Do you buy at the local specialty store or do you order online?

From the life of the craft. Shipyard. Five people, four plus boss. An old PC in a corner. The case: customer wants a parking heater installed on his ship. Difficult installation situation, lots of additional material needed. Version 2017 would be, boss researches the best equity on the internet, wades through countless PDFs for the additional parts, then orders let's say from distributor xy in Bremerhaven. Price would be 3400 net. Classic version. He calls his trusted wholesaler. Bruno, give me a price for this and that plus a one-inch connecting piece, you know, the ones from Allpa, plus an exhaust pipe extension, the one with the bend, yes..., exactly that one, plus the mounting bracket with the rubber feet....ah, 4300 net for everything...Bruno, I'll pass it on, I'll get back to you...Karsten

this is the classic way, simpler...

And why doesn't Karsten just call the respective online retailer directly? Someone had already written it - online retail has become specialized retail by now!

There is one bathroom online shop here, certainly not completely unknown, that has always conducted order checks, i.e. even as an end customer without any knowledge, you could always order there and be sure to get everything. This shop took it one step further some time ago and now also offers its service to specialized dealers. That means I have all the advantages of local wholesale combined with internet prices (although I believe that wholesalers just want to make too much profit, and their manufacturer purchase prices are not worse than those of an internet retailer).

The topic of a parking heater on a ship might be a bit special... I consider it more likely that you need some washbasin cabinets more often than parking heaters for a ship.

Of course, this is a special example. However, in everyday crafts, trade b), a) is the organization of work, acquiring orders, processing the existing ones, creating invoices plus their monitoring. Trade runs along like that. Is it different for the plumber? I don't think so. He also has his two heating companies, let's say Junkers and Vaillant, plus wholesale for bathrooms, let's say Jensen in Hamburg, plus his building material supplier, let's say Meesenburg. And he gets everything by phone, that doesn't hold him up long. If he were a trader, his focus would be completely different. Karsten

I agree with you on all points, the fundamental problem of excessive prices, whether due to overly high wholesale margins or anything else, remains.

And you can also pick up the phone with online retailers - the only difference nowadays is that online retailers usually don't have a showroom.

After spending the last 6 months visiting almost every bathroom showroom in the Rhine-Main area, and all having almost the same displays, I can say that you can safely do without them.

Especially for the small craftsman, I believe it is also about convenience. If you forget something when ordering, you can just swing by the corner on your way home and pick up the sniff piece without having to wait another 2-3 days. If it was too much, you return it with the next order and get a refund. All this without complicated returns and shipping costs.

Complaints are easier too. The broken sink goes into the van - quickly to the wholesaler - take a new one with you - continue building.

With the online retailer, the craftsman first has to order a freight forwarder to pick up the stuff, someone has to be in the office/warehouse/construction site at that time, after another 2 days the new sink arrives. In the meantime, the craftsman is already on the next construction site, and so on.

It is also a piece of culture, these quirky online remote shops. Schrauben Köhler Lübeck, whatever he doesn’t have, doesn’t exist. Polyesterzentrale Lübeck, ditto. Filterhandel Klöpper, from mopeds to combines, from Ford Mustang to Ford Lehmann in the fishing vehicle, he’s got it. Waage Farben Hamburg, that’s a different level than selling Caparol and Consolan, there’s still white lead. But not to everyone. Richter Wellsee, what the world knows in Plexiglas, they have it .... I also love these guys who work there, these real contrast programs to the salesperson character, used to be Schrauben Köhler, Martensen on the device. What’s it about? Yeah, if we’ve got it here, .... no, not that. But if you take a hundred, listen how to make it. Otherwise it’s not worth it ....Karsten