Tikka Pricing

Posted by Darrik of Whittaker Guns on another forum... Glad I bought mine when I did...

" Tikka just came out with a new MAP policy effective June 6th. They didn’t increase cost, they’re just insisting dealers sell the gun for more money. It’s the strictest MAP policy in the business. No more email for price, no more telling customers to call for the best price, no more advertised sale prices. It MAP or else.

Needless to say, I’m pissed. Most of you know where we were on pricing before the end of the programs a couple months ago on the SS T3X Lite. Now MAP is $748.00. That’s almost $200 more than they were.

We were a seven figure volume Tikka dealer. I expect our sales to decrease 75-90%. Honestly, I hope they see numbers plummet nationwide. It’s hard to swallow when a manufacturer tells you to gouge a customer.

I’m not sure how our future with Beretta (Tikka’s parent company) will unfold."

Dang, that stinks. I bought my CTR last year. Guess the value just went up. But Whittaker always had stupidly cheap prices and was nearly always the best place to buy Tikkas. $748 for a SS Lite is pretty crazy. Blued CTRs were going for $799 last year.

So they basically contacted u, a retailer, and said that all tikka rifle prices must go up immediately?

Forgive my ignorance as I have no idea how retail fun pricing works or what MAP is?

No basically Tikka called and said you are screwing over every other dealer out there. To make things fair across all dealers, you have to sale it for no less then what the Pricing agreed to when you became a dealer or no longer be a dealer.

Nothing new.

If Cabelas, Basspro, Academy did nationwide ads selling for same highly reduce price as Whitaker was... it would diminish the value of the brand, and crush all the smaller dealers that couldn’t survive on such reduced margin.

Also eventually all dealers would drop Tikka because the product wouldn’t meet margin requirements. Especially in slower times of year when floating costs of the slow moving rifles exceeds profit

Why can't other dealers sell as low as Whittaker?

It’s just capitalism at work. Manufacturers need to make money too. Tikka thinks this retailer’s pricing/volume sales model hurts them overall. So they are taking action.

In most cases the manufacturer has the hammer, unless the retailer is so huge the hammer switches over to them (i.e. Wal Mart, who whipsaws manufacturers because they are in control).

In theory they could, but most are not set up to have a high volume, low margin sales model. No sense in selling 20 rifles a year for little to no margin. Not worth the hassle.

It’s this type of dealer Tikka is trying to protect with this policy. Make it a level playing field for all so other retailers don’t stop carrying Tikka rifles.

Tikka is betting that enough folks will still pay $750 for their rifles they will be better off overall in the long run. It’s probably a good bet.

Is this Socialism or Communism, it's been a long time since I studied that course?

'55 ......volume discounts, early buy and take early delivery/short payment terms discounts that help the mfg'er to blow out left over inventory from the previous year/billing cycle, additional discounts on model change leftovers re: T3 vs T3x's yadda yadda yadda.

In a 2 tier distribution system, like the Liquor Industry still is, that the firearms mfg'er/importer used to be governed by, they could not sell direct to a retailer, but only to an ATF Licensed Stocking Distributor, who sells to the Retail Outlets. The Firearms Industry had followed that type of distribution since before WW II, EXCEPT for the Mfg'ers who did not sell to Distributors at all in the Either/Or System, ex: Weatherby Browning Ithaca, Beretta etc, only sold to Authorized Dealers under different terms & contract and could , under the FTC Rules at that time be forced to maintain a MSRP retail pricing...nothing new here except mebbe FTC regs have changed again with the current administration from the looser Regs in the recent past to be more like the Bidnizz atmosphere of the 1960's. The Auto Industry is looking at how to get around the FTC regs rights now to allow mfg'ers to sell retail customer direct and cut out the Dealer program's overhead.

Edit: WalMart OTOH skated around the issue when they created an In House "Arkansas Independent Distrubitors, Inc" company, located in the basement of the Buyers Building in Bentonville...who usually only worked with Mfg'er company Officers, and where I got fired for writing a $3.25 million dollar order for a $3.24 item, that had a 5% commission in it...'cause my company wanted to keep my commission for the Company Officers bonus program. Still tickles me that they got bought out by Beretta, who promptly fired all them AH's, with no parachutes that had been promised.

