Pink Rubber on Table Tennis Rackets - Yes or No?

SW...

Let's go to the simple math for stocking just 10 rubbers with a stock quantity of 10 per variant.

Before:

10 Rubbers X 3 thickness x 2 colors x stock of 10 = 600 rubbers overall

600 x $25-$60 a rubber = $15,000-$36,000 for rubbers alone

After:
Now that there are going to be 3-6 more colors available that means 3x to 6x additional cost to stock rubbers.

3x -6x times $15,000 - $36,000 means re-seller has to stock another $45,000 - $216,000 worth of rubbers just to ensure re-seller has 10 of each rubber, color, and sponge thickness variant (assuming only 3 thicknesses)...

So reseller investment on inventory went from $15,000 - $36,000 smooth up to needing to invest $60,000 to $252,000 to keep a SMALL stock... There are only 2 resellers in USA capable of absorbing this additional investment without borrowing... and borrowing for a small reseller where the sales will not be there is an unacceptable risk.

Reseller is NOT in mid or long term going to sell a significantly larger number of rubbers overall if no underlying business situation improves...

So reseller is now forced to invest an unrealistically high amount of money in inventory for a small return.

So now reseller must also face risk of not being able to sell their stock of rubbers before new rubbers come out... and new rubbers come out more often than before...

So now resellers are under a lot more financial pressure to make the same sales.

So basically the cost of entry to business, the cost of staying in business, and the financial risk go way up, just because ITTF wanted to pimp new colors for rubbers. This should have come from the business side (manufacturers/resellers) instead of ITTF.

This move is going to put some resellers out of business or greatly reduce their business. The only way to cope with cost of inventory (given all other conditions constant) is to reduce inventory qty per rubber, color, and variant.

That means a small reseller will lose sales there is lag between sell out of stock and re-stock... or increased per unit costs since reseller would make smaller orders, get less buying leverage, and increased per unit cost due to shipping.

It think this move by ITTF sucks for a lot of reasons I just quantified in detail without my usual sarcasm.

Responding to BH-Man

Certainly it presents more of a production and inventory headache. But if it’s only 2 new colours, then in each rubber:

Fulanodetal wrote: Manufacturers and distributors stipulating order quantities?!?? FDT

Edited by BruceShwnoswicz - 12/28/2019 at 6:47am

Please help me understand a few things.

Edited by BruceShwnoswicz - 12/28/2019 at 11:26am

I don't expect that many rubbers will be available in all colours.  Most current rubbers will probably stay the same, with new ones introduced in maybe another colour for whatever reason.  But who cares really enough to demand that their favourite current red rubber be available in green? Or Orchid (dumb name for a colour)?

All the Jokers thinking it is a piece of cake to with new colors can open a TT reselling business themselves and learn firsthand what goes on.

Even if one can order a very small quantity, which a reseller CAN (big distributors not so) my example used a VERY SMALL stock quantity... my math shows that the dollar amount needed to be invested just to make sales of a fraction of that is a ROI (Return on investment) of single digit proportion.

Low single digit works only when there is high sales volume and inventory turnover... TT business in USA is way different than that. Resellers pretty much cannot sell majority of what they order before it is obsolete by new models... only a few articles and sell quickly enough.

Yup, then the mainsteam product sales suffer... the new colors are not going to a sustained 25% increase in sales year to year. All they are going to do is increase the costs and risks of manufacturers, large distributors, and resellers.

Guess who has the most risk?

BH-Man wrote: Yup, then the mainsteam product sales suffer... the new colors are not going to a sustained 25% increase in sales year to year. All they are going to do is increase the costs and risks of manufacturers, large distributors, and resellers. Guess who has the most risk?

How can anyone be against Bernadette Szocs playing with pink rubber? What is wrong with you people???

Still waiting for the brands/rubbers I use to get some colors going. A couple guys here that use Grass D.Tecs both tried and and didn't like Green (and they claimed to try it long enough for proper break in) - certainly there are challenges with differences as even Black vs. Red show for many/most rubbers. Red is pretty boring though and I'm ready as soon as the rest of the manufacturers hurry up and take my money already.

cole_ely wrote: BH-Man wrote: The manufacturers also have similar risks, but on a much larger scale. - What if sales of a certain color suck? - What if the maker cannot sell wholesale the stuff they made before new version of rubber? - What if maker goes ahead and makes the rubber, but resellers are too hesitant to order? - Maker cannot make a small batch of 100 rubbers with any price efficiency, so they are under pressure to perform. - ESN is not gunna go for small batch - they demand you go big volume. Many makers are already stretched and leveraged with loans to make business, the new colors are now adding financial pressure on makers just to stay in business. - Some makers may not stay in the game.. or some makers are going to lose sales to makers who can absorb the higher costs/risks of business who decide to make all the colors - This is going to force makers to have a lower margin (margins at maker level are already thin tight) or it is going to make prices per rubber higher where the maker was not intending to raise prices That's a good point about making their red obsolete.   My guess is a lot of it will be put on premades or on sale

A couple guys here that use Grass D.Tecs both tried and and didn't like Green (and they claimed to try it long enough for proper break in)