I have seen multiple reports that the CORONA lockdowns have been a major boon for model railway suppliers. Some countries reporting a doubling of turnover.
Of course that probably only applies if they adapted to click & collect or mail order.

Everything in that article tells me that they haven't kept up with technology and set up their own internet store front.

I look at shops like Modellbahn Kramm who have an active web presence and throughout the lockdown are providing "click and collect" as well as mail order sales, thereby keeping their business functioning. It seems that this shop hasn't done this, and hence has lost out.

I see the same happening with shops here in the UK who only have local customers being reported through the news as they are getting financially burdened with the increasing length of the local lockdown. Some report that they have managed to stay afloat but opening a web shop during the first lockdown.

Indeed, and the type of society many of us live in, is actually one of the primary reasons that we are still having to deal with Coronavirus.
If governments actually governed for the benefit of the people and not their own power and business interests, so many things would be better, and train shops would probably be blossoming.

We cannot separate our hobbies from society and hence governance. Until more people act for the good of society as a whole, we can expect, and deserve, to see our hobbies adversely affected.

Tis a shame . Years ago I used to "pop" into dealers all over the UK in my business travels ostensibly to purchase a turnout motor or a bit of track. Then an hour or more of my working day unexplained (but there were no mobile phones and things to worry about) I would press on with a new worry - that lok sized box and a cheque stub ( remember them?) with a value higher than a turnout motor to explain to management so further expenditure was laid out on flowers or something. The hobby depended on impulse buying and the last year the only remaining opportunity for that the Saturday afternoon model railway exhibition has also been on hold so the few remaing dealers lost out there too.

Previsouly Märklin would not "allow" online-only shops, that were able to lower prices because they only had a relatively inexpensive place to store goods, compared to a storefront in city center.

I agree that impulse buying accounted for a lot but in the 5-10 euro segment. Thats why i.e. NOCH / PREISER and all the auto-model-makers have flourished. But you hardly visit a shop and end up buying a 300-400 euro locomotive, at least not all the time
:-)

I also agree that any prudent shop should have a web-presence and then we enter my pet-peeve. Should shops be display-cabinets where you can see and touch and then order online, freeing the shop of having a stock of the expensive and bulky things, and only having stock to sell in the shop of 5-10 euro things ??
And then again. I've never visited a train-shop that didnt also function as a water-cooler area for older people without a real life - to put it VERY bluntly. But the idea would free of the shop of investing in having everything in stock. Then the order should be sent to the customer directly OR to the shop that then worked as a GLS /MAIL package collection center.

PS - i've restrained myself from inputs regarding Corona

but stay heathly, and the only "political" things I will say is : do get your vaccine-shots ASAP, and yes if you do get a reaction like a fever it is only a sign that the vaccines are actually working, nothing to be scared about and def. better than getting the virus without the vaccine.

stay healthy

In 1990 Märklin said I could become a dealer, after reviewing my plan to provide their products via mail order in South Africa.

My first order of products had to be DM20,000 or more.
Impossible.

Of course that was before 'on-line' sales but it was without a formal shop front.

This struck a chord with me as I lived most of my life a few miles from Croydon and the Saturday trip to the Whitgift Centre shops followed by a visit to Wimpey (in the 1960s) and later McDonalds was a part of my life for perhaps 40 years. As you say, all sadly in decline now.

The toyshop that sold Marklin, would that have been Beatties in North End or Hamleys in George Street. I retired to Chichester down in Sussex not too far from the Gaugemaster emporium. Very useful for bits and pieces but holds hardly any stock of Marklin.

Yea, and they have the nerve to offer special incentives!!
Regards, gene

Yes, the Märklin webshop caters for private customers, but the “one size fits all” intra-EU freight rate to Portugal is €20, whether I order a single spare part or an entire starter set. When I order via ye local brick ‘n mortar shoppe freight costs are: 0 € (in words: zero). And that is in order, because Märklin protects the dealer, and I can support the local dealer.

Piko have done the same, you can’t order anything from there sight!! I thought Brexit would cause issues, but that seems petty. They must have the same issues with Australia and the USA?

I don't think the issues are the same. It seems the level of paper work required for a UK-EU shipment is much more complex than for other countries. The EU seems determined to punish the UK for leaving the EU, and the UK has retaliated in kind. The biggest problem in shipping to the EU is if any of the shipment content consists of stuff made outside the EU or UK. I don't know what will happen if UK Customs find a loco with a 'made in China' sticker if they were to inspect a parcel ...

I have a Marklin loco and a couple of wagons due to be delivered tomorrow which have been shipped from the USA - ordered last weekend, shipped Wednesday, and in my hands the following Monday, (with taxes etc paid online) despite coming from snowy Texas!

I have just completed an eBay.de purchase (including the VAT that eBay has added) and will be looking to see how that transaction pans out in terms of delivery time. I presume with these transactions that eBay is providing the seller with electronic copies of the paper work to print out and complete to attach to the package - but the seller claimed he was prepared to ship to GB, so i went for it.

I will also be interested to see how much paper work is attached to my next Lokshop order ...

