A general Carrera discussion

6974 Views 73 Replies 23 Participants Last post by thomas, Jun 29, 2004

moped rider

Discussion Starter · Apr 27, 2004 (Edited by Moderator)

Really this is a response to Tropi who has made a comment aimed at the UK market but I do applaude the efforts of Thomas to bring us Carrera news and European Carrera fans no doubt all give Thomas the big thumbs up.

Ultimately its all about how pro-active companies are and the amount of investment they make in the marketing of slot cars to the masses.

No amount of service matters if a company does not promote its products. The products will just gather dust.

Its one thing e-stockists stocking product, but is the product selling?

The issue for slot car companies worldwide is the nature of return that they get from any marketing investment.

Like tobacco companies are they attempting to switch existing users of other brands in what is perceived as a flat market, or expand the market as a whole and create growth?

Most slot car companies know where there marketing bread is buttered. Some retailers in the UK are good at promoting product locally by getting out and seeing the people but they possibly get support for this. No doubt the same situation occurs in Germany and Spain. This is over and above direct promotion of the hobby by the slot car manufactures themselves which can be very expensive and therefore has financial risk.

Considering for example that Carrera have exclusive rights to the Ferrari F1 cars, have any of you seen any promotional spend by Carrera at all in the UK to promote this fact?

They are simply reliant on the goodwill of enthusiasts in the UK to purchase the cars.

Argos carried an advert before Xmas on TV promoting Scalextric which was as a result of some effort by Hornby. Would Carrera have been willing to have made the same investment in the UK market?

And how has the "Argos" sale gone down with many of the e-tailors that we support here? Some of us know the answer!

I have said this before and I will say it again. To the great mass of the population Scalextric marketing in Germany broadly promotes Carrera. SCX marketing in the UK broadly promotes Hornby Scalextric. Hornby marketing as Superslot in Spain broadly promotes Spanish Scalextric. This is the conundrum for slot car manufacturers. America is the one market where it is a true free for all IMHO but there are Americans at SCI who would say otherwise.

UKsqueezea and a few others know where I am coming from here.

Moped

See less See more

Save

1 - 5 of 74 Posts

Tropi

· #5 · Apr 27, 2004 (Edited by Moderator)

I agree - Thomas is probably the best ambassador that Carrera has, west of the Rhein!
MUCH appreciated for lots of good, straight info and zero BS.

Conversely, ss for Mop and hisQUOTE I have said this before and I will say it again . . .
I don't recall seeing anything QUITE as labyrinthine from that particular source before. Strangely, I have a faint inkling of what he is trying to say but, as so often, he doesn't actually succeed in saying it, at least not in a form that normal people can understand! If it means what I think it means, then some companies, including the Mopedian fave rave, are doing some ABYSMAL marketing and might as well stop doing it altogether! On the other hand, if it doesn't mean what I think it means, then there wasn't a great deal of point in saying it at all!
Obscure as ever, Mope!

What's the name of that organization that promotes Plain English?

See less See more

Save

Tropi

· #9 · Apr 28, 2004

QUOTE You get what you pay for
I find this to be one of the least useful well-known phrases or sayings there is!
Retail prices are rarely based on anything more reliable or worthy than charging whatever someone reckons the market will actually stand and the market is fickle and it fluctuates.

How does it fit in with a given 'standard price' of an item moving either upwards OR downwards?
The price might change significantly but the goods actually don't alter in quality at all.
If a special offer puts out an item at half price, does the item suddenly diminish its existing quality by 50%? Or magically become twice as good quality if the price doubles?
Sorry but that well-known phrase or saying does not and actually can not actually make any real sense.
It tends to be used by people who have paid a lot of money for something and feel a need to justify the expense or, perhaps someone in the process of having their gruntle removed because someone else is now paying less for similar. It's also the alltime favourite saying of sellers who want you to hand them as much money as possible!

The phrase does tend to encourage people to pay more than might be necessary and, as many of have seen, often, paying through the nose for a slot car is absolutely zero gurantee of it being of a quality that can be directly compared with its price. There is some excellent cheap stuff around and some awfully expensive clunkers. Buyer beware!

See less See more

Save

Tropi

· #11 · Apr 28, 2004

QUOTE I wonder if Germany have "Argos type" stores and whether Carrera permit similar moves to take place in those stores?
Oh come on Mope!
First you accuse Carrera of instigating it with supposed subsidies to Argos and now you abruptly slam into reverse gear in suggesting that Argos did it off their own bat and possibly against Carrera's will.

And what, may I ask, does this have remotely to do with Thomas's announcement of Carrera's new car releases?
It all spills out with the lingering taste of sour grapes.

See less See more

Save

Tropi

· #57 · Apr 30, 2004

It's certainly true that Carrera track takes up a little more space.
I also agree that it's probably the most difficult track to clip together properly.
However, once it IS clipped together, it is in some ways superior to all others, as many new customers have discovered since the Argos special offers.
But additionally, Argos has enabled the exposure of a great deal more customers to the Carrera cars, which are greatly improved on previous models. However looked at, carrera have benefited from this increased exposure, many customers have benefited from some incredibly good value purchases and even some enterprising individuals have made a little on the side in reselling them. SF has benefited from some lively discussion about it too!

All in all, very positive, REAL pluses.

Argos sells an incredible range of goods, occasionally comes up with amazing value offers and it wouldn't surprise me in the least to see similar promotions taking place again, in future.
I look forward to it.

No one really KNOWS the size of a future market like this. It is far too fickle to predict with any reliability - it might or might not grow overall and individual companies' slices of that pie, whatever size it might be, will fluctuate too.
More competition is usually good for the customer, so I look forward to that too.

See less See more

Save

Tropi

· #69 · May 5, 2004

Nikko is not the sole and exclusive distributor of Carrera in UK - that is a fact.

More than that I am not permitted to say, without making certain checks and obtaining permission.

Save

1 - 5 of 74 Posts

This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.

Top Contributors this Month