I'm liking that an enthusiast bought Estes
https://www.news-gazette.com/news/l...et-division-family-enthusiasts-7-million.html
https://www.news-gazette.com/news/l...et-division-family-enthusiasts-7-million.html
I would like to see some kits of old sold again.
And the MDRM!!!
Bob,
I suspect the hope is that a more rocketry-oriented ownership/management might have different expectations for a given kit release (either quantity or perhaps time horizon) than management for which the rockets are just one of many product lines and which (in this case) may have been one of the product lines supporting the larger corporation.
I could be wrong about that of course.....but one could wonder and hope a little along those lines. Such ideas may not work with the realities of the supply chain and such....but as I say, one can at least wonder and hope.
Why would Estes want to re-issue a kit that did not make it's sales numbers when it was originally released?
One thing the new owners have that the old owners didnt, is a direct connection to their customers. They hopefully will be able to do a better job of reading their market and responding.
As far as the Mega Der Red Max, even if it didnt sell in high quantities (I have no personal knowledge of that; Im accepting the statement made by others) it has a (perhaps small) very loyal following which is willing to spend a premium for a genuine Estes kit. They could re-release it with special features at higher prices as a limited run, a collectors item. Such things are frequently done.
The way the hobby industry works will not change because Estes is under new management.
Hobby distributors are in control along with Hobby Lobby/Wal-Mart/Target.
The new owners could be in for a really rude awakening when it comes time to dealing with those folks.
Then there is the issue of production. Except for motors/starters it's all done in the People's Republic of China.
Estes management has to decide months in advance on how much of each item to have made before it reaches the distributors then hobby shops/retail stores.
If they guess wrong Estes could run out of a popular product and have too much of other items that don't sell well.
That last issue results in costs to store the product and capital tied up in merchandise that doesn't move.
The Pro Series II product line is an example.
The product did not sell through and Estes was left with plenty of unsold product.
Even with slashing prices and selling the PSII on their website it took awhile to sell it off.
The PSII Prowler Launch Set had it's price nearly cut in half yet it is still being offered for sale on the Estes website.
I hope that the new Estes owners are strong BUISNESS people first.
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With a little luck I might get a chance to talk to John Langford for a couple of minutes after the TARC finals awards banquet is over (next month) and maybe I can learn a little bit about how he sees all this.
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Got his email today [SIZE=+3]Estes — Cox Corp[/SIZE]
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I'd sooner guess that the PSII line was primarily dependent on the partnership with Aerotech for the Estes-branded composite motors to be successful. When Estes no longer offered suitable motors for most of those models - especially heavier ones like the MDRM - there wasn't motivation to continue those models. They then rearranged the component combinations to create new models that were just light enough to fly on the BP motors, and sold those till they ran out of the parts. But I would reason that if the Aerotech partnership had continued, the PSII line probably would have as well and probably have even grown. Just my hypothesis.
I would posit that sales would have been considered good for most other vendors, but Estes needs to operate at higher volumes. I've certainly seen plenty of MDRMs at launches, but they're not selling bulk packs to Boy Scout troops, certainly.Again, motor availability was not an issue with the cancellation of the initial PSII line. Poor/low kit sales was the issue.
One thing the new owners have that the old owners didn’t, is a direct connection to their customers. They hopefully will be able to do a better job of reading their market and responding.
As far as the Mega Der Red Max, even if it didn’t sell in high quantities (I have no personal knowledge of that; I’m accepting the statement made by others) it has a (perhaps small) very loyal following which is willing to spend a premium for a genuine Estes kit. They could re-release it with special features at higher prices as a limited run, a collector’s item. Such things are frequently done.
I (and pretty much every Estes website customer) got that email too. Basically it looks like they're telling you that your account info and history will be transferred to the new owner unless you say no.
I don't see any reason you wouldn't want your info transferred over, but some might not. Likely all part of the legal process of transferring all assets and IP to new owners.
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