Moser was late with Washougal Moservations and he wants new gear to be late too.
Moser was late with Washougal Moservations and he wants new gear to be late too.
Moser: These new gear releases have gotten out of control. I think someone just posted some spy photos of the 2018 gear line on Instagram. I don’t know who started this epidemic of releasing the next years gear earlier and earlier every year but it has to stop. The 2017 gear should not be available until the actual year of 2017. This falls in line with retail stores putting out Christmas decorations in September, this isn’t Nam there are rules.
JT: Yeah, I can understand where you’re coming from but it’s a bit complicated. From most of the retailers I have talked to, ideally they would take new gear in late September or October 1. If everyone agreed to that date, it would allow dealers to sell last year’s closeout gear on the same timeframe and have some continuity. They would be fully stocked for the huge Christmas season, capturing both the “new” sales for the updated lines and also the Christmas sales all in one swoop. While that may not ring true for every region of the country and every thought process, I have heard it enough to know that it’s a popular request.
The problem is that many gear companies have concluded that their perceived best bet to steal shelf space from their competitors is to just release earlier than them. In an effort to beat everyone to the punch, they will just have the first offering and hope the dealer gets excited for “new” gear. Gear popularity has risen and fell for many brands and when brands are struggling, this is a common way to try to regain sales. If the brand feels they need a big competitive edge, they will forego the typical August 1 release date and fire off in July or even June for some. While I understand the thought, I think it hurts dealer chances to clear their old inventory because when “new” gear is released, the old gear is basically dead. The old gear lands on closeout racks and sold for pennies on the dollar. All of the margin they hoped to earn by agreeing to stock that gear has now been erased as soon as it becomes closeout. It’s a tough pill to swallow when some brands are trying to give the dealer all of the time possible to sell their current gear, meanwhile other brands decide to release new gear 1-2 months earlier than everyone else. In my opinion, the dealer is the one who loses the most from those brands’ decision. The dealer went from making money to breaking even at best.
The brand I work for has tried to wait as long as we can to release gear but as companies move earlier and earlier, we have to respond, too. Dealers are always looking for foot traffic or web clicks and new gear is a good way to achieve that. It’s a double-edged sword, though, as I laid out above. No brand can afford to give shelf space away so when brands decide to go early, everyone else has to take a long look at the cause and effect of holding their ground or joining the movement.
Moser: Two wrongs don’t make a right. Someone needs to take a stand here. I think the Racer X magazine I just got in the mail was for December 2016. When Christmas rolls around you want that new sick, lit (or whatever these kids are saying) gear that Shorty is wearing on TV, not something that is five months old. I know a thing or two about early releases and in my experience it’s not appreciated. If this keeps up the riders are going to be wearing 2018 gear in Supercross and 2019 gear in the outdoors. I don’t know how you keep all the gear lines and years straight. I can only imagine what it’s like sitting through a WPS employee training session. I picture the cubical layout from Office Space with you wearing suspenders and letting everyone know that the 2016 gear is no longer available to sell ummmm kkkkkk (takes sip of coffee). “We are now taking orders for 2020 gear lines and don’t forget to use the new TPS reports”. If releasing the gear earliest guarantees sales then why release gear once a year? Throw out the old train of thought, release new gear once a quarter. Spread out the updates to each line over the year. Evolution 2.0 release in January, Lite Hydrogen release in April, etc. etc. Feel free to bring up this idea at the WPS monthly board meeting. If you want to hire me for some consulting work I’m also available.
JT: I am with you on this, believe me. It’s just tough when no one is working together, it’s pretty cutthroat in reality. I am not pumped that you compared me to Bill Lumbergh but I have been known to threaten a copier or two when it says paper jam but there is no paper jam.
We have adopted a bit of your idea as we release our vented gear or “Kinetic Mesh” as we call it, in March. That gives everyone “new” gear to sell and of course it is meant for those hot summer months. TLD does do a bit of what you suggested where they have several releases a year but they also have a completely different setup than we do as far as distribution. It also creates a nightmare for knowing what year is current and not as four releases quadruples the confusion.
The ultimate solution would be for everyone to work together and say “everyone wait until X date and go to market”. I think that might actually be illegal, though, and no one would ever do it if was legal anyway. The guys looking for an advantage are always going to look for a way in, even if it’s ill advised. Whether it’s releasing months early or offering unsustainable discounts or even bad-mouthing the competition which is really poor ethics but I am sure it happens, someone is always going to try to push the envelope. It’s just the nature of competitive business.
