Rocketry Planet
| ValueRockets.com e-commerce site online |
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| 2009 Archived News by AeroTech Consumer Aerospace | |
| Tuesday, February 17, 2009 | |
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Featuring an easy-to-navigate design, the store is divided into six major product categories: Single-use model rocket motors, reloadable model rocket hardware, model rocket motor reload kits, ready-to-fly model rockets, model rocket starter sets, and igniters & accessories. While the main focus of the webstore is on entry-level composite propulsion and related items at costs competitive with black powder motors, a number of other products are included on the site at AeroTech's suggested retail prices. ValueRockets.com was created with the newcomer to composite propellant model rocketry in mind. It includes "Rocketry 101" and "FAQ" pages to educate consumers about the various aspects of hobby rocketry as well as answer frequently asked questions concerning the nature of composite propellant rocket motors and their differences from black powder motors. Motors and reload kits sold on the site will be shipped via U.S. Mail Parcel Post. There is no minimum order but an $8.00 shipping and handling charge will apply to orders totaling under $100 net, with free shipping for orders exceeding $100. Payment can be made through the customer's PayPal account, and the site also handles major credit cards. AeroTech believes that exposing more entry-level rocket customers to the benefits and high performance of composite propellant rocketry at dramatically lower cost and with easier availability, will result in increased sales by dealers and distributors of the larger AeroTech products, including high-power rocket motors, and will expand participation in hobby rocketry as a whole. To that end, the ValueRockets.com "Resources" page includes a link to a list of hobby stores, onsite dealers and e-Commerce sites where the customer may shop for AeroTech's full model rocket kit and model and high-power rocket motor lines. The "Resources" page also contains links to frequently requested documents on the AeroTech site such as instructions and RMS motor assembly drawings. A full-page advertisement for ValueRockets.com is scheduled to appear in upcoming issues of Sport Rocketry and Extreme Rocketry magazines. Website: http://www.valuerockets.com/ AeroTech Consumer Aerospace is a division of RCS Rocket Motor Components (RCS), Inc., Cedar City, UT. ValueRockets.com is a trademark of RCS. |
CEDAR CITY, Utah USA — AeroTech's ValueRockets.com™ full-featured webstore is now complete and open for business.
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hobbylinc.com:
D - 11.79
E - 15.29
F39 - 18.69
F12 - 17.99
"value"rockets.com:
D - 16.90
E - 22.90
F - 26.90
As predicted previously, it is little more than a scam. And I love aerotech products, but what else can you say when you buy direct from the factory and pay 15 - 30% more? Even if you spend more than 100$ and save on the shipping, it is still a major loss.
You cant give great deals and also avoid undercutting your vendor networks (which probably bring in most of the money, and also represent a stable source of income because they buy in bulk).
Sorry but I am still going to buy from Hobbylinc for right now - because they also sell every other kind of reload!
Anyone have a different observation?
hobbylinc.com:
D - 11.79
E - 15.29
F39 - 18.69
F12 - 17.99
"value"rockets.com:
D - 16.90
E - 22.90
F - 26.90
As predicted previously, it is little more than a scam.
Calling this a scam seems out of line with reality. No one at Aerotech is trying to trick you into anything. If you like buying from a dealer like Hobbylink then I suspect they are happy to continue selling to Hobbylink and supplying your motors indirectly.
As you noted there are challenges to selling direct - including loss of dealer networks. To quote Spinal Tap: "There's a fine line between clever and stupid." Let's hope that our manufacturers and dealers can stay on the clever side of that line.
My concern was that everything about this store (what they say about it, what rocketry planet news stories say about it, what the web address valuerockets.com suggests) indicates that prices will be as low as possible. But many of their prices are ABOVE retail price. Half of the 24mm reloads I looked up were 50% more expensive. I mean this isnt even in the same ballpark.
Scam may have been too strong, lets call it a gimmick. They invoked the recession, and suggested that this web page would be a favor to the rocketry community by offering rock bottom prices above all else to help get people into the hobby on the cheap, so they can buy from vendors and keep the sport afloat. Maybe I am the only one who gets a bad taste from how it turned out.
