Which company will be gone by 2014

[juju]

Big Things in 2014? Game changer?

 

[ScottyLove]

ABC discs is only a short drive away from me. Though I do not se mention of them in forums much, around here locally you see their discs alot even in the local pro bags.
I think the reason you dont see much hype is because Dan is not a drama starter, which admittedly seems to be the key to advertising to disc golfers on the forums.
Seriously, if you haven't tried ABC discs at all you should.

I had sent Dan a message about perhaps getting some discs as prizes for a PDGA sanctioned event but never got a reply. Almost every vendor out there will give you something... it helps spread the word. Westside sent me 5 discs from Finland free of charge!

I saw Dan at the Memorial and asked him about it, but he said as a smallish vendor, he really can't give away anything. I respect that... but it's still hard to help spread the word without samples.

 

[jenb]

With the Innova controlled PDGA pushing for trophy only for ams, perhaps all of the new companies will be deprived of the opportunity to take advantage of the disc golf tournament merchandising model as a business development mechanism to drive disc sales and build a market niche.

 

[Cgkdisc]

Actually, they'll have more opportunity if the model shifts to just player packs where multiple manufacturers can get in on making sure every am player gets their product rather than just the top finishers.

 

[justactnormal]

The other major problem they face is that all the hype has been about the team and not the products themselves.

Prodigy is a disc golf team that manufactures their own discs rather than a disc manufacturer with its own team of pros.

^^ this, fo show. That's how they've built it. NSDG didn't work out so well. I hope they planned on not making any money for a few years. They've got a stellar team that will win a lot of tournaments, but the team winning tourneys without any product sales is unsustainable. Tourney payouts is not going to keep the presses running. Until they can get a market presence with a full line up of discs then it's going to be hard to make any headway.

I feel like MVP has filled out its lineup very well this past year. Although they don't have a complete line of discs they've done a lot, and we've seen the mixed bag sponsorship working out. Unlike Prodigy, they built a core following of fans of their discs and have focused on that. I would like to see what a Team MVP would look like. I'd imagine some pro arms could really do some things with their discs that would be fun to watch.

 

[smyith]

I had sent Dan a message about perhaps getting some discs as prizes for a PDGA sanctioned event but never got a reply. Almost every vendor out there will give you something... it helps spread the word. Westside sent me 5 discs from Finland free of charge!

I saw Dan at the Memorial and asked him about it, but he said as a smallish vendor, he really can't give away anything. I respect that... but it's still hard to help spread the word without samples.

Locally he does more. But I do agree with you on your last statement.

Actually, they'll have more opportunity if the model shifts to just player packs where multiple manufacturers can get in on making sure every am player gets their product rather than just the top finishers.

true. but I think for this model to truly appease all the competitive DGrs it would require a massive overhaul of the entire operation.

 

[Cgkdisc]

I'm not predicting that the model will forcibly shift that direction at the lower tournament levels unless unsanctioned event TDs also start moving in that direction. And I don't see that happening because many of them play and want to try to win stuff and net some retail/wholesale differential. Clubs are behind running many events and the "win stuff" model is popular and can help raise money for club activities.

 

[Hampstead]

Dealers are still limited to 50 per model... which for a big retailer is barely enough to sneeze at. We finally listed our first Prodigy offerings on Friday because of that low per-dealer quantity available.

I haven't heard about problems of smaller dealers, but if that's an issue we're also wholesaling Prodigy via DiscGolfWholesale.com which doesn't have a per-model or per-brand minimum, just a master order minimum of $250.

Maybe their model dictates that their Team and getting the minimum 500 per mold in circulation are their prime focus. If so, great work.

Do you have to order 25 of each model?
Maybe I wasn't clear or maybe I was and I didn't read your answer correctly.
I was told my local shop won't carry Prodigy mids because they don't want to order 25 of a disc that hasn't proved that it has a local demand yet. They said if they could order a smaller number to start they would consider it but Prodigy doesn't seem flexible with that.

 

[zj1002]

Prodigy sells its discs in quantities of 25

So ordering a quantity of 2, gets you 50 discs

It's different from other manufacturers. For selling to the sports stores like Academy and Dicks this works well. But small retailers like PIAS or smoke shops cant afford to order large quantities.

 

[prerube]

Quest AT hopefully...

Quest is being rebranded as "Pick-A-Disc" and being marketed to educators.

 

[Hampstead]

Prodigy sells its discs in quantities of 25

So ordering a quantity of 2, gets you 50 discs

It's different from other manufacturers. For selling to the sports stores like Academy and Dicks this works well. But small retailers like PIAS or smoke shops cant afford to order large quantities.

Thanks, that's what i thought.

So, as I mentioned before, it seems like they favor big box stores and not small shops.

 

[zj1002]

It also guarantees they sell a case of plastic when they only have a few models. Most retailers would probably buy a case of 5-10 models. People are buying a case of 2-4 models right now

We will see how things shakes out when they fully expand their lineup and disc availability. As ZAM said we launched prodigy very late for a reason, mainly lack of supply because they were so new

 

[JeremyKShort]

The big guys aren't going anywhere. Innova and Discraft are here to stay, save for a major non-DG player buying them out (Something along the lines of Nike).

Vibram has all of its other business to help keep it afloat. This applies to DD as well, even though the other side of its business is disc golf related. Although, you could argue that making discs could bring them down.

The companies that have other companies make their discs (Millenium, Discmania, DGA, Westside, Dynamic) will likely do fine.

The places with cult-like followings (Lat64, MVP, Vibram) aren't going anywhere for a while.

Gateway can likely live on just Wizards alone. Maybe they go the way of Hostess and sell their big name products to somebody else.

 

[zj1002]

If anything Lat64 and the companies they produce(Westside/DD) will be #2 in the DG world very soon behind Innova. They are doing that well

 

[texhop58]

Yea but many big business have gone away in every day life because they didn't keep up with their changing clients. I am a cult follower of MVP, vibram, and westside. I worry about the company being bought out. And having someone like innova cheapening the product. I know innova will always be around. In part because they are part of pdga. But there recent quality issues and pushing bad disc (groove, some of their recent blizzards). Make me wonder if they have the idea of if we put it out, they will buy it. And in all fairness I did fall for it for awhile

 

[Halcón]

If anything Lat64 and the companies they produce(Westside/DD) will be #2 in the DG world very soon behind Innova. They are doing that well

I was thinking about this the other day. Discraft is still very strong though. I do wonder how their sales will be affected by Innova's producing the Pulsar for Major League Ultimate. Wasn't the Ultrastar the official disc before?

Lat has a huge following in the states, and the strength of the sport is growing in Europe. The future looks very bright for them.

 

[djschnabel]

Has anybody said DGR yet?

 

[zj1002]

More change will happen to retailers than disc makers

I doubt anyone "buys out" a disc manufacturer

They could make them cheaper than a buyout

 

[Cgkdisc]

They would buy a company more for the brand names not necessarily as much for their facilities and people.

 

[plastic cannon]

I do wonder how their sales will be affected by Innova's producing the Pulsar for Major League Ultimate. Wasn't the Ultrastar the official disc before?

Wait. Innova is producing the official disc now? When did this happen?