Jaycar - Business opportunity?

Heaps of things, especially if they are (i) one-offs and will never be profitable as a comsumer item, and (ii) meet a small specialised LOCAL need, especially for business or industry.

A recent example is an LED signal for train signal teaching purpose. The instructor liked the prototype so much that he bought a bigger version. And his colleague wants another version, but slightly different.

Sure this $50 signal would retail for $9.99 if mass-produced, but since there isn't a mass market, the Chinese (or anyone else) aren't going to make it happen.

There must be other similar unmet needs that aren't widespread enough for mass production, yet are desired enough that people are willing to pay more than consumer prices for them.

Peter

On Sun, 12 Mar 2006 18:34:58 +1100, "Peter Parker" put finger to keyboard and composed:

I think you've hit the nail on the head. As far as electronics is concerned, Australia will be left with specialty boutiques while China and India will get the department stores. Even so, you may still be surprised as to what constitutes a viable production quantity.

For example, a friend designs and manufactures a best selling prawning lamp for the Australian market. The design and testing is nowhere near as trivial as it may first appear. Many competitors have attempted and failed to produce a reliable alternative. Because the market is relatively small, one would have thought that he would have been safe from serious competition. However, the Chinese have recently attempted to copy his design, so low production volumes do not appear to be a deterrent for them.

- Franc Zabkar

On Sun, 12 Mar 2006 10:11:44 +1000, Tom put finger to keyboard and composed:

I suppose they could write the specs.

- Franc Zabkar

In exchanges with (the late) Peter Crowcroft, he explained that the chinese will copy anything with even miniscule volume. Their rationale - if you could call it that - is that there IS volume if you get the price down. You and I know that the gizmo is a one-off or will never sell more than a dozen. They believe otherwise. He was getting some pcb's made for me by one of his mainland fabs, and strongly recommended I remove all information from the board that might give a clue as to its end use.

I think this is where you and others are wrong. The "chinese" must have at least a million shops that they can flog their stuff to. This is why you were told to remove identification marks. Many of these shops will stock a box and see how it sell. That initial stock is still a good production run.

Am I the only person to cruise these $2 shops to see what trinkets are around?

When I say that I know the gizmo will only ever sell a dozen, I DO happen to know my product and the market. Any chinese fab who wants to make a hundred, thousand, or million is welcome as long as I've already sold that dozen. The laugh will be on him.

Probably not, but my product doesn't fall into trinket category. It is a VERY narrow niche market (remember, "a dozen"?) and even with the most comprehensive product description/illustration on the packaging they aren't going to sell any. I'd love to see them try.

Now if it was the next_big_thing (especially in toyland) I'd remove every mark and clue from the artwork. But it isn't. The key here is knowing the market before you venture into pcb fab.

Well I certainly do not like the line Gary Johnston and the team at Jaycar are taking, but perhaps they're doing this because they want to compete with DSE (aka Woolworths) who have got the edge over the other players because Woolworths can leverage immense marketting power and have a supermarket in almost every part of Australia so you can bet that plans are afoot for Woolworths to start selling electronics products under the DSE banner through supermarkets in the coming years.

It would be really nice to have places that are like Radio Despatch, Sheridans, Geoff Wood, etc. which were all highly regarded by professionals and enthusiasts alike. We do have Oatley Electronics thanks to the efforts of Branko Justic, but they're more like Sheridans used to be than the Geoff Wood (which was a very specialised supplier) or Radio Despatch.

Seem pretty good so far.

Jaycar's only sensible decision to date has been to move their Gore Hill Store back to it's original location. Did you know that out of all of Jaycar's original handful of stores, the ONLY one that's still in its original location is Gore Hill? Even the one in the city has moved a couple of times, but always within the same block on York St at the back of the QVB. And the other interesting fact is that York St and Gore Hill have retained the same phone numbers all the time they've been open! I remember when I used to work for Jaycar in the late 80's that their York St store's phone number was 267-1614 (nowadays with the extra '9' at the front).

I'm sure Jim Rowe and others remember the Hurstville Jaycar store down the northern part of Hurstville's CBD on Forest Road. That's where I was most of the time but I spent time in school holidays, etc. working in York St, etc. Jim was a regular customer and I bet if that store was still there today (it got replaced by the one at Bankstown on the Hume Highway), Jim and many of the regular faces from the area would still go there to buy things.

Regards,

Craig.

No but it depends what the market wants. Electronics enthusiasts like the build things themselves because that's how we learn the skills that can in some cases be put to good use in other pursuits.

And then there is the feeling you get from building something yourself that works better and more reliably than what you might be able to get from Ching Chong country.

I don't believe that will happen because then you would not be able to get things designed properly to suit the local market, the local consumer environment, or to suit the conditions that exist in other aspects of our society.

China has the advantage (for now) of dirt-cheap labour and a huge population. But what will be the effect of that? With such as massive population, wage and inflation pressure will become extreme and over time (say 10 to 20 years), getting things made in China will become increasingly expensive and eventually so expensive that local design and production will be attractive and affordable again.

Craig.

Jaycar aren't trying to compete directly with DSE, they are just stocking more stuff that the general public can buy. Nothing wrong with that really if it keeps them in business.

There is RS and Farnell which carry virtually everything in stock you could ever need. They cater for the professional market (always have), and many of their prices are not out of the range of the hobbyist. In fact I have often bought things at Farnell cheaper than Jaycar or Altronics. Yes, Oatley seem to be about the only "surplus" place left now.

Everyone seems to forget Altronics, they are still around and have a good range for the hobbyist.

By that you are implying they have made bad decisions? Like what? Sure they are selling lots of gadgets, but the range of electronics is now bigger than I ever remember it being as a kid.

That's about 0.01% of their client base, so I doubt Jaycar care about that :->

Dave :)

increasingly

will

No, some other country takes over. There are plenty of African countries that could supply cheap labour. After all, China only took over from Japan, Korea etc. as costs there became more expensive.

MrT.