s:11:"ccf_message";s:1985:"I’d like to follow up on  Charlie’s ctomenms but with a manufacturer’s point of view.First of all, Charlie and Mike are two of my better customers. Every year their numbers grow even as more and more product finds its way onto EBay and while other shops fail. The answer is obvious- good service. If a customer comes into your shop to size some boots or try out a rod and then leaves to buy it on the internet at a discount, you haven’t provided the service or education that he needs.Secondly, internet discounting is a way of life and there isn’t a product in the world that isn’t discounted. Everyone needs to deal with that reality and adjust their business model accordingly. I don’t think that it is the responsibility of manufacturers to patrol the web and look for discounters. If that were the case, we would have to attend every “retail” show in the winter and bust nearly half of our customers. I think that they have a perfect right to dump stuff that doesn’t sell; if they don’t learn their lesson about buying bad product, they will be out of business quickly. And in reality, I think that the impact on the market is minimal. At least our products aren’t being counterfeited, which steals money from both the manufacturer and the retailer.Thirdly, this is a very tiny market. Fly shops are becoming homogeneous in their offerings for the simple reason that the industry cannot support that many manufacturers. Very few fly shops would be able to brand their own products like The Fly Shop. And it also ignores the fact that the brand names of major manufacturers have a lot of appeal that has been built up by extensive advertising, promotion and the most important of all- word of mouth.Our business has grown quite a bit in the last few years. Our company pays attention to the quality of our products, but more importantly we offer our customers good service. I don’t know of any business at any level that has survived long term without it.";