New Club/Membership Discussion

[Tannermule]

This post is to see people's opinions of an idea for a club/membership.

Background​

A local reefer has decided to start his own LFS, Great Lakes Fish and Coral, near Cleveland Ohio. Many people have come to know and trust him over the years. He previously worked at the other great LFS. He actually started me on my journey of reefing awhile back. Since he has started his own shop he wanted to grow the community more by making a club tied to his company. The local Facebook group has actually become a large problem as of late causing many people to want to leave the group/hobby all together. I am trying to help with ideas and implementation as much as possible. That is why I want your ideas and opinions as well.

Benefits of being a member​

These are just initial ideas and concepts so they could change over time. Below is what members would receive

• 10% discount on fish and coral
• early notice of what will be coming into the shop
• Higher end corals exclusive to the club
• QT Coral and Fish
• Samples of products
• DIY fish food
• Tickets to community raffles
  • We did something similar to this at a hardware store I worked at in high school. Gardeners would bring in clippings, sprouts, seeds, or other goods to be raffled off for a free ticket. Local shops would also donate goods from their stores or would donate mulch, pots, or fertilizer. this provided advertising to locals and increased turnover of products that weren't selling well. We did this for mother's day and memorial day. At one point a lawn mower was raffled off as well. We would do something similar of members donating coral, 3d printed goods or local stores paying to sponsor an item.
• Tank tours of members on their YouTube page
• Discounts on take maintenance for trips or TLC of a neglected tank

Pricing​

This will be the largest defining factor for most people. I was in the ball park of $10-$20 per month


I would love to know your thoughts.

 

[Jekyl]

I'm just north of Detroit so would still be too far of a drive for me. However if closer I wouldn't join the membership. For local coral I still find local reefers to be the best choice. Stock is healthier and price is cheaper. Fish aren't added enough to justify a monthly fee for price reduction. I have a very nice store within 5 minutes of my house. Majority of my business comes from buying Rods food or other frozen items with the occasional floss or bottle of NoPox

 

[Tannermule]

I'm just north of Detroit so would still be too far of a drive for me. However if closer I wouldn't join the membership. For local coral I still find local reefers to be the best choice. Stock is healthier and price is cheaper. Fish aren't added enough to justify a monthly fee for price reduction. I have a very nice store within 5 minutes of my house. Majority of my business comes from buying Rods food or other frozen items with the occasional floss or bottle of NoPox

His shop easily has the best prices and cleanest tanks hands down. His store is currently stocked with just his frags from his tank and his brother's. I agree with the fish comment unless you are like me where fish jump and get wedged between the lid and the rim. I mentioned to him doing pods each month as well since I culture them. Thank you for the feedback.

 

[Jekyl]

His shop easily has the best prices and cleanest tanks hands down. His store is currently stocked with just his frags from his tank and his brother's. I agree with the fish comment unless you are like me where fish jump and get wedged between the lid and the rim. I mentioned to him doing pods each month as well since I culture them. Thank you for the feedback.

No problem. Hope everything works out for him. I'm not in any way trying to poo poo the idea.

 

[Tannermule]

No problem. Hope everything works out for him. I'm not in any way trying to poo poo the idea.

We are trying to gage unbiased honest opinions. I personally like the idea of a community raffle just to start things off. But I appreciate the honesty.

 

[Jekyl]

We are trying to gage unbiased honest opinions. I personally like the idea of a community raffle just to start things off. But I appreciate the honesty.

Give aways are always a good bet. The best things to draw me in would be lower prices and higher quality. Propagating your own coral rather than outsourcing will keep prices down. As well as selling fish that are properly cared for. Anything that comes with a pest free guarantee would also drive sales.

 

[Tannermule]

Another reefer suggested mystery coral packs

 

[Tannermule]

Still looking for ideas

 

[Shmollica]

Yeah I checked his store out, it was pretty nice and for sure, other than blue fish, much cleaner than others in the area. I personally wouldn’t see any value in a monthly club fee since I rarely add coral these days and am full up on fish. Most of my cost comes from salt and various foods. I don’t have Facebook so can’t really comment on that group, but I think I know what you mean lol. I gave my money to the dudes that taught me for free haha (brs), but I always like to support locals. I plan to get my next round of roids there, but it’s more expensive than the other guys lol. I hope you all have luck, seemed kinda busy when I stopped in!

