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Post by cfesmire on Mar 19, 2004 19:06:48 GMT 1
I believe video as a training platform can be very useful. My daughter considered going to Maine Maritime Academy that teaches corporate logistics and vessel navigation (captaining). They have a wheelhouse with TV screens at what would be window locations and you program what vessel (i.e. tug, freighter or cruiseliner)you wish to pilot and the major city harbor in the world you wish to enter and the computer generates your specific "game" that you virtually captain. These are the future pilots of the largest movable man made objects in history being taught with a video game essentially. What one can get from a vehicle game is just as a true of a feel(without the G force) of what a specific automobile will do. No doubt the accuracy is only as good as the info written into the software. Chester
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Lee
Senior Member
Posts: 1,899
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Post by Lee on Mar 20, 2004 4:07:10 GMT 1
Coming back to the basis of the thread, I feel that the packaging and display of the model have a big impact on the sales. Busch has come up with a plastic display case/package that makes the model a stand alone, being able to be displayed on a desk by its self. I feel that some kind of clear window in the packaging also helps to sell a model. Most people would like to see what they are buying, including me.
Having either owned or worked in a number of hobby shops, I can talk from the retail point of view. Space is a premium with display space even more so. The smaller the package, the more can be put in a given space. Blister packs and large boxes take up a lot of room and are harder to display than something small. A shop owner should rotate the display in the showcases at least every couple of weeks. As a rule of thumb, people do not look up or down. If an item is within three feet of the ground or over six feet off the ground, people do not see it. This is where internet sellers have a real advantage. With good pictures, they can show every item in detail that they have for sale right in front of you.
Impulse buying is a big percentage of sales. What people do not see, they do not buy unless it is on their want list. How many times have you gone into a store and bought something that was on display that was not on your shopping list? How many times have you asked for something and the shop keeper produced it from some location where you did not see it?
1/87 models are so small that they almost have to have their own showcase in order to be seen. If you put them in the same display with something like Corgi, they get lost. Model manufactures might think about designing and selling to dealers at cost a tall slim showcase that would display their product to everyones advantage. Other manufactures such as Midwest already do this.
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stanhas87
87thScale addict
1978 Dodge Monaco CHP
Posts: 4,906
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Post by stanhas87 on Mar 20, 2004 4:17:10 GMT 1
Dear Sirs:
Burbank House of hobbies have a section in the wall where all the HO cars are displayed;Allied Trains have a cabinet that displays these (some of these displays are close to the floor) and the Whistle Shop has these at these 'rotating' cabinets (one presses the button and the shelfs come up and ones can see what is avalibale).Same thing as the Roundhouse.Train Stop has these on a cabinet as well.
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Post by Marc S. on Mar 20, 2004 7:30:31 GMT 1
Model manufactures might think about designing and selling to dealers at cost a tall slim showcase that would display their product to everyones advantage. Other manufactures such as Midwest already do this. Lee, Herpa and Wiking already offer displays of this kind. They are not exactly small, as hobby and toy shops over here tend to have a good inventory of Herpa, Wiking, and Busch models. Herpa also created the eXtra Shop concept with even larger displays and an internet terminal included so that people can browse through the complete Herpa catalogue and see what's available on top of the shop's stock. Marc
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Post by Sylvain on Mar 20, 2004 12:56:17 GMT 1
Model manufactures might think about designing and selling to dealers at cost a tall slim showcase that would display their product to everyones advantage You may don’t know it in the States, but I think that’s how Norev has interested model car shops owners in 1/87 scale when they have released their "new" 1/87 scale models. They have proposed these models in a green opening box containing the complete line, with two copies of each model. Most of model shop owners only get 1 or 2 boxes. If the models do not sell, well, the lost was not important. But if they sell, it shows that there is a market for 1/87 scale cars outside railroad modelling (I remember that when I bought my Norev models, model car shop owners many times asked me if I have a layout or not). I think Schuco have done the same for their 1/87 scale models.
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skunk
87thScale addict
5th B-day
Posts: 2,762
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Post by skunk on Mar 21, 2004 7:31:02 GMT 1
Godd ideas! I like the fact that my fellow members have thought up the same ideas that these companies (Norev, Herpa) are implicating.
