Very Interesting, Murocflyer. Search several american hobby companies/hobby shops, there is a definite trend going on!! It seems as hobbist are wanting more for their hard earned dollar. Nobody is going to tell me that a company as large as Tower/Hobbico/Greatplanes & Horizon Hobby, don't have enough buying power to purchase stuff from china and be able to give prices close to Hobby City. It's there own fault. If people like Jeff from Headsuprc.com can do it, so can these Mega Hobby Shops. I know they already get their signature brands from Asia. Tower Discount Hobbies, their sales would go through the roof. Just my 2 Cents worth.

Later: Johnny

I was talking with the owner of a LHS that has been around for a LONG time. His costs to keep the doors open run almost $16,000 per month.

That is to cover the lease on the space, utilities, phones, some part time help, etc.

That is a LOT of little stuff he has to sell to keep the doors open.

Keep that in mind when you look at your LHS and think, wow I can buy this cheaper online. Or go in and handle and look at things, then order them online.

But if you have a good LHS and you like being able to run in a get this or that, that you need NOW, if you don't support them, they WILL close.

As someone who spends a lot of time studdying SEO you actually need to be very careful how you use this tool and interpret the results you get. Even Google is saying
"How accurate and up-to-date is the information provided by Google Trends?
Google Trends is a Google Labs product, which means it's still in its early stages of development. The data Trends produces may contain inaccuracies for a number of reasons, including data-sampling issues and a variety of approximations that are used to compute results. We hope you find this service interesting and entertaining, but you probably wouldn't want to write your Ph.D. dissertation based on the information provided by Trends."

What this app does do is try and track are the trends in searching (You need to be aware if you are looking at Searches or Websites.). With this in mind some companies charts should be seeing explosive growth trends (as far as searches on their key words and their site traffic) as they are pouring thousands and thousands into advertising (as is the company in question).

With this being said however if you search hobbycity.com and use the website link you will see no growth at all and a flat line. Not good for all of the advertising being spent. The word search Hobby City is actually looking at the two words "Hobby" and "City" which might or might not be a reference to the actually company Hobbycity.com as google sees two words.

Trying looking at just the word "hobby" or just the word "city". Also look at the two words "Thunder" and "power" and you will also see a flat line or http://thunderpowerrc.com/ where you will see no data at all as their URL was recently updated. From a word search prospective "flight" and "power" is flat and http://www.flightpower.co.uk/ has no data. But on a word search take a look at RC lipo and even better a123 (no spaces) and a 123 this should show you where to invest!


SEO is really fun, we studdy over 5000 individual key word searches to our site each month and it is really interesting to see what folks are looking for and what they type to actually get to our site. For instance why would someone go to google and type http://www.atlantahobby.com when they could just enter it in the address bar and go directly to the site? Interesting but each month this is done over 5000 times.

This is a fun new tool but not as fun as their Analytics tool but that is a whole other discussion.

My take is for now..... User beware
CW

Originally Posted by murocflyer

I heard this on RCFlightCast.com.

Check out what Google Trends shows for Hobby City.

http://www.google.com/trends?q=Hobby...o=all&date=all

Frank

I understand whatyou are saying Pinecone, but what about people like me who have to make a 100 mile round trip, to the "Local Hobby Shop" and when we get there they don't have what you need. I can't see paying for gas to go pick up some props & Zap. When I am in the area, I spend my money there. Also the LHS I go to is geared more toward ARF's & RTF models, they might have 1 or 2 Kits, almost no supplies for electric flight. What they do have are grossly overpriced, who in there right mind would spend 49.99 for a Electrifly 3s1p 910 lipo? I also want to say that they are very nice people. Also they are right next to a very large military base so they get a lot of walk in traffic. So I have to shop mainly online, if I want to enjoy this great hobby.

Cliff,

Thanks for the additional and informative info. It definitely is neat to see.

I'd sure like to see how much money HC pulls in from the US and then compare that to the big three here in the US.

