Musto moves online
Andy Towne: 'a lot of emotion with our sailing retailers'
ONLINE: Last month Musto wrote to its retailers telling them how it was to make all its products available for purchase online as from 17 March. The letter from CEO Andy Towne told retailers: 'I believe this is a critical initiative not only for Musto to grow its business, but for you to grow your business with Musto.'
At the same time, the letter continued, e-commerce and its associated marketing activities will build much higher levels of brand awareness, leading to greater opportunities for the company's retailers to sell more.
But the news has not been met with great enthusiasm by the trade.
Andy Goddard of Andark was uninspired by the change, telling BB: 'As a retailer I'm obviously very disappointed to have our supplier selling against us.'
Peter Stunt, who handles only Musto products through shows like The Game Fair, Badminton Horse Trials and boat shows told BB: 'We're not too happy about it. But we do all our business through shows, so maybe we won't be too affected by it.'
He added: 'I hope they got it right...'
'Reaction across the board has been horror, disgust, betrayal and disappointment,' admitted Mr Towne. 'The sailing guys have taken it worst. But a lot of our country customers have said they can see the opportunity in all this.'
Part of going online will help us build the brand, Mr Towne added, and that, in turn, will grow our core retailers' business. 'And they find that a very very difficult concept to accept because they see us as going into competition with them as a retailer.'
This is not the case, says Mr Towne. 'When you go onto musto.com as a sailor and click on "sailing", one of the first messages you'll see relates to our Premier Stockist programme.
'We are explaining what our key retailers do for us and giving the consumer the option to select one of those names, leave the Musto website and go to their website,' he outlined. 'We think they'll probably have a better relationship to buy an MPX jacket through an Andark or a Marine Super Store than buying it direct from us.'
Warming to the theme, he added: 'We also recognise that part of our credibility in sailing comes from those specialist core retailers stocking our products. When you walk into a chandlery, you look upon that retailer as an expert. They're often your local retailer and you have a personal relationship with them as well as a retail relationship. We don't believe we can ever replace that personal relationship.'
In addition to promoting its retailers through the website, Musto is about to instigate a investment programme with its retailers.
'There has to be support in the relationship to make sure their stocking is improved, because Musto's not had a great track record in the past of having stock available,' Mr Towne admitted wryly. That statement alone will encourage many Musto retailers.
'We need to make an investment in how our brand shows up in store. We need to make an investment in the retailer's staff, so they are equipped to sell our product. This links into cross promoting them on our website. It's all about recognising how important the retailers are to us and working with them to grow the business.'
As another encouragement, Mr Towne said plainly: 'I've said it's our goal to grow our retailers' business. And if we damage their business because of the strategic role they play for us, we'll do something about it.'
Musto's own retail outlets won't be affected by the move. 'We see our 14 retail outlets as separate channels,' said Mr Towne. 'They're connected in the back office, but they're otherwise independent.'
Finally, Musto wants to assure its retailers of its online pricing policy and insists it will not be discounting product on the website, apart from usual sale periods.
'There's still a lot of emotion with our sailing retailers,' said Mr Towne. 'I'm trying to get out to see them in the next two or three weeks to show them what we're doing.'
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