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"HomeBrewWest":227l8phg wrote:

"alexander taipan":227l8phg wrote: Hi there Brian, i'm all for healthy competition but after looking at your site and comparing prices you're not as cheap as you claim, i found the Woodforde kits elsewhere cheaper!!!! . . . [/quote:227l8phg]
Well, I'll be damned! One of our competitors has reduced their pricing on some of our products to match our pricing. Painful for them, but GREAT for home brewers!

So who says competition is bad?

So, like Tesco in Galway who just reduced their pricing by 22%, why didn't they do it years ago?

Interestingly, for products we don't stock, well . . .[/quote:227l8phg]

Did you not already answer that on Tuesday? <!-- s:roll: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_rolleyes.gif" alt="" title="Rolling Eyes" /><!-- s:roll: --> or is it bothering you that the conversation moved on? from what i`ve seen from you so far you know very little about craft brewing your own beer at home and that leads me to believe that it`s very unlikely that you got into this for the good of anybody but yourself. You're fairly aggressive with the spamming of your site (blogs,boards....ect) and it's only a matter of time before you step on peoples toes. I for one expect a certain level of knowledge from a home brew shop, a decent product range and a nice demeanor from the proprietor and you don't tick any of those boxes for me. Even if you did (and i doubt very much you will) run every other HBS in this country out of business i'll buy from abroad before you'll see a penny of my money.

&amp;quot;alexander taipan&amp;quot;:1dc1sdcx wrote:

&amp;quot;HomeBrewWest&amp;quot;:1dc1sdcx wrote:

&amp;quot;alexander taipan&amp;quot;:1dc1sdcx wrote: Hi there Brian, i'm all for healthy competition but after looking at your site and comparing prices you're not as cheap as you claim, i found the Woodforde kits elsewhere cheaper!!!! . . . [/quote:1dc1sdcx]
Well, I'll be damned! One of our competitors has reduced their pricing on some of our products to match our pricing. Painful for them, but GREAT for home brewers!

So who says competition is bad?

So, like Tesco in Galway who just reduced their pricing by 22%, why didn't they do it years ago?

Interestingly, for products we don't stock, well . . .[/quote:1dc1sdcx]

Did you not already answer that on Tuesday? <!-- s:roll: --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_rolleyes.gif" alt="" title="Rolling Eyes" /><!-- s:roll: --> or is it bothering you that the conversation moved on? from what i`ve seen from you so far you know very little about craft brewing your own beer at home and that leads me to believe that it`s very unlikely that you got into this for the good of anybody but yourself. You're fairly aggressive with the spamming of your site (blogs,boards....ect) and it's only a matter of time before you step on peoples toes. I for one expect a certain level of knowledge from a home brew shop, a decent product range and a nice demeanor from the proprietor and you don't tick any of those boxes for me. Even if you did (and i doubt very much you will) run every other HBS in this country out of business i'll buy from abroad before you'll see a penny of my money.[/quote:1dc1sdcx]
I kind of agree here. It gets a little annoying when evertime the focus moves away from your online shop you bring it back. I am all on for a competitive market and I would be considering (especially in the current economic climate) looking at your products the next time I order. However, up until now the HBC has been great in every regard and I can't remember them pimping as much as you have.

I would settle down on the ware pimping, learn a little more the whole brewing process and let your prices and product range speak for themselves.

Hmm. I didn't want to get involved, but we don't want this forum to become a place where members are accusing other members businesses of anything underhand, when it clearly isn't the case. Especially considering some of those people were members well before they set up their business, reacting to demand and filling a huge void in the Irish homebrew market.

By all means use this forum to advertise wares -- which we gladly support -- and get feedback, but keep it civil, and preferably lose the American "diss the competition" smear approach. It just pisses people off. Regular members can make their own minds on stock, quality, price and knowledge of what people really need. They will then vote with their wallets. Business owners will always get feedback from the membership, whether they want it or not.

In the interests of harmony in the community forums -- and this community spirit is very important as we do all meet up in person, and I consider every one I've met through ICB to be a friend -- please refrain from this style of "advertising" on the forum.

Thanks

Agreed, aggressive advertising like this is a real turn off among Irish consumers. I wonder is is the homebrewwest guy from another country perhaps and does not understand this?

If you want to take note of the way advertising "should" be done on this forum then take a look at the posts from drinkstore. He simply posts new beers in his off license and also has a 10% discount for ICB members. There is no "we are better than the competition" and he gets the business from ICB members because he is honest, simply states his new products and usually how much they cost and its up to us to decide if its cheaper than the competition or if we do not care and want to go there anyway.

So the good advice you have been given homerewwest is simply increase your product range and let us know when you have new products but do not be aggressive and knock the competition. We welcome competition but keep the advertising informative rather than aggressive.

Oh and get some starsan and nylon hop bags (at similar prices to hop and grape +vat difference) please and I might order from you. These are what I need currently. I might need some hops too as I set some on fire recently... fun times <!-- s:D --><img src="{SMILIES_PATH}/icon_biggrin.gif" alt="" title="Very Happy" /><!-- s:D -->

&amp;quot;Adeptus&amp;quot;:3pyh9tlf wrote: Hmm. I didn't want to get involved, but we don't want this forum to become a place where members are accusing other members businesses of anything underhand, when it clearly isn't the case. Especially considering some of those people were members well before they set up their business, reacting to demand and filling a huge void in the Irish homebrew market.

Thanks[/quote:3pyh9tlf]

I hope my post didn't come across as an accusation of anything underhand....I certainly didn't mean to at all. In other forums there are sub forums specially for advertising products/services etc. I think this is great, because it means a user can deciede to take a look at what's on offer by choice instead of stumbling upon in another thread.

Just me 2 cents!

Not at all Barry, I'm referring to HomeBrewWest's approach to advertising.

As there are only 2 or 3 operational homebrew stores in Ireland, a dedicated forum wouldn't be the way I'd go just yet, but the Marketplace forum is there and can be used for announcements of special offers, new stock etc...