I read many classic car magazines, I notice that they usually have a page dedicated to new releases of models/kits. I have never seen a 1/87 scale new release mentioned (outside of Germany) before. Maybe if some of us write to them (snailmail makes more of an impression) they might consider mentioning Busch, Wiking, Brekina, and other releases?
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stanhas87
87thScale addict
1978 Dodge Monaco CHP
Posts: 4,906
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Post by stanhas87 on Mar 21, 2004 15:51:17 GMT 1
Dear Skunk:
Model Auto Review does cover Brekina,Wiking,Busch releases.Their German Correspondent is Hans-Georg Smith and he is always covering vehicle releases and comments on literature for models and real vehicles.
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Post by cfesmire on Mar 21, 2004 16:00:28 GMT 1
If there is one thing I have learned snce I started my business in 1978, it is that you have to sell yourself in order to survive. Marketing is the key to getting business through the door. I have never seen an ad for 1-87 vehicles anywhere except perhaps some of the model railroading publications where they were small and unimaginative little blurbs about how the vehicles would look good on your layout. If the future of the business is uncertain (big if) why on earth don't some of these manufacturers jump on the 5th Ave bandwagon and start promoting their product with a little enthusiasm. I'm not talking about 30 second Super Bowl slots now, but as Skunk says, automobile magazines do have a lot of vehicle related ads in them, some models. There is also a plethora (I love that word) of affordable television space since the advent of 150 plus cable and satelite channels. A picture really is worth a thousand words. If you can plant an image in a persons mind, you've got half the battle won. I realise ad costs can be a large portion of a budget, especially for the little guy. Maybe, since we're talking in another thread about a small dues payment, instead of creating a vehicle we all agree on, we should consider using the funds to promote this hobby somehow.
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Hans
Junior Member
Posts: 118
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Post by Hans on Mar 21, 2004 18:40:59 GMT 1
I think it´s an important thing to interest also non-collecting auto-enthousiasts. Some firms do it, so Brekina will be present for the first time at Essen at the Techno Classica. I think (and hope), it could be a success for them with their nice program of classic cars. I don´t know whether Wiking will be there, they did it for many years, but last year they prefered to go to the Intermodellbau, which was held at the same time. And -of course at the moment- they might less interest classic-car-enthousiasts with new agricultural equipment....
Another point to this thread: A thing to be optimistic about the future of our hobby are the little manufacturers. Of course, there are changings, but if I look back when I started to collect HO-cars more than 20 years ago, there is a growing number of them and during the years many wishes were fulfilled by them. (Of course there is the problem of the not-built kits, but that´s another theme.) Perhaps these little manufacturers are more important for our scale than for others.
A last point: I see another changing in the last years concerning passenger cars . Of course it´s a pity to have less actual cars and I hope very much this will change again, but we´ve got much more attractive "youngtimers", cars wished for a long time like the Alfa Giulia and -still coming- Bertone Coupé, Volvo Amazon, Peugeot 404, Jaguar Mk.2 and so on. So I think we have variations in the programs (and of course there are variations I don´t like, because also new passenger cars are my favourits), but at all not less interest in the scale by the firms. And of course they are firms coming up with a more attractive program like Brekina and Busch and firms going down with a program the most of us appreciate less like Herpa ( I think the Herpa-problem for the most of us is also, that they really had a fantastic passenger car-program and now only a small selection of makes, the difference makes the deception, not the absolute number of releases). Let´s be optimistic also by the fact that the Ho-hobby becomes more international by sites like this. I´ve still got many informations from it and I´m very grateful to Eric, Christian, Albert and Jean-Marc for doing this fantastic job.