Frank

Originally Posted by Big Johnny

I understand whatyou are saying Pinecone, but what about people like me who have to make a 100 mile round trip, to the "Local Hobby Shop" and when we get there they don't have what you need. I can't see paying for gas to go pick up some props & Zap. When I am in the area, I spend my money there. Also the LHS I go to is geared more toward ARF's & RTF models, they might have 1 or 2 Kits, almost no supplies for electric flight. What they do have are grossly overpriced, who in there right mind would spend 49.99 for a Electrifly 3s1p 910 lipo? I also want to say that they are very nice people. Also they are right next to a very large military base so they get a lot of walk in traffic. So I have to shop mainly online, if I want to enjoy this great hobby.

Like I said, some LHS need to be let die.

Originally Posted by Big Johnny

What they do have are grossly overpriced, <snip>

Also they are right next to a very large military base so they get a lot of walk in traffic.

Ripping off GI's. That's not very nice.

Frank

The hobby industry is much larger than most think with several players doing several million a day in sales and I doubt very seriously that HC is even a rounding error in the #s.
CW

Originally Posted by murocflyer

Cliff,

Thanks for the additional and informative info. It definitely is neat to see.

I'd sure like to see how much money HC pulls in from the US and then compare that to the big three here in the US.

Frank

Having a store and making money for doing it is not 'ripping off' anyone. Let's face it, every time you buy something- someone else is making money on it. They provide a service and they feed their family from doing it. It costs money to put stuff in a store and let it sit there until the right buyer comes in.
Funny- I was in TX over the weekend and stopped in Mikes Hobbies in Dallas. Huge place, nice tracks too. I asked the kid behind the counter if there's any way to rent or borrow a car just to run on the track for a few minutes since I was on travel and didn't have anything... he looked at me like I had three heads. I told him I'd pay for it if I broke it, I just wanted to get a quick 'fix' by running something, anything. At that point he got rude. Then I noticed they had an HPI decal on the counter so I asked if they knew when the new HPI Defender rock crawler was coming out- he very rudely stated they don't carry it. Wow- and they are supposed to be one of the good ones?
Had the local big chain hobby shop tell me that they wouldn't match Mike's price on the Losi mini-crawler because "we only make ten bucks on them at MSRP."
The ones that outright lie need to be flushed down the toilet- but I respect those who put an honest effort out and honest pricing (which can't compete against direct China sales and basement part-timers online).

Originally Posted by atlav8r

The hobby industry is much larger than most think with several players doing several million a day in sales and I doubt very seriously that HC is even a rounding error in the #s.
CW

Cliff,

Really? Several million a day? Wow! I never suspected that.

So I wonder why all these LHS's are closing their doors?

Frank

Hi everyone, interesting thread you've got going here.

I'm an "internet only" store, located in the rural area of North Queensland in Australia. I started out just as a GWS reseller but it was getting a bit obvious after a short while it wasn't the best plan, so I started warming up my own electronics development/mfg wing and that has proved to be a much better plan (so much so that I really don't bother much now with buying many 'accessories'). The other thing I picked up was MountainModels/LaserArts kits (and now possibly another source).

Best thing is that being a manufacturer of the electronics which are exported globally it helps swing the import/export balance back and with bringing in US made kits it's helping keep other cottage industries alive.

I wouldn't say it's a massive turnover but it certainly is livable.

Paul.

Originally Posted by murocflyer

Cliff,

Really? Several million a day? Wow! I never suspected that.

So I wonder why all these LHS's are closing their doors?

Frank

I think he means Tower, Horizon, Great Planes. A FEW players.

And "making" millions? I don't think so, maybe SELLING millions. BIG difference.

Because of the ones doing several Million a day ;-)
And not investing in the future, not taking second mortgages on their homes for the cash to expand and purchase in the container load, sell online etc. Most dealers I speak with only focus on the local folks and do not think globally regarding sales.

Originally Posted by murocflyer

Cliff,

Really? Several million a day? Wow! I never suspected that.

So I wonder why all these LHS's are closing their doors?

Frank

would be funny if AH runs out of business too

Horizon does just under $50M per year. Hobbico claimed $20M in 2005, but on some web sites they claim in excess of $75M.
Most of that is not retail, though. They supply the retailers at a wholesale level mostly and it includes many brands.