Stainless sports Rolex dealer stock........

many

As annoying as this is from a customer perspective I also see this from a dealer perspective. It's got to suck when you lose, what could be, a sizable portion of your revenue because the manufacturer can't or won't supply you with enough product to sell. It's got to cut into their margins and they might be trying to recoup it by "encouraging" (read: making) people buy more than one piece.

I'm not saying I agree with the practice but there may be another motivation behind the practice other than to stick it to buyers.

Dash1

I recently went to a large family gathering attended by a cousin of my wife who owns one of the U.K’s oldest Rolex approved dealerships. Having dipped into this thread previously I questioned him on the subject. His first response was that because Rolex is owned by a trust they are not subject to the usual business pressures from shareholders etc... He also admitted to being very frustrated at the situation, on the one hand Rolex force him to invest huge amounts of money on dedicated Rolex sales areas (among other requirements) and yet will not supply him with the stock he needs to fill it! The only reason he could think of to explain the situation is the possibility that Rolex are trying to make it uneconomical for the ‘independent’ retailers to remain Rolex approved leaving only a small handful of Rolex owned boutiques as outlets.
Whatever the reasons behind this poor business practise I certainly felt sorry for him. Rolex obviously have no loyalty to the approved retailers who have sold their products for many years.

Dash1

I recently went to a large family gathering attended by a cousin of my wife who owns one of the U.K’s oldest Rolex approved dealerships. Having dipped into this thread previously I questioned him on the subject. His first response was that because Rolex is owned by a trust they are not subject to the usual business pressures from shareholders etc... He also admitted to being very frustrated at the situation, on the one hand Rolex force him to invest huge amounts of money on dedicated Rolex sales areas (among other requirements) and yet will not supply him with the stock he needs to fill it! The only reason he could think of to explain the situation is the possibility that Rolex are trying to make it uneconomical for the ‘independent’ retailers to remain Rolex approved leaving only a small handful of Rolex owned boutiques as outlets.
Whatever the reasons behind this poor business practise I certainly felt sorry for him. Rolex obviously have no loyalty to the approved retailers who have sold their products for many years.

Dash1

I recently went to a large family gathering attended by a cousin of my wife who owns one of the U.K’s oldest Rolex approved dealerships. Having dipped into this thread previously I questioned him on the subject. His first response was that because Rolex is owned by a trust they are not subject to the usual business pressures from shareholders etc... He also admitted to being very frustrated at the situation, on the one hand Rolex force him to invest huge amounts of money on dedicated Rolex sales areas (among other requirements) and yet will not supply him with the stock he needs to fill it! The only reason he could think of to explain the situation is the possibility that Rolex are trying to make it uneconomical for the ‘independent’ retailers to remain Rolex approved leaving only a small handful of Rolex owned boutiques as outlets.
Whatever the reasons behind this poor business practise I certainly felt sorry for him. Rolex obviously have no loyalty to the approved retailers who have sold their products for many years.

Speedmasterfan88

This echoes a discussion I had with someone who's quite connected in the watch selling business recently;

The theory goes that Rolex is trying to starve the smaller AD's, because those will most likely sell their left over stock to the grey marked, to the point that they drop Rolex because it's just not feasible for them anymore business wise.

In the long run this could lead to a few exclusive Rolex Boutiques run in conjunction with the biggest AD's.
And positioning Rolex to the point that they, like Patek, "allow" you to buy a watch from them if you fit their customer criteria.

As with everything else about this topic atm, this is just speculation/theory, but it's one of the more realistic theorys I've come across on this subject.

Cheers,

Max

ac106

Right but according to reports they’re “starving” all of their ADs not just smaller ones.

If they really want to do this, doesn’t it seem like they would be much easier and direct ways ?

Jonathan40

Friend of mine picked up a Batman GMT from UK dealer last week and was told they keep the warranty card for 12 months and they would like him to sign a 3 year non sale agreement. First watch the week previously he was originally getting had a bezel blemish that had passed Rolex QC and was missed by the dealer! Only he spotted it and after a couple of days dealer rang him to say the watch was going back to Rolex but they had another one for him ready. Once back in store to collect they were saying that they also had another in the safe they were unable to sell because a previous customer who purchased it had sold it Grey and Rolex traced it to this dealer and requested that they purchase it back to clean the mess up and await further instruction.
No Rolex goodies to say sorry as dealer said they didn’t have any and hadn’t for the last 12 months.

MrJKLFoams

Same here. Manager asked me to sign a contract not to sell the watch at all but I can go home with everything included inside the box.