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Post by Alan on Mar 22, 2004 22:21:36 GMT 1
As for hobby stores here in the states: There is one (1) shop in NYC that stocks even a basic selection of 87 scale cars, and it is indeed located in a very dank basement also occupied by various mangy cats and a hobo who does the restocking. The owner is usually in a yellow-stained wifebeater and sweatpants, and my models still smell like him a week later. I, personally, love the internet... Hahahaha! That sounds just like the model shop that was in my home town! The proprietor had since moved out and the shop is now an Indian Take-away! The shop I go to now is 10 miles away, so the general concensus is right about the shops closing down and us having to go further afield. When I started collecting 1:87 scale models at the age of 15 (I'm 27 now), there was a model shop chain in the UK called Beatties who did a small selection of Herpa cars and trucks, but they no longer do these. In fact, another local hobby shop used to sell them as well, and all of a sudden did not. When asked why, a member of staff told me that they favoured stocking some crudely detailed 1:76 scale models instead, citing the rising cost of stocking anything by Herpa. I'm not sure if anyone else here would reckon that it is the expense of the models that is driving down the sales and interest in the hobby or not? Fortunately, a while ago, the aforementioned "local" model shop did a deal with a guy who sold Herpa models by mail order. He wanted to get rid of his stock and start selling Roco models instead. (The shop being a Roco dealer) So they did a big swap and ended up with a huge stack of Herpa (And a few AWM, Busch, and Wiking) models. But with this stock dwindling, I'm none too sure if they would want to start stocking any more.
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Post by Marc S. on Mar 23, 2004 22:41:12 GMT 1
To quote myself: For Germany, the selection is almost exactly the one we need. [...] I looked up Germany's best-sellers of that month (late in 2003). Of the 50 top-dogs, 43 were available as ready-to-run, injection-moulded 1/87th scale cars by large-series manufacturers! Thanks to a very, very kind lady at Kraftfahrtbundesamt (German Federal Vehicle Registration Agency), I now have the figures for 1988. I told her about this discussion and two days later, the statistics were in the (snail) mail. I will never, ever complain about German bureaucrats Of the 1988 top-50, only 31 are/were available as ready-to-run models by large-series manufacturers. If Lion Models and Martin Fredrich Modelle were added, it would be 34 out of 50. Here is the list (edited with respect to Skunk's thread "Was it better then?" - We are at 38 out of 50 now, counting resine and white-metal efforts. Additions, annotations and corrections are welcome.): 1 VW Golf Mk2, Jetta Mk2, Cabriolet Mk1 - Herpa, Wiking 2 Opel Kadett E - Herpa 3 Mercedes-Benz E-Class W124, S124, C124 - Herpa, Wiking 4 Audi 80, 90 - Rietze 5 VW Passat Mk2, Mk3 - Busch, Herpa, Wiking 6 Mercedes-Benz 190 W201 - Herpa, Wiking 7 Ford Escort, Orion - Miber8 BMW 3-series Mk2 - Herpa, Wiking 9 Ford Sierra - Wiking (XR3i) 10 Opel Omega A, Senator B - Herpa, Wiking 11 VW Polo Mk2 - AWM (1990 facelift), Lion Models12 Ford Fiesta - Lion Models13 Opel Ascona, Vectra A - Herpa 14 BMW 5-series Mk2, Mk3 - Herpa, Wiking (Mk3) 15 Opel Corsa - Herpa 16 Fiat Uno, Fiorino - Miber 17 Audi 100, 200 Mk3 - Rietze 18 Peugeot 205, 309 - Herpa (rallye version), Miber (rallye version), MFM19 Toyota Corolla 20 Mazda 626 21 Renault 5, Rapid - Busch/Praliné 22 Fiat Panda - Lion Models23 VW Transporter Mk3 - Herpa, Wiking, Roco 24 Mazda 323 - Miber 25 Nissan Sunny 26 Honda Civic 27 Ford Scorpio - BS Design28 Mitsubishi Colt, Lancer - Rietze 29 Nissan Micra 30 BMW 7-series Mk2 - Herpa, Wiking31 Peugeot 405 - MFM 32 Mercedes-Benz S-Class W126, C126 - Herpa, Wiking 33 Renault 21 34 Citroen BX - Miber 35 Nissan Bluebird 36 Mitsubishi Galant - Rietze37 Honda Accord - Rietze (Aerodeck) 38 Suzuki SJ 410/413, Samurai - Rietze 39 Renault 11 40 Mitsubishi Pajero - Rietze, Wiking 41 Toyota 1000, Starlet 42 Fiat Tipo - Rietze 43 Citroen AX - Busch/Praliné 44 Toyota Carina II 45 Ford Transit - Busch/Praliné, Rietze 46 Mitsubishi L300 - Rietze 47 Volvo 744, 745 - IMU 48 Citroen 2CV - Herpa, Wiking 49 Isuzu Trooper 50 Fiat Croma Marc
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Post by Marc S. on Mar 23, 2004 22:50:46 GMT 1
For the sake of comparison, here is the list of 2003 new vehicle registrations (German top-50). As far as commercial vehicles are part of the list, only the ones which were registered as cars are counted. The majority of VW Transporters, Ford Transits, Fiat Ducatos etc. will go as light trucks.
