KiteSista Looks at ‘Direct Sales’ – The Evolution of an Industry

KiteSista Looks at ‘Direct Sales’ – The Evolution of an Industry

There is a revolution going on in our industry. You may not have heard about it, you may not have read about it in our magazines or seen it covering double page glossy adverts, but something is going on.

There is a revolution going on in our industry. You may not have heard about it, you may not have read about it in our magazines or seen it covering double page glossy adverts, but something is going on.

One of the first questions any non-kiter with a slight interest in the sport asks us is how much does the equipment cost?

We always try and answer this question from all sides as one would respond to someone who asked you how much does a car cost. It depends which car you buy of course. So a beginner can equip themselves with 2 kites and a board from ebay for around 400-600€ if they want, yet those with deeper pockets would not take more than 5 minutes to fill a 4,000€ shopping basket online with their choice of kites, board and bindings.

We will not take anything away the pleasure of spending your cash on top quality gear, there is nothing like unpacking a brand new kite, unwinding lines for the first time, or screwing your bindings to a board that has yet to see water, ..we all deserve that feeling, it is after all like a new car smell.

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However, as our sport grows and the demographic of accessibility widens, this like so many things in our consumer economy becomes more of a dream than a reality for those of us not fortunate enough to be sponsored, which is most of us.

We could talk forever about why kite prices have increased, whether it be production costs, research and development, increased need and therefore cost to advertise, in fact you can read about the community opinion on the matter in this recent KiteForum thread …but we will leave that for another conversation, because before we lose your attention we want to get back to the subject at hand, ..the quiet revolution.

Hands up who has heard of Clash? or Switch?

…ok, ..so some of your hands are up, but a lot of you are looking around at your friends for help. We will help you, Clash make very high quality twin-tip boards, and the Switch make kites and boards of such quality that Mark Jacobs is happy to put his name and face to them as kills it in the top 4 of this years PKRA.

You won’t find them in your magazines though, and you won’t see them for sale at your local kite shop because these brands have something special in common. They ONLY sell DIRECT TO CUSTOMERS. Why?

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There lies an interesting question. Whilst most of us are not sponsored, a huge number of you will have received a discount from your local shop at some point or another. Why, …well, it would be easy for me to say ‘because they can afford to’ but the truth is ‘they can’t afford not to’. Type any mainstream kite or board into google and you will find a multitude of places you can order it online, ..the competition for the sale is huge.

As an insider at a leading online kite shop told us:

We have to price match to stay competitive as people just don’t want to pay list price for kites and boards.

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The internet has made all the information we need to know freely available, which kite is better for which style, which board has more pop, there are thousands of forum posts on all of this information, plus the magazines and other media, …so the shop has just become a dealer these days, someone who packages up the product and sends it on.

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Of course some of us are lucky enough to live near our local shop, visit, have a chat, exchange opinions, but the reality is that even writing this touches us with a bit of nostalgia, because that is what your local kite shop is for, …they are great at this, they are there to get to know you and offer you the best product for you, unbiased, across a range of manufacturers and it is not the fault of the shop that we are just not asking them for this service anymore. This is just a product of our technology driven generation.

The upside of course is that anyone with a dream and some ambition can start a company and play with the big boys. If your product is good, people will buy it. We have championed Sensi Bikinis, Engine Harnesses and many many other brands started by riders, and we promise you that as time goes on you will see more and more of these kind of brands fighting on a level playing field for your cash.

If your product speaks for itself and you speak to your customers, they will speak for you. That is the evolution, cut out the middle man.

We will be following up by talking exclusively to the brands we have talked about to hear their perspective and reasons for their direction but in the meantime we would be interested to know your thoughts on this article, so feel free to share and comment.



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