Thread: No more "Special Orders" for Triton or GMC at the BigB!..

Originally Posted by woody62

Your source is wrong Dave. This decison was all Bunnings, no Dummy spit by GMC at all.

Fair enough - as I said, the guy I spoke to thought it was the case, but as he just works the tool shop, I'm not at all surprised that he's wrong... Thanks for clearing it up.

Sydney Tools in Castle Hill still seem to stock the accessories for the WC2000, so I'm happy... a little birdie tols me that the router mounting plate from Syd Tools is coming my way for fathers day Of course, i suggested it to the little birdie, so I might have the inside track there!

Cheers,
Dave

Originally Posted by Stuart

It was Bunnings - a directive from them to cease trading with GMC.

I said the factory was closing down - Eagle suggested it was a relocation.

You don't change locations like that unless you dramatically need to increase production, and sales are not heading in that direction (and especially not once Bunnings (as the largest outlet for Triton in the country) stops selling the product). One scenario then is selling, and outsourcing production (and given outsourcing production is GMC's stock and trade, that is my bet).

As far as I am aware (and I have no visibility of the new production at all, which adds to my hypothesis, given that the demonstrators historically had an excellent relationship with production), no where is currently up and running with commercial levels of production.

Due to on going difficulties in repairing and sourcing parts for now very old manufacturing machines, the Triton factory was closed and the manufacturing of the Workcentre will be relocated to a very modern metal fabrications factory in the northern suburbs of Melbourne. This will also ensure retail costs are kept down and maybe even lowered again whilst providing the oportunity to increase production at anytime far more efficiently than ever before with a higher quality finished product. The current new Superjaws will contue to be made off-shore at this time.

An on-line ability to buy Triton finished goods and parts . . . . . . . . well who knows what the near future may bring

Originally Posted by woody62

An on-line ability to buy Triton finished goods and parts . . . . . . . . well who knows what the near future may bring

PLEASE!!!! Sourcing parts and accessories online would be a huge leap forward!!!

Cheers,
Dave

PLEASE!!!! Sourcing parts and accessories online would be a huge leap forward!!!

YEH YEH How about we let Triton and GMC know.
Put in your vote now

Unfortunately it takes a signifigant investment to set up. At the very least you need a web page shopping cart and dispatch system. You almost certainly need a call center. And all that geared to retail, ie no clue, customers who expect the person answering the phone or email to have all the answers.

I'd love it of course, but whenever I talk to the girls on the special orders desk they make a point of mentioning I'm extremely unusual in that I know what I want and usually have part numbers, correct names etc. Most people seriously don't.

There is a reason for retail markup.

We need to start a petition to triton for online parts and sales.

If anyone knows who we email or where the Triton suggestion box is located, please let us know.

I am sure that a few thousand email would have to be motivating and prove their is a demand.

Originally Posted by damian

Unfortunately it takes a signifigant investment to set up. At the very least you need a web page shopping cart and dispatch system. You almost certainly need a call center. And all that geared to retail, ie no clue, customers who expect the person answering the phone or email to have all the answers.

I'd love it of course, but whenever I talk to the girls on the special orders desk they make a point of mentioning I'm extremely unusual in that I know what I want and usually have part numbers, correct names etc. Most people seriously don't.

There is a reason for retail markup.

I'd almost agree with you if the internet hadn't been floating around for a couple of decades now. I can understand what you're saying from the point of view of small spare parts and the like where the odds of getting it wrong a reasonably high (though to be fair, no higher than dealing with special orders at bunnings). I think the bigger problem would come from a manufacturer that was seen to be undercutting or just plain competing with it's retailers which wouldn't please them too much.

Still, Triton's distribution network has taken a bit of a hit with the loss of bunnings. Extending their existing website to sell bits from the catalogue wouldn't exactly be reinventing the wheel and yes it would cost money, but not astronomical amounts. As for despatch system, they presubably have a system for getting stuff from the factory/warehouse now, which while geared to major shipments it couldn't be terribly difficult work out how to cope with smaller stuff.

I'm not saying they should do it, just that'd I'd love it if they did...

Cheers,
Dave

Originally Posted by blackhole

If anyone knows who we email or where the Triton suggestion box is located, please let us know.

I thought it was "[email protected]"

Cheers,
Dave

still here guys - havent been "plucked".
as you would all be aware Fathers Day is coming up and I have been busy doing my job - suprise suprise!!
Yes Bunnings have gone with Ryobi, you know what at the end of the day there is nothing you can do, once the decision is made. What is now means is GMC will be available to Independents more so than ever before. I am sure the Independents would be delighted to get the #1 DIY power tool company (latest BIS Shrapnel 07) in there stores in competition with Ryobi and Bunnings.
Lets wait and see how many hotties Ryobi bring into Bunnings;

• $99 Compressor
• $99 Generator
• $99 Rotary Hammer Drill
• $49.99 Circ Saw
• $99 Table Saw

We shall wait and see - meanwhile keep checking your local hardware independent stores....hopefully you will start seeing more GMC and Triton.

Lets not get too hooked up in this thread - go and buy some more Triton and make something!! Sales would be great!!
Happy Fathers Day

When we ordered through Bunnys,We had to give a part number or explain what we wanted, to the person on the desk.
THEN that persons interpretation of what we wanted was relayed to the person at GMC/Triton.
This leaves it wide open for error.
At the least we would be cutting out one source of error if we ordered the same part ourselves with the same info to the same person at GMC and no more work for them.
Same person and info without middle person.
We pay for post but then I had to go on a 3/4 hour round trip twice for same part.Once to order then pickup
Just my bit

Actually I'd had to do it three times in the past, order, pay, pick up. Eventually bunnings changed the system so you could pay over the phone.

As I said previously in another thread, if your there during business hours they would call while you waited. I did this and despite having the triton part numbers off the website and listening to the conversation, I still couldn't establish with GMC what I wanted.

As I said I think your all underestimating what it takes to set up a retail phone or email order arm, but I too would very much like to see it even though I've gotten rid of all my triton tables.

Originally Posted by Ozkaban

I thought it was "[email protected]"

Cheers,
Dave

It would be funny if it wasn't true....

Certainly some promising reverberations from GMC here, and good to have some more light on the outsourcing of the manufacturing. Anything that bring manufacturing back to Australia has to be a step in the right direction.

I'd also certainly flag just how critical ongoing support and spares are to the success of a brand - one of the reasons Triton was so successful was the compatibility of components, and that spares could still be sourced years after purchase. I'd be a big supporter of the spares being available through online means - selection and payment. I'm imagining being able to click down through an exploded diagram of a tool (like a 3D rendered CAD drawing you can click on to expand), click the individual picture of the component(s) you want, and having a shopping cart populate itself as you go. It would look awesome, and would (I hesitate to say) the world's first. Granted some things would come in packs as the smallest unit, but you could show this by clicking one component and immediately all the other components in the same pack would also highlight.

And I've always wanted to see a dedicated Triton store - I know it is impractical - doesn't mean I wouldn't like to see it!

Anyway, here's hoping that the big slap that Bunnings has given one of it's long supported brands pushes Triton back onto the pedestal. Just thinking out loud - as much as Bunnings wants to push it's exclusive brand, it made a fortune out of GMC even without it being exclusive. So Ryobi, enjoy the ride while it lasts, because Bunnings has set quite a precedent for the long-term relationship.

It seems that GMC are appearing on-lin through another dealer:

http://www.dealsdirect.com.au/c/tool...e/power-tools/

Garry