Nothing prevents stagnation like competition. We will always have options.

Want proof? Just look at Amazon. Despite all of the businesses they get into (books, merchandise, managed services, and now prescriptions, etc) there are still mom and pop shops, there are still smaller online retailers competing for the same business. Now, whether or not we choose to pay the extra costs of shipping, etc, for those goods is entirely up to us.

 

[Forty-Two]

My employer has been through several rounds of acquisitions and mergers over the last decade. I can tell you that, at least for some, Founders can have the best intentions at the onset. In fact, they can maintain those intentions all they want. However, the reality is that these are businesses and what we end up seeing is Boards actively intervening to make decisions that realize short-term gains over long-term ones. This has had an unmitigated and disastrous effect on the base products (pre-merger/acquisition) with QC, QA, etc going down the drain and leading to a mass exodus of tenured talent. Some fully expect the cash infusion to allow them to grow and improve their businesses and if they can manage to do so in a way that delivers returns fast, then there is no need for them to intervene. But I've also worked for gaming companies where if returns aren't being realized within months of launch they just offload the business in a fire sale.

Skepticism is good. But don't forget, unfounded claims and/or wild theories can harm a company and its reputation just as much as bad decisions and bad customer care.

I absolutely expect BRS and these other brands to do their best to maintain momentum, but it may not be up to them for long if they don't deliver. Ryan et al seem like level-headed and cautious guys. I don't think they are going to let the bling-bling potential cloud any larger plans to boost this lucrative, albeit niche, market.

Finally, let's not pretend like there is no incentive for these brands to do better! There are fierce and highly competent competitors on their heels with the likes of GHL, and others. Nothing prevents stagnation like competition. We will always have options.

Want proof? Just look at Amazon. Despite all of the businesses they get into (books, merchandise, managed services, and now prescriptions, etc) there are still mom and pop shops, there are still smaller online retailers competing for the same business. Now, whether or not we choose to pay the extra costs of shipping, etc, for those goods is entirely up to us.

I’ve also been a founder in startups - and this is why you have to be careful about who you take money from - and who you continue to do business with. Boo boo they are being pushed around by board members and unscrupulous short sighted investors doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be skeptical of their actions and take caution when using their services. That was their choice to get into bed with those folks - and the fact that they have not quit means they are complacent at best.

Lastly - Amazon is a great example of an evil company destroying others businesses and livelihoods, stealing from others and engaging in extremely questionable if not illegal business practices. Stealing other business ideas after having an initial meeting with them to understand the product and then making a knock-off at a cheaper price is unethical and stealing. Not to mention the data they collect and exploit. So your position is this is ok in order to ‘beat’ your competition? No - there are ethics in business as well. Don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t steal and generally don’t be a jerk. We all live generally by this code so we can have a society of strangers benefit each other - otherwise it would be mayhem.

 

[rhostam]

I’ve also been a founder in startups - and this is why you have to be careful about who you take money from - and who you continue to do business with. Boo boo they are being pushed around by board members and unscrupulous short sighted investors doesn’t mean we shouldn’t be skeptical of their actions and take caution when using their services. That was their choice to get into bed with those folks - and the fact that they have not quit means they are complacent at best.

Lastly - Amazon is a great example of an evil company destroying others businesses and livelihoods, stealing from others and engaging in extremely questionable if not illegal business practices. Stealing other business ideas after having an initial meeting with them to understand the product and then making a knock-off at a cheaper price is unethical and stealing. Not to mention the data they collect and exploit. So your position is this is ok in order to ‘beat’ your competition? No - there are ethics in business as well. Don’t lie, don’t cheat, don’t steal and generally don’t be a jerk. We all live generally by this code so we can have a society of strangers benefit each other - otherwise it would be mayhem.

I didn’t say don’t be skeptical. I also didn’t say boo-hoo on behalf of the executives either. I agree with you on having executives be held to account.

Skepticism is fine, but there is such a thing as unhealthy skepticism. We seem to be judging BRS et al. on the sins of others. It’s too early to tell what route they will take.

 

[robbyg]

I recently read a post that someone got blacklisted by GHL for blasting them on here. Their order was canceled by GHL.

As far as I know he is not blacklisted, they just refunded his money on just this one order because of his constant complaints about the delays with the Ion Director. He had already stated he was about to cancel anyway.

My worry with the new "One Ring" BRS is that all the customer service centers will soon be under one roof.
If they have any sense which they do, they will be merging all the customer databases including Marine Depots into one. It would make sense that internally and probably also externally that they will use one customer number for each of us no matter which of their companies we are dealing with.
That could mean that publicly complaining about one entity could have consequences when dealing with all of them.

 

[flourishofmediocrity]

"One Ring"

EDIT: here's another one:

EDIT 2 (last one): This one, I just searched for "aquarium auto top off" Interesting note, Saltwateraquarium.com shows up 5 times, BRS only 4.

 

[joshwaggs]

EDIT: here's another one:

EDIT 2 (last one): This one, I just searched for "aquarium auto top off" Interesting note, Saltwateraquarium.com shows up 5 times, BRS only 4.

That usually means they pay google to highlight them in search results. Bulk Reef Supply doesnt need to pay google for advertising. They use youtube.

 

[flourishofmediocrity]

That usually means they pay google to highlight them in search results. Bulk Reef Supply doesnt need to pay google for advertising. They use youtube.

The point is BRS is not the only place to buy stuff for reefing, and not the "one ring".