As a Spt Goods distributor's rep in the late '70's and early '80's & and an Importers rep in the mid to late '80's I had both kinds of product to sell, and sold to both sides t distribution channel. Every Spring during "Booking Season" at the Distributor and later at the Importer, all of my Credit worthy dealers in both kind of distribution channels were offered the opportunity to order annual commitments product, with a 2% cash discount and a due date in the Fall, that could be discounted with early payment on a sliding scale based on the month of the early payment...that mirrored the discount and extended dating programs we recieved from the various mfg'ers. To make things yet a little more confusing...only my Long Gun Mfg'ers offered long dating terms. Ammo however was a different deal, like most of the scope/accesory and cleaning supply mfg'ers. So there No One Size Fits All answers here.

Some Mfg'ers in those days who had multiple gun lines worked both side of the street like Browning, who was Dealer direct only in the Browning label products, but offered long term extended dating on their Winchester products...look at the FTC Rules for how any product can be sold in the US.
Ron

It’s all capitalism. Manufacturers are a part of the capitalism system also, not just retailers. It all works together.

Communism or socialism would actually mandate Tikka keep selling to retailers who want to sell them cheap so people can have Tikka rifles at a cheaper price. In capitalism, no one mandates anything - the players simply make the decisions they think are best for their long term interests. Which is what’s happening here.

They can, they just choose not to. Whittaker's takes a volume sales approach, while others may not or apparently don't want to. Maybe Whittaker's does a better job running their business than everyone else and this approach works for them.

This is a stupid move on Beretta's part, and I'd bet money their sales volume takes a beating.

As a consumer, it sure was nice to be able to buy a new SS Lite for around $600. It looks like those days are long gone...

Tikka made famous by a few here, ruined pricing for everyone, they aint that good

lose $100 selling the gun, make back $200 in ammo and supplies, business 101

CTRs are now $998 for blued and $1059-1148 for SS.

Sure it will. But short term volume is only part the equation.
(I get that’s very simplified and there are other factors that come into play, but that’s the basic strategy taking place here - not wanting a bunch of smaller retail outlets to have to stop selling Tikkas because they were priced out by the volume guys, thus hurting the brand in the long term.)

Eurooptic still has some on sale... not sure how they are doing that.

Tikka doesn’t make the money on ammo and supplies though.

I have 3 brand new Tikka's in stock I'll sell for less than $600! 1- 243 Win, 2- 7 Mag

Little big for their britches. The Fins might get a lesson in American Capitalism. Many here have recommended other brands of good American rifles, like Ruger and Howa.

Eurooptic has some original T3 display models for $419, if anyone is interested...

You can bet the smaller dealers are glad (or at least excited about the possibilities) about the new policy. Although most probably wouldn’t say it out loud that the fact that customers are going to have to pay more is a good thing. In fact, they can act like they are ticked like everyone else since they can blame Tikka.

Lol Tikka knows all this. They are not stupid. They are making a change because they think it will be a good one for them. Basically adopting the Sako pricing model they are obviously well familiar with.

Glad I’m not in a market where $200 makes or breaks a deal.

Let’s not act like quality matters, you want your stuff cheap.

Tikka/SAKO ain't calling the shots here...they got bought out by Beretta long time ago...
Ron

Lol me too. Every indicator on here (i.e. that Tikkas are head and shoulders above every other similarly
mid-priced rifle) would point to this being a good move for them. If they now suck because they are $200 more now, they weren’t really head and shoulders better to start with.
Beretta is betting most will still think they are.

Not sure Tikka can tell you what to sell it for. I remember a lawsuit with Pierce Sales near Henrietta Texas where they sued Ramsey winches, Ramsey sent them a letter telling them they couldn’t sell for less than a certain price. Pierce won several million dollars.

Sounds like Ping golf. Ping will instantly pull an account (even if said account does millions of dollars with them) if a company sells a product for less than MAP.

I understand why Ping and Tikka do it. I don't like it, but do understand it.

This pricing strategy is nothing new. Nightforce has been doing it for years, as well as many other scope mfg. It's nothing new.

I'll bet they have a contract saying they can. Just like at the mower shop that sells Stihl chainsaws, contract says they can't repair or sell certain other brands.

