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Had an interesting chat tonight with one of our regular Friday night fight players: what makes a brand a "good" brand and what makes them inevitably fail.
Economics are brutal in Asia, and Airsoft is one of the most brutal industries.
For example, Classic Army was a hell of a brand that no one thought would fail. But they did and did with an epic explosion too. KWA who offered a product with their first AEG that was so good it is
still riding on its reputation - but their quality is so bad now they can't
keep up with RMA's in their warehouse and spare parts are all but wiped
out. They are on a massive decline. Tokyo Marui has seen better days
but is still going on innovation alone. With massive competition they
fight back with design and truly amazing engineering feats.
Who is in command now? Taiwan. G&G of all brands walked out of the smoke on top this time. But the night is young.
In the case of Classic Army it was lack of foresight. They intended to
be the "metal" brand forever basically. They offered a vast assortment
of products being very expensive to produce and costs were high. Too
high. When the non-Hong Kong manufactures kicked in (all the "ands" A&K, ect. JG, BE and many more) they destroyed CA. they quickly
produced their sport line AEG's to compete but lacked the quality JG
could produce at that price point. Since then most of them have moved to Hong
Kong and are now in full production. CA is still there but very nearly bled
out.
KWA is one of those manufactures that lead the field but has reached beginning of the end. Why?
A lack of competitive pricing and mass production causing less QC and
NO regional support in Asia. They do not even attempt to support the
sport in Taiwan. They only concern themselves with the US market. Not a
sound strategy for selling high end toy guns seeing how the US is one of
the lowest consumers of Airsoft guns, and Asian countries and Europe the
highest. The customer pays the price with a less than ideal QC
standard, and when the consumer moves on the manufacture loses... big
time. Airsofters gather research and demand more for their money and
if it is not offered by any brand then they move on to the next. It's brutal
out there. But it keeps prices down and demands product to
improve (aaaaahhhhh capitalism.)
Many brands failed in Airsoft and
many more will fail. No one is perfect forever. And who the hell would
have thought G&G of all brands would offer simply one of the best
AEG manufactured out there? I mean really... I love mine, but
despised them for years. Lots of surprises. More to come I'm sure....
What makes them last? What makes them good? Flexibility and listening
to the customer. When an AEG is on the CAD program the designers need to
keep an ear to the ground. Find out how to innovate and change the
product when it sucks. Establish solid exporting strategies. And
manufacture in a stable "free" country. But most importantly make their product competitive and stand out from the others with a low cost. Not
take two years to fix a defect (2GX gearbox.) Or offer a basic M4 for
$375.00 (CA) or not come out with any new and interesting products ( King Arms, KWA, Echo1.) G&G has done better. But what is needed
is more domestic manufactures like Polar Star. But they would fail the
cost test I'm sure. Good dream though.