[Elecraft] growing market share

Wed Mar 5 06:15:02 2003

Dave, My musings:

The HF market segments:

1.  Contesters
2.  DXers
3.  Retired Ragchewers
4.  Hobbyist Ragchewers
5.  QRPer / HFPacker
6.  Kit builders / tinkerers

First off, you have to consider what these markets are already buying and
how much they are paying, and how often they buy new radios and why.  A
k2/100 kit (sans the mic and autotuner) is around $1,200.  40 hours of
labor @ 30/hour = $1,200.  And remember, everyone who is anyone has seen
the numbers on this receiver (or is at least aware of them).

1.  The contester is going to want the best receiver he can get, he
doesn't care about the general coverage receive, and it has to work with
his software.  He'll pay for it.  So pricing is simple: $2,500 for a
pre-built, pre-aligned K2/100 with filters pre-set to the way he wants
them.  It's that or if he's poor, he'll by an FT920 and put the Inrad
filters in it (and suffer the ringing in his ears).  Remember, there are
national magazines committed to this little portion of the hobby (ergo, it
ain't so little).  Sooner or later, he'll want a way of playing with the
filters without having to pop the top of the radio and doing arithmetic in
his head -- so Elecraft has to figure that one out.  And they need an auto
band-switch unit interface to market.

2.  The DXer is similar.  As long as he can get it talking with his
spotting software and beam-heading stuff, life is good.  He wants that
receiver section.  He'll pay for it.  Again, pricing is simple: $2,500 for
a pre-built K2/100 with filters preset.

3.  Retired ragchewers are divided in to those that just want the best and
will pay for it (simple: $2,500) (may need a brighter display), and those
that just love to do radio, to stay in touch, and their TS520 is just
fine, thanks :)

4.  The hobbyist ragchewer gets on maybe a couple times a week.  He'll be
curious about the killer receiver, but will buy the kit to figure it out
-- he'll take pride of ownership and in building a kit and making it work.
 His XYL will grumble about the late-nights soldering in the shack, but
will be proud of him, none-the-less, and he'll be proud to be part of this
elite group.

5.  The QRPer / HFPacker will buy the kit in all likelihood.  He's in to
it, down and dirty.

6.  Kit builders will buy kits and sell rigs.  They take pride in building
an excellent radio, and making the construction as perfect as they can.

   There's also the VHF/UHF/Microwave/weak signal segment that want the
receiver, and will experiment with ways to super-cool the receiver
section to lower the noise floor even further.  They'll buy the kit.

   So Elecraft has two ways to go:

a)  have radios manufactured (better not call it a K3; that'd just be BAD
-- perhaps a PB2 or something like that) (and I have no idea how this cost
structure looks, but I'm thinkin' a pretty hefty up-front investment
somewhere in the high six figure range);

b)  build a network of select builders, whom they certify and use to
stockpile a bunch of pre-builts and then target-market, and then provide
-- in their usual fashion -- superlative after-sales support to build
word-of-mouth in the customer's circle.  I actually can't see how this
program could fail; the up-front costs are very low.

   The numbers for growth are so way there.  They need to satisfy the
contesting community with a band-switching interface device,  perhaps
add a KAF2-DSP and a way to tinker with the filters a little more
intuitively.

   Of course, they could get a big military contract to design and build
radios and that'd be the last we hear of 'em for a few years!

   Hope I didn't step on anyone's toes.  Just my musings.  Me, I'll be
forever glad that my serial number is only four digits long; it won't
be long before they're five, and Elecraft will be in the main arena at
Dayton.

   73, Martin AC6RM

> In a recent message, Eric Manning <[email protected]> said....
>>Wayne remarked a while back that Elecraft may have a few per cent of
>> the hf transceiver market.
>>
>>The only effective way to grow this number very much, I think, is to
>> offer a pre-built K2, as there aren't many hams with the skills,
>> confidence and motivation to build a K2.
>
> Definitely NOT, Eric.  The fact that the K1 & K2 are available only in
> kit form is what makes them very special.
>
> David G4DMP
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