MAP = Minimum Advertised Price. Sounds like Beretta is attempting to cut off a dealer making any deals less than MAP. Good luck with that. Watched BUSA (Beretta USA) put MAP on all of their shotguns and still watched dealers sell for less than MAP. But, the switch from direct to dealer sales to putting so much into distribution hurt the total annual sales.
You'd think they'd learn.

To clarify... I am not a dealer. This was posted by Darrick of Whittaker Guns on another forum.

I didn't say they suck. They are great rifles. And for everything in the $550-600 range, I do think the are the best rifle for the money.

When you force retailers to increase their prices 27% overnight for no reason other than a change in marketing strategy, you have to expect some kickback...

I know that some [of you] folks don't understand it, but to a lot of people an extra $200 can put a gun out of reach - guns are wants, not needs...

I'm seriously considering a Howa in 223 for my wife, these are Japanese tho aren't they?

You got me. I do not know for sure. I do not own one. But I have watched some experienced riflemen, here, recommend them.

As far as Tikka goes, there are some models I would still buy at the new price. Being left handed, my choices in actions are limited, and a Tikka action at $200 more still puts me in it for less than many custom actions, that I really wouldn't like as much.

I think this will hurt some of the aftermarket folks providing tikka parts

Lefty rifles are already a couple hundred more than righties, when you can find one in stock. Add another $200 to that, and you're in custom action territory. I'd buy a Bighorn before I paid $900 for a Tikka just for the action.

I was on the fence about a tikka for my last rifle. The plastic bolt shroud was what did them in for me. At $200 more they wouldn't have even been on the shopping list.

I ended up buying a savage with misaligned holes for mounting a scope base lol yay for me. If I could go back and do it again I would have bought the 6.5 creedmore wby vanguard instead.

90° bolt throw.

I'm spoiled to 70°

For an item that can last longer than you, $200 is a drop in the bucket.

It’s pretty easy to spend that or more on 32oz big gulps a year.

My first thought was that Howa probably loves this. The price difference from them to Tikka already made them attractive for entry-level given their performance. Now, they'll be impossible to ignore.

Bad move by Tikka IMHO, but I'll shoot out my CTR barrel and then give Tony, Horizon, or S&S a run at it down the road so I can still use my discounted Tikka action. Over $1k for a stainless CTR is going to put it out of the "value" category IMHO.

The price bump when they went from the T3 Lite to the T3X put it out of the value category for me.
I think that they were losing customers already, and this latest will cost them more.

Sure it might last a lifetime or longer or a few if passed down, but so will its competitors.

Some of the competitors will even fire without pulling the trigger. Can’t beat that!

So at what dollar amount does this rationale end? Your "drop in the bucket" amount may very well be more than most pay for their rifle, scope, rings, etc. - a combo that does exactly what it was intended to do, every time, for more than a lifetime. So, if folks don't max out their expendable money on "quality," should they not be buying?

I'm a value buyer. I want the most for my dollar whether I am spending $1 or $100,000. At the $550-600 range, Tikkas were a GREAT value. Add $200 (27%) to that, and some of the "bargain" has been lost.

Are they worth $750? Probably. But I won't buy them at will like I did when they were $200 less. To each their own...

That’s for you to decide. But $200 more for something that I feel is higher quality is nothing. $200 people...seriously?

MAP is the Minimum Advertised Price. Most manufacturers have them. One of my favorite optics sights was shut down due to a Leupold lawsuit against them for selling below MAP. Cal's Sporting Armory used to have stupid good prices on Leupolds.

Car and truck prices keep rising.

Some people keep buying new ones.

Yes seriously. It is a principle all of economics is based on, people wont pay more for something that doesn't provide more utility. You can say quality till your blue in the face and make cracks at Remington all you want, at the end of the day the majority of people aren't going to do something with it that the majority of Tikkas cometitors wouldn't do for an equivalent amount of time. Not to mention just like on this forum people saw a $200 price hike for absolutely zero gain, it puts a bad taste in your mouth.

Yes but you can buy nice looking cars and trucks, Tikka's are still ugly They're the Glocks of the rifle world. Yes I own one, I'll like it better once I replace the chitty stock but now you gotta pay more for the chitty stock. Just more reason to buy Savage.

I'm a big Tikka fan (or was), because they offer great value in the market. But they're hardly the only manufacturer to make a decent rifle. And given that they were already more expensive and now they're charging even more...well, that is going to be hard to justify for most folks.