My expectation would be low prices on select motors (single use motors really), with prices at or really below retail. If they dont have lower prices (or at least lower prices at higher volumes), why in the world would anyone want to buy from them directly? And if this page is about getting people who are new to mid power, why would you sell reloads at all? Why should a person coming off D motors go directly to reload cases before they even know what they want or how to do it properly? The cost of cases, the complexity, mean that a person should really use singles for a while like I best most of us did. I mean sell econojets or something like that.
It feels (maybe in my paranoid mind) like the thinking went:
"Hey we never really had a great online retail system, and we missed out on about a decade of direct online business."
"Ok then, lets make an online store."
"But what will our vendors say?"
"Lets target only people new to mid power at this store."
"Call it reallycheaprockets.com or something like that, and offer factory direct prices!"
"But if the prices are too low, we will out compete our vendors."
"So lets make the prices higher than the vendors, keep them happy, and make significantly more proft."
"Why would anyone want to buy from us at a higher price?"
"Again we target people new to rocketry, they wont know any better."
I love Aerotech... I think the 24mm reload motors are the most interesting little set of motors ever made. But this store might need to rethink prices and products a bit. That is all.
My expectation would be low prices on select motors (single use motors really came to mind, as that is the only kind of motor beginners would want to buy while learning about mid power), prices at or below retail. If they dont have lower prices (or at least lower prices at higher volumes), why in the world would anyone want to buy from them directly?
They are selling the SU E15-4W for $18.90 in a three-pack, which is significantly cheaper than I've found them anywhere else (the typical street price seems like about $12 for one) and competitive with typical hobby shop prices for Estes E9s.
We added the 24mm RMS products at AeroTech's suggested retail prices (BTW nothing is sold "above retail") at the repeated request of our customers. Perhaps some of them want to throw in a 24mm reload or two with their order to save shipping.
The prices you see many vendors selling at are not AeroTech's suggested retail, they are below suggested retail.
Again, the focus of the site is 18 & 24mm single-use motors, 18mm RMS hardware & reloads, a starter set and RTF mid-power rockets at wholesale prices. We purposely limited the scope of the discounted product to maintain a "peaceful co-existence" with our distribution network.
My concern was that everything about this store (what they say about it, what rocketry planet news stories say about it, what the web address valuerockets.com suggests) indicates that prices will be as low as possible. But many of their prices are ABOVE retail price. Half of the 24mm reloads I looked up were 50% more expensive. I mean this isnt even in the same ballpark.
I am typically first in line to [justifiably> criticize Aerotech, but you have confused several pricing issues to become inappropriately agitated.
There is a retail price. That is the "price" of the product. From that retail price Aerotech sells at a deep discount to dealers, typically somewhere around 40% off. If one of those dealers choose to sell at near their cost, there are laws now preventing Aerotech from doing the right thing for ALL DEALERS and discouraging that practice.
So while a careful shopper willing to limit their purchases to one vendor and their limited selection and inventory can save money, it is not a retail price. It is more like wholesale to the public. As a supporter of this industry I strongly discourage that practice. Often convenience is more important than price, so we need to assure convenient purchasing remains an option.
The value rockets website seems to offer products at not quite full retail prices for the "targeted motor products", but at a "short discount". Typically a manufacturer will sell ONLY at full retail price to protect the dealers that MUST sell at full retail to cover expensive retail space, advertising, freebies and other "merchandising expenses".
To briefly summarize my point, retail might be $100, wholesale $60, short discount $80, and I feel no dealer should ever sell at wholesale to the public, and no manufacturer should ever sell at anything other than full retail.
It appears the Aerotech dealer network has not yet learned those lessons and are making short term decisions with negative long term outcomes.
None of Aerotech's original dealers still deal them. There is a reason for that. It is not lack of interest.
I hope Aerotech employs the margins they receive on this website for outreach and advertising. If they do, whatever pricing model they choose is to be commended.
Also I noted most of those motors are sold in three-packs. Be sure you get the math right too.
Just Jerry
Gary keep up the good work!