G'day Getfunky
Yeah obviously Cabrinha are not alone, as you can see from that list I posted. They are actually in the same price boat with Best these days. How unsurprising!!!
You have said it yourself, you went into a kite shop 4 years or so ago, and a 12M kite was $2100, and 4 years later its either $2100 or a couple of hundred $$ less.
Yet the price of oil, from which all kite cloth and plastics are derived, has risen several hundred percent in that same time frame.
Real wages in those Chinese factories have risen by several hundred percent too. They may still sound low by our standards, but the cost of living is relative, and much lower in those countries where our kites are made too. Everything to do with the manufacture of kites has risen in cost, yet prices at retail have remained static, that should tell you that you are actually on a good thing.
Competition is tough out there in kitedom, and the schitt is starting to hit the fan for many smaller brands.
Yet the real retail prices of kites have not gone up.
Sure there are newer, less well known brands offering product for a little less Meerkat, but you will always find some are where quality is less on these kites, has to be.
The days of buying market share, by selling cheaply and directly on beaches or elsewhere in the passion to creat a brand and an income for the owners are rapidly dwindling away
Plus these newstart brands are not supported by the established retailers, so service and spares are less readily available, and resale is low, as Getfunky has pointed out.
I was talking to a professional business manager yesterday, who worked in China 5 years ago, he said technical staff with training got around $4K USD per year then, which was a fortune more than an average factory worker, ans the equivalent of around 100K plus today. He said those same people are now earning 20K USD, the equivalent of around $200-$250K in todays dollars. There is a lot of new wealth happening in China, it might still be lagging behind developed western countries like ours, but it is rapidly catching up.
Most of the really cheap manufacturing is happening in much less developed countries, with much lower labour rates than China. China is becoming a skilled and therefore more highly paid workforce, and more prosperous economy. There are lots of Chinese millionaires maiking their fortunes there now.
Each year this industry evolves, the major players are actually all working for less percentage return on each dollar invested, and that includes every part of the industry.
Cya and
Goodwinds
Steve
quote:
Originally posted by getfunky
Hiya Steve,
I should clarify that it is an observation that I should direct to most of the bigger companies. Sorry to single out Cabrinha they are not alone.
No I'm not a Best pimp. I bought both of mine 2nd hand (and am still stoked with em). I just can't get over how much hype (and marketing $$$) go into the gear each new season. Yes the gear is getting better but not nearly as much as the blurbs suggest... I bought my kites because they are excellent (in both handling and build) and bloody good value.
For my hard earns 2k is still way too high for kite, (rowwrrr ffft ffft). I fail to understand how everything else coming out of Chinese factories continues to get cheaper month after month, yet 4 years after I 1st went white in a kite shop - at the price of a single kite ($2100) - there is still bugger all drop in price for 'name' brands.
Sure, there is no doubt a fair bit of R&D (and heaps of advertising at all levels), however in most industries there is a natural evolution to better product and less expensive units... I just don't see it in kiting and think that is nort right laddy. 