Honest question - if you laugh at $200 for higher quality, why aren't you buying a Sako or some other high-end custom rifle? Tikka wasn't great because they're the best. Tikka was great because they're the best bang for the buck. That may be over now.

Because the other dealers where playing by the rules. Tikka already had map put in place. Some of the other dealers complain, and Tikka has to respond or loose dealers. Whittaker is basically being warned and has to play by same rules or no longer be a dealer.

Companies like Whittaker Are destroying most brick and mortar store and eventually will even make them selves go belly up. If Cabelas did the same thing as Whittaker, Whittaker would go under along with all the small brick and mortar stores.

Yes, Beretta is simply trying to protect their distribution network.

Having put thousands of rounds through Savage and Tikka actions. There is a 100% chance I will not buy another Savage. Not with current designs, anyway.

Can't call Savage the Glock of the rifle world either. They are not as reliable as a Glock. I know you said Tikka is the Glock of the rifle world. In some ways, I agree with you.

MAP is contentious issue.

My concern is when manufactures start dictating prices why do they not just sale themselves. When brick and mortar complain about online prices, they are usually substantially more expensive. Most people will pay a small premium to buy in person. But if I am buying something that I have not need to look at I shouldn’t have to pay the b&m tax.

Take bass pro. I have watched their prices increase while service decrease for the past few years.

Well, that settles a problem I had. I was going to buy the Tikka T3x Varmint 223 for the wife. I will look at other brands now.

Tikka just took themselves out of the running for the 6.5 Creedmoor I'm in the market for.

You couldn't be more wrong......as I posted a week or two ago, this Formid guy tests optics, rifles, bullets for the US DOD.

https://www.24hourcampfire.com/ubbthread...uy#Post12882609

I'm a little behind Ron, but not much. We made our bones selling online early, one of the first with drop ship from Leupold, and the first with a major wholesaler backing our website for inventory and pricing in the late 90's. In that era, in the gun business, profits were made by buying well, not selling. That drove MAP and other schemes. At one point, Smith and Wesson vs Ruger became exclusive, if Ruger found out you were stocking Smith or vice versa they'd try and cut your supply.

Then there was the "store front" hype. Many mfgers wanted to see pictures of your store front, inside and out, your address for FFL being different than your home, even some that wanted to see utility bills....

it's crazy, but it is what it is...

Wal=Mart nearly ruined Savage, like they did other great brands (Vlasic, Huffy, MTD, and more). Savage finally got out from under Wal-mart's thumb (and financing), and re-tooled and moved back up the chain. Others didn't. Remington is still in bed with the box stores, and it's killing them with sub-par 870's and 700's.

Give me a freaking break. Whittaker's wasn't the only dealer selling below MAP.

My last gun to buy was a Purdey, albeit for a good deal. Truthfully I’m not buying a Tikka or Sako, and I’m a maker of said high end custom rifle.

At the end of the day Beretta/Tikka is making the rifle for WWAAAAAYYYYY less than I could. Go price what it would cost to Wire EDM a bolt raceway in a tube of 4140.

I'll have to somewhat disagree here... Most brick and mortars are destroying themselves.

I have given our local stores multiple opportunities. FRIENDLY customer service is near non-existant these days. I will not pay extra (often well over MSRP on new guns and MSRP on used) to get treated like crap and for them to act like I am a bother. I am sorry to interrupt you from whatever is so important on your cell phone (as you do the "Facebook swipe" continuously...

The few shops that I know of who maintain good customer service and fair prices continue to do well, and will for a long time!

Last week I received a phone call from a friend, venting about this very thing.

Wish I had the time to go into some of these places just to mess with the mOron behind the counter.

You need a break for that? I’m sorry, try mediation maybe.

Correct but they are the ones that were overly blanant about it, Whittaker pimping on every forum across the country didn’t help thier cause. I can’t image why they are being the loudest about it now.

Im actually suprised it took this long.

Whittaker is a specialty brick in mortar retailer,

I get what you are saying on the CS 100% and agree. My comment is based off CS being equal. They don’t hurt the Big guys playing a below MAP crooked margin vs volume game, like they hurt the same size and smaller stores

I would never pay over MSRP for anything, I’ll wait for supply to catch up with demand.

