A general Carrera discussion

just a few comments.

Market penetration:
I was not suggesting that Carrera or Argos knowingly were making an effort to develop the size of the Carrera market or the brand awareness in the UK. I was trying to explain that such activities wether planned or accidental may give results that are positive. The point with my description was that these kind of activities are not obvioiusly BAD for any of the stakeholders concerned. I did not mean that it was an action taken based upon some kind of master minded plan. It could have been - but it is hardly the case here.

But whatever the result there is not reason to believe that it will be a bad thing for anyone involved. Not for Carrera - since their products are rather good and therefore any customer will be pleasantly surprised for what they get for their money.

Not for Argos - since they regularly need products that they can show a good price on - the image of price cutting company is rather important - ofcourse it is good if the product is not all that popular - they do presumably make more money on other and more higher margined products... But it looks good if you can show a number of products for apparently half price (or less) in your advertisement. It is a question of image - we are not talking of the Carrera sets here as an isolated thing - the sets are just a small part of Argos marketing activities and could have been most anything (e.g. unrelated to carrera).

Not for customers - I do not think that anyone who bought these sets will think they got 'ripped of'. On the contrary I think the experience on the whole is a good one.

Not even bad for retailers - on the back of all these Argos sets one could imagine that retailers would feel a loss in market. This is a question which in a very short-sighted response would be answered with a yes. But the point is that in a longer term - this is exactly where 'market-penetration' comes into place. Many of the customers would most probably never have bought a Carrera set if it was not such a great offer. No loss in customers for those Carrera sets that otherwise would not have been bought. So in a sense you now have to see if there are people who wanted to buy Carrera sets and this Argos offer came in between so instead of getting their set from a retailer they bought it from Argos. To be honest though I cannot see that the number of these kind of customers would be very relevant. What I do see however is that there seems to be a noticable number of people buying Carrera sets from Argos - people who would not otherwise buy a Carrera set at all. So what is in it for the retailer? Well there are more people now who have a Carrera set than before - most likely at least some of them enjoyed something from their new sets. Some of those might be interested in getting some other Carrera product now (e.g. cars, track, accesories etc).

And finally because there are more Carrera branded products around this does mean that more people than before recognize the name - and might not always confuse all and everything slotcar - with 'scalextric'...

Size:
Yes it is larger - but if space really was the major point we would all be racing 1/64 scale in the UK... What is more relevant to compare is the experience - e.g. What is the point of talking about size of track when you see some 1/64 scale tracks being 35 meter long? Compared to a 10 meter Scalextric circuit or a 7 meter Carrera? What I mean is that the size discussion to me at least seems to be an 'after-the fact' discussion. In my reality at least people make the track they can fit in according to their own preferences (and if they can afford it). This will hardly be dependent on 'size of track' as a first instance - but certainly be dependent on 'what do I like to drive on' and 'what can I do with it considering the space I have'. So space is relevant but emotionally influenced choice and preferences are - I think - more relevant... After all the slotcar thing is not about 'having the largest circuit around' - but it is in my world at least about - having a nice circuit that is fun to drive. So even though UK circuits might then on average be slightly smaller (have not seen proof of this though) it is not a big enough problem - if it was we would not be racing 1/32 scale in the first place...


//peter

Nikko - as mentioned before are the Importers for Carrera in the UK and they, like Arwico here in Switzerland (Scalextric Importers with NO interest in pushing or promoting the Company) actually do the respective Manufacturers NO favours at all.

Look at the Carrera section of the Nikko stand at Excel this year - TERRIBLE! a small out of the way display with a few dusty cars and some dumb bimbo who did not even know how the cars changed lanes when asked but simply said 'I don't have a clue . hang on' - 15 minutes later I gave up and left. No wonder Carrera struggle to gain a footing in Countries where they have to rely on Importers like these.

"Too many fingers in too many pies" is a good saying for these type of Importers.

I also hear that Nikko are dropping the 1/24 range of cars totally for the UK this year so no nice big Ferraris for you guys in Blightly

Maybe advertising budgets suffer in Countries where the market is already cornered by others or the product is little known but surely having a decent Importer with a vested interest in pushing the products would help?

