How badly does the gray market hurts dealers and boutiques?

[Desibaba]

I work as a sales manager in the auto industry and I would be pretty upset if people walked in all day long to test drive and see our vehicles only to buy them for substantially less online. I recently bought a brand new omega ploprof that has a msrp of $9400 for $5439.64 shipped to my door from chrono 24 including tax and shipping. I even went to the local omega boutique and their watchmaker sized the rubber band for my wrist for free which was a pretty lenthy process. So how do the sales associates who Im assuming work for commissions at these stores still manage to make a living if everyone is buying gray market for so much less?

[Speed]

Originally Posted by Desibaba

I work as a sales manager in the auto industry and I would be pretty upset if people walked in all day long to test drive and see our vehicles only to buy them for substantially less online.

Many folks do this today, right?

I wanetd a car / color / option combo in high demand. I had to put a deposit down on an incoming model to reserve it, so I had very little leverage.

Given the horrible / dishonest treatment I rec'd from the dealer...I would have bought online in a heartbeat if my car / configuration had been available.

[bobernet]

Umm, have you seen many watches on display in dealers' cases lately? They’re selling every watch they get if it’s remotely popular.