Yes, seriously. A Tikka T3 is a $500 rifle to me. Why the hell would I spend $700 on one? If you think it's so ridiculous for other folks to be concerned with spending an extra $200, I have a whole bunch of $h!t to sell you. I'll send you a list with the market values and you just add a couple hundred to each item.

MFG have always dictated prices.

When MFG’s stop dictating prices, then you get Walmart and Kmart quality with a Walmart and Kmart brand association.

Only thing that Bass pro dictates price on is thier private label or via the allotted price point they bought.

A Lot of MFG now have retail stores virtual and physical , seeing more and more direct to consumer model business

Make sure to put it in a nice itemized spreadsheet. I’ll have my shippers come pick things up after my cashiers check clears your account.

Gonna be interesting to watch how this one plays out. Tikka had found its niche market. It was a good fit for the guy that didn't mind a cheaply made rifle as long as it shoots decent. The price somewhat mitigated the cheap build. Increase the price by 1/4 and it repositions them in that market. The fan boys will continue buying them but a percentage of those shopping in that niche are going to objectively compare what they can purchase with the same money.

Exactly. For those of us who aren't loyal to the Tikka brand, the rifle isn't worth an additional $200, and there are plenty of other options in the price range that will work just as well.

Ruger Americans and Savage Axis’ are “cheaply made rifles that shoot decent.”
Tikkas are mid-priced rifles well above that description. They aren’t that “cheaply made” and they usually shoot much better than “decent”. IMHO.
Again, I’m not a Tikka apologist and not even that huge a fan, but they are probably at or near the top of the heap for anything $750 and under. And that covers a lot of ground.

MAP is just that....minimum ADVERTISED price. One does not have to be too creative to figure a way around that.
As an aside, was in the Beretta Gallery yesterday. They are having a "Fathers Day" sale...15% off everything except handguns. Saw plenty of Tikkas

Y'all are still talking about this

It's funny some of y'all view this as Beretta raising the price. This is nothing more than an enforcement of a signed contract.

Agreed. Find me another $750 rifle that is as consistent and as accurate in that price range. It almost seems that everyone in this post bought Tikkas from Whittakers. I bought a few from them and have no complaints. I would have paid $750 but Whittakers had a great deal on them.

Uh, opting for bottom plastic instead of bottom metal along with their stock place them firmly in the cheaply made category. They have been top of the heap in that category for some time. It appears to me that after addressing the plastic bolt shroud and aluminum recoil lug, they think $200 worth of improvement has been made. It's up to the consumer to decide.

I guess “cheaply made” is all relative, SB.

They aren’t in the same quality league as rifles that cost more (even a few hundred bucks more) for sure. And I personally wouldn’t build a rifle off one or spend $$ adding a bunch of aftermarket stuff to one. But IMO for $750 you’re still getting a good little accurate rifle.

Lots of hard-core working sheep hunters and guides swear by them because of their light weight and excellent accuracy. That speaks volumes to me.

I have never bought a rifle that hasn't shot sub moa and some quite a bit better. Tikkas are not the only guns that shoot.

We should have stopped after this comment.

No doubt, especially these days. Heck I’ve got a $299 Savage Axis that shoots probably as well as any rifle I own (at least as far as I can tell).

On the Tikkas I’m mainly just going off of the raves of others who seek more accuracy than I usually worry about for my purposes (hunting at normal ranges). Heck, to be honest, I still like the “feel” of Remington 700s about as much as any moderately priced rifle. Apparently they are not recommended these days though....

I will say it’s not easy to find a moderately priced rifle that weighs a little over 6 lbs. though - presuming that’s important to someone. Tikkas do have that going for them.

That’s true. It will play out however it plays out.

I'm sure the hardcore working sheep hunters will pay the extra money and keep shooting Tikkas. That's a small market though, and Tikka couldn't make a living off of those hunters. The hundreds of thousands of average hunters that are Googling "best hunting rifle under $500", aren't gonna see Tikka on that list if they raise the price. They're the bulk of the market.

That’s certainly true about the market not being large for them.

Agreed.

By Tikka enforcing the MAP policy, you will still see great prices on Tikka’s, just won’t be as often but will be across the board and not by one off rogue dealers. The market always causes margin support at certain slow times.

When you get a Memorial Day sale flyer or black Friday Etc. The retailer isn’t taking a margin hit, that’s a planned sale by the MFG. the MFG has discounted the product on thier end or made a specialty run.

