Are Manufacturers Screwing Dive Stores?

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Shopping on the web is firmly embedded in our culture. It's been killing retail businesses for two decades, so complaining is as useless as putting weights onto your BC with Velcro -- if you don't make a change, you can say goodbye.

Manufacturers that sell their products online while still expecting dive shops to represent them are not only duplicitous, but in the long run, shooting themselves in the foot. Some dive shops have gone online to compete with online sellers without dive stores, but now they must compete with Oceanic, Aqualung, and many others whose products they sell. Sure, manufacturers may increase their sales in the short run, but as James R. McMullin points out in the article alongside, they may be sounding their death knell....

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