 

[Reefing102]

While I’m not familiar with the Cleveland area stores, I have worked at a LFS(non Ohio) that had a similar club. They weren’t monthly though. Theirs was/is as follows:

“Recieve a 10% discount on most fish, inverts and corals as well as most aquatic related supplies including foods, and supplements, decorations, fil-ters and replacement cartridges, maintainese supplies, skimmers, uv sterilizers, all pond equipment, stands, and lighting. 5% discounts apply to aquariums, and starter kits. Plus get free water testing, monthly coupons for additional specials and regular in store Club only specials or fish, corals and invertebrates. It's easy to join! We’ll get you saving the same day and best of all it’s good for a LIFETIME! Everything's included for a one time member-ship fee of $39.99 and never any renewal fees.”

The above is a store club though not an alternative local club if that makes sense

With that said, a thought could be to host the local reef club(if there is one) for frag swaps and similar and maybe offer discounts to those members during those events? I’m not sure if your trying to create a store club or an alternative local club? But just some thoughts.

 

[PeterC99]

Price seems steep at $240/year (assuming $20/month). Have to spend $2,400 to get that back @ 10% discount. Locks you into this vendor.

In my area I have 3 LFS within 1/2 hour drive. Wouldn’t want to be locked into anyone of them. They all offer good service.

Difficult business to differentiate yourself. Buyers are always looking for low cost provider.

LFS is not an easy business! Admire the persistence and hope you can find enough of a differentiator. Problem is that once you find that differentiator and it works, the competition quickly copies. Wish I had more positive thoughts but hopefully the love of this hobby outweighs the difficult business part of LFS.

 

[Tannermule]

While I’m not familiar with the Cleveland area stores, I have worked at a LFS(non Ohio) that had a similar club. They weren’t monthly though. Theirs was/is as follows:

“Recieve a 10% discount on most fish, inverts and corals as well as most aquatic related supplies including foods, and supplements, decorations, fil-ters and replacement cartridges, maintainese supplies, skimmers, uv sterilizers, all pond equipment, stands, and lighting. 5% discounts apply to aquariums, and starter kits. Plus get free water testing, monthly coupons for additional specials and regular in store Club only specials or fish, corals and invertebrates. It's easy to join! We’ll get you saving the same day and best of all it’s good for a LIFETIME! Everything's included for a one time member-ship fee of $39.99 and never any renewal fees.”

The above is a store club though not an alternative local club if that makes sense

With that said, a thought could be to host the local reef club(if there is one) for frag swaps and similar and maybe offer discounts to those members during those events? I’m not sure if your trying to create a store club or an alternative local club? But just some thoughts.

Looking to create a store club mostly. I saw a similar thread in the past where locals had "store fronts". This worked as a way to get more locals invested in the store. You dropped off your coral, paid for a spot, discussed pricing of coral and the store got a percentage of the sale. They said they did this for 6 months before some brought in some hitchhikers and caused them to now use 10 gallon separate tanks for that same process. Supposedly it was nice and they said they liked it.

 

[Reefing102]

Looking to create a store club mostly. I saw a similar thread in the past where locals had "store fronts". This worked as a way to get more locals invested in the store. You dropped off your coral, paid for a spot, discussed pricing of coral and the store got a percentage of the sale. They said they did this for 6 months before some brought in some hitchhikers and caused them to now use 10 gallon separate tanks for that same process. Supposedly it was nice and they said they liked it.

I could see this working, kind of like a coral consignment shop. The biggest issue I could see would be the logistical headache of tracking each hobbyists corals/pricing and/or a liability if a system crashes. Might be better to have a “buy local” section, where the store buys the coral from the local hobbiest and resells it as locally bought/propagated. The hobbiest for could possibly set a MAP like some manufacturers do Idk. Just spitballing.

I’ve thought about opening my own store, but the capital is my biggest issue. Kind of off topic but could also set up a couple laptops (secured of course) that link directly to here (not sure of licensing) that allows customers to research purchases? Also I’m not sure what kind of dry goods, if any, that he’s getting into, but perhaps look at a reasonably priced used goods section. Sorry for going off topic.