Different from the individual month I looked up last year, 37 (rather than 43) of the 50 leading entries are currently available as large-series models (as far as I know; 38 including small-series makers). Not much of an improvement over 1988, and a little wee more to wish for than I had thought:
1 VW Golf Mk4, Mk5, Bora - Herpa, Wiking, AWM 2 BMW 3-series Mk4 - Herpa 3 VW Polo Mk4 - Wiking 4 VW Passat Mk5 - AWM (Herpa, Wiking pre-facelift) 5 Audi A4 Mk2 - Busch, Herpa (convertible), Schuco (convertible) 6 Mercedes-Benz C-Class W203 - Busch, Herpa 7 Mercedes-Benz E-Class W211 - Wiking, Busch, Herpa, Schuco 8 Opel Astra G - Wiking 9 Ford Focus Mk1 - Rietze 10 Opel Corsa C - Schuco (rallye version) 11 Mercedes-Benz A-Class W168 - Herpa, Wiking, Busch 12 Ford Fiesta, Fusion - Rietze 13 Peugeot 206 - AWM 14 Audi A3 Mk1, Mk2 - Rietze, Herpa 15 BMW 5-series Mk4, Mk5 - Herpa 16 Opel Zafira - Herpa 17 VW Touran - Wiking 18 Opel Vectra C, Signum - Rietze 19 Skoda Fabia - Kaden 20 Ford Mondeo Mk2 - Rietze 21 Audi A6 Mk2 - Rietze, Wiking 22 Toyota Yaris, Verso - Banpresto 23 Peugeot 307 24 Renault Mégane Mk2 25 Smart City Coupé, Fortwo, Roadster - Busch 26 Renault Clio Mk2 - AWM (pre-facelift) 27 Skoda Octavia - Igra 28 Renault Scénic Mk1, Mk2 - Evrat 29 Opel Meriva 30 Toyota Corolla 31 Renault Twingo Mk1 - Herpa 32 VW Multivan T4, T5 - Wiking, Herpa, AWM, Roco 33 Mazda6 34 Fiat Punto 35 Seat Ibiza Mk3, Cordoba Mk2 36 (New) Mini - Herpa, Schuco, Siku (2004) 37 VW Lupo - AWM 38 Mercedes-Benz CLK-Class Mk2 - Wiking, Busch, Schuco 39 Renault Laguna Mk2 40 Nissan Micra 41 VW Sharan - AWM 42 Toyota Avensis, Verso 43 Fiat Stilo 44 Citroen C3, Pluriel - Rietze, Norev 45 Seat Toledo, Leon - AWM 46 Renault Kangoo - Norev 47 Toyota RAV4 48 Nissan Almera, Tino - Nissan promotional model 49 Ford Ka - Rietze 50 Mercedes-Benz M-Class - Busch
Sorry if this is too far off topic!
Marc
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Lee
Senior Member
Posts: 1,899
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Post by Lee on Apr 10, 2004 0:22:52 GMT 1
I have never seen an ad for 1-87 vehicles anywhere except perhaps some of the model railroading publications where they were small and unimaginative little blurbs about how the vehicles would look good on your layout. You must have missed the full page color ads that Stoney Mountain ran in Model Railroad for almost a year.
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Post by cfesmire on Apr 10, 2004 2:09:04 GMT 1
Thank you Lee, yes, a terrific exception.
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stanhas87
87thScale addict
1978 Dodge Monaco CHP
Posts: 4,906
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Post by stanhas87 on Apr 20, 2004 3:30:55 GMT 1
Dear Sirs:
In all, this year had shown a good progress for 1/87 models. Most of the new releases were nice surprises and will make a nice additions to anyone's collections. This may be a sign that this scale has a good future ahead of it. It may be possible that next year some more nice models will be released. The only problem remaining is to find new entries to this hobby. It may happen,too.
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