When we formed the “Perfect Fly” Company, we did so with a business model that provided
for manufacturing everything the fly angler needs from head to toe, and from the butt of the fly
rod to the flies on the end of the tippet. We didn’t want our first fly rod to be something to just
get us started. Quite the opposite of that, we wanted it to be as good or better than any fly rod
being manufactured by anyone. We must admit that turned out to be a much bigger challenge
and far more involved than we originally contemplated, but we are positive the results turned
out to be worth all the time and effort it took. That’s why were are almost two years later than
first anticipated in coming out with the first fly rod.
You cannot produce a top of the line fly rod if you are overly concerned about the cost
of manufacturing it.
Cost is always a factor with just about anything, but if you are concerned about quality,the
cost of manufacturing the rod cannot be the main controlling factor. This is the exact problem
most fly rod manufacturers have. It’s also why they always come out with a “series” of fly rods
instead of just one fly rod that’s best for its intended purpose. We will explain this later.
We are concerned about the cost but not near as much as we are concerned about the
quality of our fly rods. We used this same philosophy with our flies and the slight increase in
cost and the resulting final price of some of our Perfect Flies has proven to be well worth it to
our customers. If we sold them through the normal rep, distributor, fly shop channels, and
didn’t offer them directly to the customer, they would be far more expensive. So would our fly
rods and other product.
I guess you could call this re-defining the high-end fly rod market but it’s really just a matter of
taking advantage of the latest technology to produce the highest performing fly rod possible.
It was our intention from the beginning to make our flies, gear and equipment directly
available to the consumer.
Most fly rods and other fly fishing manufacturers products are sold through reps or factory
sales representatives. Much of the same product is handled through distributors. Both the
reps and distributors add to the final cost of the product because they both must make a
profit. After the manufacturer, rep, distributor and retailer (fly shop) all make a profit, it greatly
increases the final retail price the customer has to pay for a product.
We’re certainly not the first to sell fly fishing product directly to the consumer. Companies like
Orvis have been doing that for some time now but they still have to maintain a certain retail
price level to maintain their non-company owned Orvis dealers. Perfect Fly doesn’t have any
obligations to anyone other than our customers. We don’t have the expense of maintaining
retail outlet stores. We can sell product directly to the customer at the lowest possible
price.
Brick and Mortar Stores
“Mom and Pop” fly shops served their purpose well during the era customers had to go to the
shop to purchase their fly fishing gear. However, times have changed. In order to compete in
today’s market place, fly shops are increasingly having to rely on online sales. The same
thing is true of the so called large “Box Stores”. They rely heavily on online sales. However,
the cost of the building space and the overhead cost of operating a brick and mortar store
adds greatly to the price of the fly fishing products they sell. Times are rapidly changing
and online stores provide the best deals.
Copyright James Marsh 2013