5th-Jul-20, 12:46 PM
Tony has hit the nail on the head. It is all down to costs per item produced.
Scalextric and Carrera are both produced in China where manufacturing costs are significantly lower than most other countries that could produce a reasonable quality product. "Ah" - you may say "but SCX are made in Spain". This is true but the other benefit that all 3 brands have is a larger market share than the more specialist slot car manufacturers so they sell more of each product which reduces the manufacturing cost per unit which then means they can retail at a lower price.
Slotit are a kinda middle road. Some parts are made in Italy which gives them more quality control but increases the cost. The parts requiring less stringent quality control are made in China to keep costs down and they get the benefit of reduced labour costs by assembling the cars in China. They also have lower sales per product than Scalex and Carrera but possibly higher unit sales than NSR and Thunderslot so they are middle of the road on price.
NSR and Thunderslot are both made entirely in Italy so their labour costs are higher which ups the unit cost for the product. The product is aimed solely at the enthusiast so sales per product are significantly lower meaning they need to retail at a higher price to recover costs and make a profit.
I am not a fan of the spurious liveries made by NSR and some of the other smaller manufacturers (eg the NSR Ford MkIV Rothmans) but there is obviously a market for them and they are a way of selling more product to help recoup the cost of the moulding tools which keeps down the price of the authentic liveries.
I think it is likely that the pandemic will see a move towards more manufacturing closer to home. In some ways that will be a good thing because it will mean less problems with language barriers that can arise when dealing with another country halfway across the world and probably better and easier quality control.
The downside is that the increased labour costs of manufacturing outside China are likely to lead to higher retail prices to cover the additional costs.
To put things into perspective - If anyone here believes that there is a huge market for slotcars in the UK please consider that one recent kit release from a manufacturer operating at a similar level to Slotit had preorders of just 12 kits for the whole of the UK and I understand that no UK retailer bought kits to carry as stock!
Scalextric and Carrera are both produced in China where manufacturing costs are significantly lower than most other countries that could produce a reasonable quality product. "Ah" - you may say "but SCX are made in Spain". This is true but the other benefit that all 3 brands have is a larger market share than the more specialist slot car manufacturers so they sell more of each product which reduces the manufacturing cost per unit which then means they can retail at a lower price.
Slotit are a kinda middle road. Some parts are made in Italy which gives them more quality control but increases the cost. The parts requiring less stringent quality control are made in China to keep costs down and they get the benefit of reduced labour costs by assembling the cars in China. They also have lower sales per product than Scalex and Carrera but possibly higher unit sales than NSR and Thunderslot so they are middle of the road on price.
NSR and Thunderslot are both made entirely in Italy so their labour costs are higher which ups the unit cost for the product. The product is aimed solely at the enthusiast so sales per product are significantly lower meaning they need to retail at a higher price to recover costs and make a profit.
I am not a fan of the spurious liveries made by NSR and some of the other smaller manufacturers (eg the NSR Ford MkIV Rothmans) but there is obviously a market for them and they are a way of selling more product to help recoup the cost of the moulding tools which keeps down the price of the authentic liveries.
I think it is likely that the pandemic will see a move towards more manufacturing closer to home. In some ways that will be a good thing because it will mean less problems with language barriers that can arise when dealing with another country halfway across the world and probably better and easier quality control.
The downside is that the increased labour costs of manufacturing outside China are likely to lead to higher retail prices to cover the additional costs.
To put things into perspective - If anyone here believes that there is a huge market for slotcars in the UK please consider that one recent kit release from a manufacturer operating at a similar level to Slotit had preorders of just 12 kits for the whole of the UK and I understand that no UK retailer bought kits to carry as stock!
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