 

[Tannermule]

I could see this working, kind of like a coral consignment shop. The biggest issue I could see would be the logistical headache of tracking each hobbyists corals/pricing and/or a liability if a system crashes. Might be better to have a “buy local” section, where the store buys the coral from the local hobbiest and resells it as locally bought/propagated. The hobbiest for could possibly set a MAP like some manufacturers do Idk. Just spitballing.

I’ve thought about opening my own store, but the capital is my biggest issue. Kind of off topic but could also set up a couple laptops (secured of course) that link directly to here (not sure of licensing) that allows customers to research purchases? Also I’m not sure what kind of dry goods, if any, that he’s getting into, but perhaps look at a reasonably priced used goods section. Sorry for going off topic.

Sadly shelf space is limited and he also has freshwater goods too. This makes having used equipment difficult. I do like the buy local. It would be hardier and probably cheaper than getting it shipped to the store I would assume. The consignment would thing would need to have clearly labeled and priced pieces. That way all employees and customers know what they are getting. I think a local frag swap would be cool. You could just use 10 gal tanks for each person and I would honestly love to go just to chat.

 

[JCM]

I'm not anywhere close to Ohio, nor am I affiliated with any LFS so feel I'm pretty unbiased. No way would I spend $10 - $20 a month on a membership. Maybe $10 - $20 a year.

If they have high end corals and homemade food, it wouldn't make sense to restrict that from paying customers. QT'd fish would take serious dedication. I wouldn't trust that they were properly doing it for me, but not non members.

 

[Tannermule]

Do you feel like a one time membership of $39.99 (for example) where you got the below would be good?

• Discounts
• Qt frags
• List of orders
• Raffle tickets
• Advance notifications for sales
• Higher end coral and frags

 

[PeterC99]

Price keeps going up...

 

[Tannermule]

Price keeps going up...

One time instead of recurring.

 

[PeterC99]

One time instead of recurring.

Understood but can you offer enough value to get customers to sign up?

Curious - what is the average sale at LFS? 50? 100? $40 is getting up there. Will the store stock my favorite brand of calcium reactor media, trace elements, coral booster, etc.?

Not tryin to be difficult, rather realistic. The Amazon Prime/Costco subscription model works at scale. Customers always looking for low cost provider.

I’m rooting for you and want you to be successful but at the end of the day what keeps me coming back to LFS is great corals & fish.

 

[MaxTremors]

I think even at a $10 a month price point, the value, as currently proposed, that you would get for it just isn’t there. For me, all of the stuff besides the discount and QTed fish and corals is ancillary and not really part of the core value, they are the sort passive perks membership. QT being one of the core draws, I would have to be confident that proper QT practice was being followed (not just observation) for me to trust it, if I don’t fully trust it, and still have to QT, then it too becomes an ancillary part of the value proposition.

So then it just comes down to the discount, which as someone else mentioned, you’d have to spend $1200 or $2400 to break even, which is more than most reefers spend on livestock (especially people with established reefs) in a year. So, I think for building a community, this isn’t the right price point. I think when you look at other sort niche business that offer programs like this, they usually charge $15-$20 per year and you get 10%-15% certain product categories and a bunch of other perks, Gamestop comes to mind.

The idea is to give the impression that your getting this great value (when the real point is to get people in the store and to upsell). I think for something like this to work, there has to be some real tangible value there. At even $10 a month, I would have to spend at least $100 to just break even, not even feel like I’ve gotten a deal. Even with all of these other ancillary/passive points of value, in the moment, if I spend $10 on my monthly fee and then only spend $70 on livestock in that transaction, I’m going to come away feeling like it wasn’t worth it. The price of the membership needs to feel like a good value at the initial point of sale, either by getting me a discount greater than the price entry on my purchase today, or by giving me more time than until the end of the month (and not requiring me to spend $1200-$2400 to just break even) to use the benefits I’m paying for today. So, for me, this would have to either have way more tangible value added for this price point, or at the current offering cost $15-$20 per year.