MAP price and sales price are two different animals. Sure, dealers will have to follow MAP price guidelines but they don't have to share their sales receipts with the manufacturer. If you want to pay a fair and reasonable price then establish a relationship with your shop or dealer. Dealers are not making hardly squat on selling guns anyway. All the profit is on the accessories, services or range facilities (if they have one). A persons word isn't what it used to be but there are some good shops and dealers still out there that will work with you. Good luck.

BOBO!!!!!!!! How many Tikka rifles you own? Asking for a friend.

You already know the answer to that.

Come over tomorrow night so I can bust your nocks.

Can I come...I just wanna watch????

dealers can always get around this by building packages to compete. I saw this same thing when shopping for a Big Green Egg several years ago. Price was the same everywhere. The difference was who offered what with the Egg.

Excludes Beretta and Tikka

I’ll videotape. Host should charge admission.

I gotz mine so I dontz care.

Off course, you have an open invitation. Big ugly is my neighbor now

Come on. 4K cameras only though.

Eurooptic still has them reasonable. Bought one yesterday and half tempted to order more.

Eurooptic has them listed at MAP, and always has as far as I know. I would imagine EO wasn’t happy at all with Whittakers coming on the scene and selling tikkas for less, which I’m very sure put a dent in EOs online sales.

I know I’ve bought all mine from Whittakers for the last few years and it seems like many guys on a few forums I follow have also.

So prices didn’t really increase, this just means there’s no place to get a bargain on a tikka at this point. You pay the same whenever you buy your Tikka

To clarify, I bought the display model at $419 and had a $25 off code.

How much are they at Walmart?

I realize that there are two sides to every story, but here is Darrik's (from Whittakers) latest post on the pricing...

"And that’s what they’re ignoring. We sell the Bergara B14 Hunters from $569 to $599 depending on the direct deal at the time. Stainless 700 are in the low 500’s and the blued ones are right around 400 (ADL’s). Weatherby Vanguards are in the mid 500’s. There are several others (Savage Axis, RAR, XPR, etc.) in the 350-450 range. They’ve put the Tikka at the same price point with Model 70, Ruger Hawkeye, and some others. Simply put, they’ve dropped the Sako A7 and slid the T3x into that price point.

Our numbers show three distinct sporter rifle markets.
Sub $400
$400-$675
$1000 and up.

$675 to $1000 is no mans land right now. Sales are super slow in that category. We’ll see what the market does in the next few months. I’ve canceled all of our backorders (excluding T1x’s) and requested a call tag for our current inventory (almost $300K). They changed the rules midstream and gave us 5 days notice. They can hold the dead inventory instead of us."

... sounds like that Kentucky country boy is NOT asleep at the wheel, and understands how to be agile as a litle guy playing against the chain guys with deeper pockets & heavy debt loads in fixed overheads...Good On Him for playing the hardball game with the vendors to maintain his cash flow....IMO he'll survive when the big guys are gone.
Ron

I agree.

Looks Like Tikka just needs another price hike and charge over a $1,000. It's still half the price of Sako.

I agree as well. Darrick and Co are top notch, run a great operation, and not renegade sellers like Bozo's crying and whining made them out to be.

He's 100% right. I didn't consider Tikka when I started looking around for a LR target gun. I only started considering them when I found Whittaker's and realized what a good value they were. At MAP prices, I probably would've got a Savage, Ruger, or Howa and figured out how to live with the downsides. People in the budget/non-custom arena aren't typically in that mode of paying twice the price for 20% more performance. The people with that mentality are already buying custom guns.

Lol, If you don’t like the rules don’t agree to them and don’t be distribution point. Whitkkers can send thier inventory back, Whitkkers knows legally they can’t be made sell for a certain price. The can sell for what every they want. They also know if thier account in turn gets terminated that’s on them. With out the MAP program the big guys would of already crushed them playing same game

I find it harious you call that innovative. Find it even funnier calling me names because you don’t understand the responsibilities when you become a vendor for a product, regardless what that product is.

Sorry the truth upset your precious feelings.

I've been running my own businesses for almost 30 yrs now. I understand competition, contracts, etc very well. I also understand every Tikka vendor could have sold these rifles at the same prices Whittaker's sold them for, but chose not to. Instead, they, along with guys like you, cry and moan about what's "fair". It's laughable.

