Dear Sir, 

I read with interest the article written by Leighton King of Mailspeed Marine in the October 06 edition of BB titled "Time is running out".

I am sure virtually every marine related business regardless of their chosen field is more than aware of the impact that internet trading is having on this industry. It wasn't so long ago that there was uproar amongst the traditional retailers on the emergence of the discount mail order companies, and now 10 years later we are facing a new scenario where "back bedroom marine" is able to set up in business with minimal overheads and compete on price with both mail order companies and retail shops.

It is impossible to ignore the Internet, it will not be going away, and we, like most other businesses expect the Internet to continue its massive and rapid expansion for many years.

Interestingly, looking at a few websites today it appears that it is not "back bedroom marine" offering the largest discounts, but rather some of the more established businesses who have been expressing their concerns about discounting!

At Marathon Leisure, we believe the answer is not to try and restrict Internet trading, as that is an unrealistic proposition in this global wired world, but to open up the Internet to as many of our existing retailers as possible.  Not everyone is computer literate, and many people are uninterested or have little (if any) time to produce and maintain a credible website.

Our customers who show a stocking commitment to our product ranges benefit from featuring on the Marathon website.  Those that have their own website are easily linked to our own, whilst those that do not (and also those that do) will benefit by receiving orders and enquiries taken on their behalf.

The Internet is and will continue to be only one of several different ways to attract customers.  Whilst there will always be a certain percentage of customers who are looking only for the absolute lowest price, there will always be others who use the internet to research products, taking full advantage of the wealth of information available online but then buy the product from their local chandlery where face to face service is a valuable asset. 

The Internet will not force the end of traditional retailing, nor will it see the demise of mail order shopping, it is going to take its place alongside all these other mediums and we at Marathon will support and help our customers to take advantage of the online opportunity whilst also ensuring prices within our traditional retail outlets remain competitive.

2007 will see the launch of a Marathon Stockist scheme comprising of an investment by ourselves of over £140k which actively promotes and advertises ALL our supporting customers both online and in magazines, as well as at boat shows.  We will work closely with our stockists in ensuring not only that they will survive the internet explosion, but that they will thrive from it.

We are currently discussing ideas about how best to be fair to our customers that run and maintain shops and shoulder the burden of all the overheads that this entails.  The display of our products in a professional and organised way should and will be rewarded.

Yours faithfully

Tim Millinder

Marathon Leisure