In what many considered a bold move, Zodiac announced in late 2018 that they were leaving the internet. Zodiac quits the internet officially. In the press release, Zodiac laid out their new Trade Series Policy, that comes with new guidelines and stipulations. However, what exactly does this mean for pool owners?
Specifically, how does this policy affect YOU?
In this article, we discuss Zodiac’s new policy in detail, the changes we’ve made, and how it affects pool owners across the country.
Zodiac’s Trade Series Exclusive Policy
In late September, Zodiac announced that they were prohibiting internet sales for the Jandy Pro Series line. This line includes more than 400 unique products.
According to Zodiac, the change is an extension of their 2014 warranty program. Under the new Trade Series Exclusive policy, Zodiac prohibits internet sales for an alarming number of their equipment.
This prohibition impacts Zodiac-branded and Polaris-branded products, as well. You can view the full list of forbidden products HERE.
The Reasons According to Zodiac
Although it may seem abrupt, Zodiac’s reasons for the prohibition are multi-faceted. With this policy, one of the first things Zodiac hoped to address was pricing.
According to them, this policy halts the Internet’s ability to sell Jandy products below MAP price. A MAP price is simply the minimum that resellers agree not to advertise below. This includes brick- and- mortar stores and online retailers, like us. MAP pricing ensures people aren’t saturating the market with under-priced items.
Additionally, this restriction on pricing will also affect pool professionals. Michelle Kenyon, Zodiac’s Senior Vice President of Marketing said, “We want to see this industry thrive for generations. Our decision to prohibit the sale of over 400 Jandy products online, along with our enforcement of the new Trade Series Exclusive policy, will help level the playing field for pool professionals, making them more competitive and supporting their long-term success.”
Furthermore, Zodiac also argues that implementing their prohibition will result in better quality installations. By making products unavailable to pool owners, it forces them (you) to purchase your equipment through a trade professional, usually always at a much higher price point.
How This Affects You- The Pool Owner
Sure, Zodiac created this prohibition to affect online pool stores negatively (and to benefit pool professionals). However, it also affects pool owners. Let’s face it, one of the reasons we shop online is for price and availability. The majority of pool owners we interact with do their own pool maintenance. And many of them as a result of overpriced pool professionals in their area. Not to mention, online retailers have the ability to carry and source hard-to-find parts that manufacturers don’t carry.
However, Zodiac’s new trade policy discourages pool owners from shopping online. Zodiac is not providing a manufacturer’s warranty on Jandy equipment purchased online. Additionally, Zodiac now requires a qualified pool professional to install and service all Jandy equipment. So, if you were thinking of purchasing a new Jandy pump online and installing it yourself, think again.
For Jandy products, please visit their website to find a pool professional in your area.
What We Can Offer
As always, our main goal is to help pool owners fix, maintain, and ultimately enjoy their pools. We will continue this journey in spite of the Zodiac prohibition. Still, there are a lot of things we can still offer pool owners. Although you cannot purchase a new Jandy pump via our website, you can still purchase replacement parts for that pump. Additionally, you can still find hundreds of different Jandy replacement parts for their cleaners, filters, lights, and salt systems on our website.
Not to mention, you can still purchase well-known brands like Hayward, Pentair, Sta-Rite, and PureLine off of our website that includes manufacturer warranties, technical, and customer support. INYO Pools work with manufacturers to ensure that the information and policies we promote are in line with their company standards. So, if you’re looking for Jandy equipment online and you can’t seem to find it, now you know why.
Wow, that’s a way to kill your business. The reality is, people want to shop from the comfort of their homes.
Give the consumers what they want, and how they want it and you win.
Their are a host of companies who have failed because they did not innovate. Blockbuster, Kodak, Music labels, Newspapers, Magazines.
Somehow a niche market like a pool equipment manufacturer marketing guy thinks this is a good idea? Can’t wait to hear the quarterly meetings, “So, why are sales down so much?”
I think they are trying to maintain a level of quality on the installation and support. It costs them a significant amount of money to provide technical support to DIY homeowners. Where do they make money? I don’t have an issue with their brave policy. I’m a DIY homeowner and I can understand their new policy. I want my pool equipment to be supported for years to come, and that requires a profitable company. These cheap generics available on Amazon generate support from reputable manufacturers due to the DIY homeowner having failures with attached generic junk to their quality product.
I think it’s a brave and wise decision in order to stay in business for the long haul.
Wow Charlie I am certainly glad to read this article today. Much to my surprise to read about zodiac and Jandy I will certainly never ever ever in the future use any of their products. I thank you for putting this in your pools.com as none of us would know about it I cannot tell you how many quote professional pool people we have had out here to our pool only to be ripped off over and over and over by smooth-talking people that are just out to scam pool owners. it is absolutely deplorable so when I read something like this I sincerely hope that these companies that do things like this go out of business, they deserve it. I certainly will never support their products after reading about this. And I thank you for having the guts to put this in your website.