Crying and moaning now that’s funny. Learned something new today, pointing out they weren’t following MAP is crying and moaning? Lol

So Tikka never had MAP in place

Obviously you don’t get it.

I'll send you some Kleenex.

Lack of empathy is not crying, nor is stating the truth. I want to see specialty retail survive, but not at the expensive of all specialty.

A friend of mine just got cut last year from a major sportsware company. He was gripping that he now will lose 300k in revenue, well he was selling below MAP on amazon 3rd party and in store.. that’s not even trying to be covert about it. Didn’t have empathy for him either.

Tikka already had a MAP program in place all they did was send out a wake up call.

If Tikka’s sales faulter it’s on their pricing model.

Not according to Darrik...
"...They changed the rules midstream and gave us 5 days notice..."

So why isn't Beretta all over Sportsman's Warehouse and others who are still selling for way less than MAP???

Looks like they are, after reviewing their site. I'm sure there are caveats for SOME sale-pricing in the MAP rules, just not clearing them all out at bargain-basement $. Most of the rifles on SW site are at MAP.

Tikka always had a MAP program just not enforced to same degree it is going forward. Obviously laissez-faire in Whitkkers eyes. Think about it, any forum nation wide if you asked best price on tikkas and you would get Whitkkers 99% of the time. Why?

Is sportsmen’s advertising all calibers or just a few? Sportsman’s probably has margin support for calibers that are slow moving. Mfg support to move old stock. Monthly sale fliers from Basspro/Cabelas, Academy etc are based to push slower moving items but have mfg approval and margin support.

Retail dealers have two options on MAP, you can demand products be on rollers so Mfg gives sale discounts if moving slow or come pick it up, or package deals.

When you get a flyer for Memorial Day Etc a lot of times those items are special run or built in national margin support so it has a lower retail price specifically for that sale day.

Contrary to what JGraider says, I’m not crying over people not staying within MAP. It’s the opposite I’m saying you can’t cry when you finally get called out on it. Whitkker had a great thing going, they where the go to Tikka internet dealer, like I said ask on any forum and that’s where you get pointed. Note there is a reason why you only got pointed there.

The money is made in buying properly, and protected in the T&C with the mfg. If whitakers has the right deal, they can return the inventory. It may or may not have a % loss on return as well. Same goes for defective/returns, is it RTV or dealer loss. Crap like this is why I won't touch Nikon unless you as a customer demands it. They are the worst for us to deal with over 32 years.

One way around all this is "Call or E-Mail for Pricing"...

Fair enough.

I still keep my original stance... This new "enforcement" will keep me from buying Tikkas "at will" like I used to.

For me, they were a "no brainer" or "can't go wrong" at Whittaker's prices. Tack on another couple hundred bucks, and my itch can wait a while longer to be scratched...

FromDarrik at Whittakers, 3/26/18 PRIOR to the latest changes from Baretta.

"....are going up April 1st. The dealer programs end and everything will be adjusted. If you want anything we have in stock, I'd advise you to put it on layaway or purchase the rifle now. No changes on existing layways or preorders.

Just an FYI so you guys wouldn't think we were gouging when you see some of the changes".


Also from 3/26/18

"Tikka isn't actually raising their price. The dealer programs are ending. We receive incentives during the program period and pass those savings on to our customers. Not all dealers do that. Some elect to keep the additional margin. We simply pass it along when the guns net out less expensive than normal."

I don’t disagree, think Whittaker is right about market and tikka pricing themselves in to a flat segment, but that’s on Tikka to adjust, thier product their program. If sales flatten out Tikka will now be required to incentivize sales.

'puter's been down thanks to Century Link again...LOTS of Emails to delete this morning...including one from Midway announcing that they now have Guns in stock to sell....looked at the Remington/Mossberg/ Browning-Winchesters and prices appeared to be about like Bud's...and NO Beretta/SAKO-Tikka's. Dinnit look at the handguns or shotguns.

Ah Yes ....the fun begins again to see who can survive the OnLine Retail Wars...
Ron

It’s not just guns. Amazon has really shaken things up. But Amazon even fights its self as a retailer vs it’s 3rd party side.

Be interesting to see how MFG adjusts to the new media company type market.