I don't think it is the EU that has caused the problem. Now that the UK has left the Customs Union, the EU is simply applying their rules to the UK exactly the same as they do to any other third country. It's the British solution to the problem of collecting purchase tax and import duty on international on-line purchases that is turning suppliers off. The British government perceived they were increasingly loosing out on revenue as foreign sellers were quite legitimately deducting their own country's purchase tax (VAT, TVA, etc) and supplying goods at the gross price. Traditionally the importing country's customs agency have been responsible for collecting whatever taxes and duties apply in their country. Previously, when the UK was in the Customs Union, there was a reciprocal arrangement whereby the purchaser simply paid the supplier the net price with local purchase tax included (19% in Germany, temporarily reduced to 16% as part of their Covid recovery plan).

After Brexit, the UK needed a method to collect all this extra revenue and they unilaterally came up with the astonishingly solution of insisting that all international sellers open an account with HMRC (Her Majesty's Customs and Revenue service) and for sales under EUR 150, they collect the 20% UK purchase tax and any other import tariffs due on their behalf. Naturally many dealers feel aggrieved at this imposition and at the moment are choosing not to sell directly to UK customers on-line.

Hopefully they will decide that the loss in business is too much to withstand and will find a way to comply. "Nature will find a way!"

Mine's with Parcelforce at Milton Keynes and has been there for a fortnight so far. No letter from HM Customs yet.

IanC

My parcels come through Gatwick mainly and so far no delays or customs requirements. Indeed I had a parcel delivered last week which according today to DHL and Parcelforce hasn’t arrived in the UK. If this continues I am half thinking that I should claim for non delivery of the parcel, that would really put the cat amongst the pigeons.

On a more serious note there is a phone number to call if you haven’t received your letter,
I don't have the customs charge letter from Parcelforce Worldwide

If you have can't find your customs charge letter, or didn't receive it, please call our Customer Service team on 0344 800 4466 (calls charged at local rate).

I also saw that in addition to the £12.0 handling fee up to €900, Parcelforce can charge storage fees.

Think I might go and stick my head in my layout and forget the outside world for a bit

I wonder how many countries do not haver a distributor who holds all or large Marklin stocks. IF Marklin want to bring in new kids or adults to their system than surely they would benefit by having distributors outside Germany. Could be wrong but USA appear to have some decent dealers. Problem could be the initial cost of setting up and stocking but even in the UK there are plenty of dealers who would sell Marklin and hold small stocks knowing they could get something they have not got in stock from a distributor in a few days. In the years to come there may be nobody left in the UK using their products just because their is no distributor who actually holds stocks.

Yes David, we do have some excellent dealers who have successfully moved online. But their official connection to Märklin is through a third party and parts and service are glacially slow. The best ones do keep
a good level of stock and sometimes they ship product directly from German, which provides a better selection. Here in my part of the world the days of brick and mortar Märklin dealers ended 20 years ago and not just last year.

Märklin does finally have a NA parts supply depot and that might help, but not yet. For now it is still business as usual - order a part and then wait 6-9 months to get it. You plan your upgrades and repairs well in advance.

And they wonder why we turn to ebay - where at least we can get the parts, if for inflated prices.

Got my letter from Parcelforce today, it says it's a reminder but haven't received any previous post from them. Paid on line and expect delivery tomorrow. Looks like I have had to pay German MSTW and UK import VAT and a £12 handling charge.

Hope it's worth it!

IanC

They said that trade would have continued as before, no tariffs. This seems to me not in line with the signed agreement. But I may be wrong.

In the last 20+ years, every year more old MRR dealers closed than new MRR dealers opened. And old MRR dealers at retiring age often have difficulties with finding a successor.
Dealers that made little or no sales through the Internet will now have a hard time. "Click and collect" is an option that may generate some revenue, but those dealers that already used the Internet intensively are a few steps ahead.

If there only were small profits before Corona, then there most likely will now be deficits due to the lockdowns.

True, I think Marklin became popular firstly in America from WW2 service men stationed in Germany.
They bought trains home from there through to he 1960s and beyond. the US ho scale market was then mainly Penn Line, Athearn, Atlas, and Tyco. Lionel, American Flyer, and Marx for O. I'm not sure when the New Berlin Wisconsin office opened, but it closed by 2007. Walthers was nearby, and was an obvious distributor. When I discovered Marklin in 1990, Jeff Stimson was the sales rep. Fred Gates the US hdqtrs President. My uncle in Ann Arbor had a dc 2 rail layout, and then I recalled him buying a European locomotive while on business in Germany. I asked him to remove it from the display case and run it. He explained that he couldn't, for it was Marklin AC 3 rail. I don't think he ever had a Marklin layout. So, in countries today without a distributor, the web, and YouTube are the publicity source besides word of mouth. Then a search for items results in dealers from abroad.
The Marklin sponsored shops were a nice concept in the early millennium. None were in the USA. Shops today must carry multiple brands. To survive with a brick and mortar store must also diversify with a necessary essential goods business. Clothing for example. I knew of one shop that sold only trains. It's neighbor only doll houses. Then came the internet. Another was a former tv repair shop before all sets became solid state disposable items.