Why are my Aquarium Supplies Less Expensive Online?

If you are the owner of an aquarium, then the odds are pretty good that you have realized when it comes to your supplies, the costs can really add up. A quick trip to the local pet store will demonstrate just how much prices for everything from fish food to decorations and gravel has gone up.

Fortunately for the aquarium enthusiast, the Internet has revolutionized the world in many areas, and shopping is no exception; anything from food to clothes is available on the World Wide Web, and yes that does include aquarium supplies! You might already have realized that your aquarium supplies are cheaper online than they are at the brick and mortar pet store, but you might be wondering why. Well, it’s fairly simple, and we will take a closer look in this article.

Overhead

What the difference in online and land based aquarium prices essentially comes down to is the issue of overhead. Overhead is anything that a business needs to pay out in order to run; the more overhead, the less profit. Online businesses traditionally have much less overhead than brick and mortar stores in the following areas:

Labour costs: One of the first things that you are likely to see when you go into a brick and mortar store are people dressed up in jungle suits or whatever colour matches the storefront, the store employees. These people are hired to answer questions, man the till, clean up, and so on. In fact the employees that you see are probably just a percentage of those employed by the store; many pet stores also need veterinarians, drivers, and stockers as well. An online store doesn’t need any of these employees, and therefore saves a huge amount of money on labour costs.

Displays: Another thing you will probably notice in a pet store is that there are a lot of products on display. It’s too expensive for stores to specialize in one product or even on genre, for the most part, so they have to sell a variety of goods. Some of these goods will never “move”, so they become surplus inventory. The cost has to be made up in the goods that will sell. In addition, the goods are starting to cost more from the suppliers, due to high gas prices and high manufacturing costs.

Because online stores don’t have a lot of overhead, they are able to sell aquarium supplies much cheaper most of the time than land based stores. Their displays are virtual, their employees much fewer, and they don’t even need to pay monthly rental fees or mortgages!

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