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Model
Retailer Magazine's Blog
Bringing timely news, advice and product
reviews to hobby retailers and industry
leaders
Guest Blog:
Making good on product announcements
January 15,
2010 by modelretailer
Frank Ruby, owner of Blue
Ridge Hobbies, Greenville, SC, comments on
product cancellations and the effects of
communication in the hobby industry.
A note to hobby
manufacturers: Announcing products and not
producing the products without notification
to the dealers is starting to affect what
our customers are buying or preordering.
When customers preorder, they expect the
item to be produced. It seems that if a
manufacturer announces a production run, but
the preorder levels do not meet the expected
sales need, they let the wholesalers know.
However, this information does not seem to
filter down to the small dealers like Blue
Ridge Hobbies. The manufacturers do not even
post the fact of a new product run or
cancellation on their Web sites.
A recent example is during
this past Christmas, when a customer was
upset that they could not buy the Lionel
Circus Train posted on the Lionel Web site.
Our wholesaler did not have it and it seems
Lionel did not either. If manufacturers do
not update their Web sites regularly with
product information and notify customers
about delays, we feel that the hobby
industry will ultimately dwindle down to a
few online-only dealers.
As a small
company,
Blue Ridge Hobbies
seems to keep its Web site more up-to-date
than the big companies. A retail example
would be Toys R Us. They have shown all
through the holiday season Lionel’s O-scale
Polar Express for sale at $209 and an MSRP
of $299. Customers see this and want us to
price match. This item is last year’s price
and has not been available from them all
holiday season. We have had our stock at a
very low price and cannot sell it. People
think our price is too high when it is in
fact lower than most model train retailers.
There are also way too many
production and release delays now. This,
too, will turn people off from modeling and
cause them to move to other leisure
activities that can be fulfilled.
Communication is our industry’s best
solution. An e-mail and Web site updates
from the wholesalers and manufacturer would
help to ease the perception that customers
have.
June 19, 2009
I’m seeing a lot of
manufacturers and
retailers putting out
e-newsletters on a
regular basis. In my
opinion, this is one of
the most cost-effective
advertising tools
around.
While we in the business
world continue to wrap
our heads around Web 2.0
— social networking
sites, video,
blogging,
etc. — one of the
“oldest” electronic
technologies remains the
most effective at
reaching out to
customers and selling
them something before
they actually come into
a hobby store.
Don’t get me wrong, that
other stuff is great in
its own right. However,
its effectiveness in
actually making money is
spotty at best, and
while the hobby industry
is all about building a
sense of community, at
the end of the day, we
all have bills to pay
and products to make and
sell.
Some of the more
effective e-newsletters
I receive put sales in
the background and focus
more on what the company
is developing, what’s
going on in the store or
what’s on the owner’s
mind. And because it
comes to my e-mail box,
it’s a personal message,
even if it is going out
to thousands of people.
A couple of my favorite
retailer e-newsletters
come from Rick Berry at
Michigan Toy Soldier
and Frank Ruby at
Blue Ridge Hobbies.
A manufacturer
newsletter that never
fails to raise a smile
is “The irregular and
irreverent bulletin”
from Rapido Trains’
Jason Schron called the
Rapido Telegraph.
All of them are
different, but equally
effective.
If you haven’t explored
this kind of marketing
before, you might want
to give it a look. And
while you’re doing that,
start collecting e-mail
addresses from your
customers and building a
list to send to. Some
companies that provide
e-newsletter services
are
Constant Contact,
MailChimp,
and
My
Newsletter Builder.
Some companies like
Zero to Sixty Marketing
can help you put
together a whole
campaign.
Or, you may opt to do it
yourself; there’s plenty
of how-to information
out there.
No matter which way you
go, it’s a good way to
keep in contact with
your customers and keep
your business on their
minds. Anymore, it’s not
enough to just advertise
passively to people, you
have to go get them.
This is one way to do
it.
Hal Miller, editor
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