I fully agree with you Swiss - there is much to be said about competent behaviour of certain distributors in the UK. I have several examples about how Nikko in the UK have failed and I have not been impressed - on the contrary. I would be more forgiving if there was demonstrated effort made - but what I have seen so far has been rather feeble. When it comes to business - there is much to say about competencies - but in many aspects will has to be demonstrated in practice and this is related to showing interest. In many cases this is down to more than 'having' to show interest or 'feel obliged' to do certain things. And Nikko UK has in my mind at least failed to do Carrera much good. The thing with dropping the 1/24 range is a wonderful example of how to create a bad experience for your customers. The reason is that the response they gave just after christmas was that they were going to continue with the 1/24 scale range. So when some customers were ordering the 2004 range they were re-assured, until now suddenly - they are not. It is not usually seen as a trustbuilding strategy if a distributor on a launch of a new range states one thing and then AFTER they reassured their customers that they would deliver - the change their minds. Has anyone heard of 'long-term' plans? Or are we talking about 'this weeks whimp'? I have had to do with both bigger and smaller distributors that have been able to sort much more complicated business tasks than this. So size has nothing to do with these particular problems. Interest in combination with competence has though.

//peter

@ thomas.
It may be a good idea to direct your quick judgemental comment towards Nikko UK since the information regarding them not intending to distribute 1/24 scale Carrera cars in the UK this year originates from people working at Nikko themselves. So while you might be correct in describing what Nikko at the end of the day may or may not be doing - the information that I built my comments upon is coming from the source. I am sure that there are several retailers that would be able to give a similar respons regarding this matter. There were conflicting information regarding this since several sources gave a negative response about the future of 1/24 cars in the UK while as far as I know only ONE salesperson (related to Nikko UK) stated that he would do his best to try to sort this out (no promises though) even though this did not seem to be supported otherwise...

So ok I should be careful with what I say in public - but I am not worried in this particular instance since I have hands on experience of Nikko activities during the last few years. Mostly due to a number of different 'happenings' or 'mistakes' over and over again by some less than enthusiastic members of the Nikko UK community...

I would like to make it very clear that the main reason for me to post in this subject in the first place is because I actually like many of the Carrera products and I think it is a shame that they are not dealt with in a more professional and consistent manor. So I am not interested in censoring myself in this matter - my comments are built on my personal experiences and you might disagree - that however will not make them less relevant (or real) for me. The issues with the 1/24 scale cars is only one of several - but it is only used here as an example and this was not meant as a history of Nikko UK behaviour the last few years. As you may have noticed - I am NOT talking about Carrera or even about every one working at Nikko - there is at least one person working at Nikko with a professional attitude and effort - unfortunately there is more than one person working there...

hope this clarifies some - it was not intended as an attack at Carrera or at Carrera products.
//peter

latest update regarding availability of 1/24 scale Carrera products in the UK (according to Nikko UK):

1) all carrera 1/24 scale products have been cleared and are not expected to be in stock.
2) only new cars that are expected are the new Jaguar and the new Ferrari - but this is only expected as a 'one of' batch in 2004.
3) it is not believed that any other carrera 1/24 scale product will be available in the UK this year.

So if Thomas or anyone else has any influence on this or any other information contrary to the above statements I would be extremely pleased. Because I - and others I know - would certainly be a very happy puppy indeed if I could look forward to get other 1/24 scale Carrera products in the UK. I know I can always order it from Germany (have done so before) I find it noticably more convenient and the delivery is cheaper if I get it from a UK dealer... since I live in the UK that is.

//peter

any news yet about Carrera products and distribution in the UK?

So far the information available to me is the following:

1) Nikko is the distributor for UK.
2) From the 1/24 scale product line only the 'new' for 2004 Jaguar and the Ferraris will be available.
3) There is currently no possibility to order any 1/24 scale sets what so ever.
4) There is currently no possibility to order any other 1/24 scale cars from the 2004 catalogue - not even the for 2004 new Porsche Carrera 6.
5) No information given from Nikko UK about if any 1/24 scale ltd editions can be ordered either.

Does anyone have information to the contrary of what is described in the points above? Or additional information?

//peter

Its been interesting to read all this.

8 years ago, during a 40 min mobile phone call between Uk and Oz, I said to the marketing manager of Hornby,

" Mate, you make 'em, and I'll break 'em! You better make plenty!"

I'll bet he's still laughing.

..but then they moved everything to China.

So you can all blame me. OK! Its all my fault!