Shops/Stock & our buying power

[DaveG]

Bad weather here today and I have been thinking about the current vibe of the hobby, the hobby seems to have been a little less buoyant of late and with the comments made on some of the Easter sales forum/FB posts over the last few days I though I would see what us as customers really think.

So, what do we want from our shops? Is it cheap prices? Service? Stock holding? Sponsorship? What's is it that you look for in our shops and why do you shop where you shop? I have pondered this for some time and I think we need to support our shops before something happens to them and they disappear forever. It is getting easier to access our resources nowadays as most manufacturers open there own online shops and are shipping direct to us the customers, albeit with a few extra days delivery compared to buying in the UK.

We as customers are quick to critises the shops for not holding stock, bad shipping, or various other things but we never praise them or give them the feedback they need to improve or change. I am not after this thread turning into a bun fighting thread where the shop sponsorsored/supported pilots say this shop is best because of XYZ and blah blah blah!!! I would just like a serious discussion where we can lay out what we want from our shops and what is wrong with them and maybe those who do buy or import there helicopters, associated items to say why the do so please, let's support our shops please.

Lets discuss and gaind some positive areas for our shops....

[waveydavey]

Not sure what I want from a shop, all of the above Dave I think. In an ideal world the hobby to return to the prices in the early 2010's where they were reasonable, it's not a cheap hobby but it was reasonably sustainable. It's getting to the point where I can't justify a new model, not that there's much choice now apart from SAB or Align oh and Mikado. With purse strings stretched elsewhere the hobby has had to take a bit of a hit. I've always budgeted for spares, new model, fuel etc but it's just not covering it. I'm not moaning by the way, it's just facts and justification.

It must be difficult for the shops with a downturn in the hobby to be able to do the same, IE justify spending money on something that they may not sell. Bit of a downward spiral for all of us, retailers and consumers really and one I can't see the end of at the minute.

Never had a problem with any of the main shops, always used Align T Rex, Midland and Fastlad. Found it increasingly difficult to locate all spares in one place though and have had to start splitting orders, which I absolutely detest doing. I have used overseas shops but that's more driven by need than want and whether I consider the price in the UK is one I'm prepared to pay, that's the individual choice we make I suppose and I can't see it improving without the hobby on the turn.

[KevDavies]

its a catch 22 situation.

People want to buy from the uk, Most UK shops are out of stock of even the basic things, Blades for example there is nearly no 690 blades for sale in the UK atm. So if we do crash and need blades we are FORCED to buy from other sources.

And then buying from other sources adds to the downfall of the Uk shops etc etc etc.

I know the owners of most of the big shops in the uk and I really do respect them, but it is time they sucked it up and got some stock in. Yeah its gonna cost us more, but whats more detrimental?? Us buying from abroad from necessity? or putting the prices up a bit??

[stargazer]

I don't think there these numbers of people in the hobby now for the shops to warrant carrying large amounts of stock.The sales are on now but stuff doesn't seem to fly of the shelves.I noticed Align Trex is now selling RC cars and planes,probably can't survive on Heli sales alone.Good secondhand stuff that once would have been snapped, up seems to hang around unless it's at a giveaway price.All a bit depressing really,I should be out flying but can't seem to summon up the enthusiasm.

[milly0812]

The uk market sucks. Unlike say 8 years back when the hobby had a big following over here, now the majority of those customers realised how expensive this hobby can be and how relatively difficult helis are to fly compared to drones and planes.

that said there is still a demand for products it's just the uk shops cannot afford to have their cash tied up in expensive products that do not fly off the shelves. Instead they are making much smaller orders to ensure they sell quickly and they are not left with stock that takes time to sell.
Im all for buying from home but if they are not supplying demand then I'm happy to go to source if it means I get what I want without being rinsed for multiple postage.

[cjm180]

Hey

I have to say stock is my biggest issue! it always seems to be down to stock. Batteries in particular. I was hoping to purchase some SAB 3200 6s packs this weekend in the sales, But even checking stock at FL's on Thursday showed no stock.

Another issue for me is actually getting the stuff you exactly want, and not having to make do with whats on the shelf. Parallel boards for example. I hate soldering EC5's. So you can buy already made up ec5 charge leads with 4mm bullets on that will go directly into the charger. Why don't the two main stream shops or any other uk shops that google told me sell a parallel board that takes 4mm bullets?

Another issue I had last week, was as I bought an ec5 parallel board to charge my ec5 equipped packs, I couldn't get all 6 packs connected to the parallel board due to the length of the battery tails. So I did a search for EC5 extension cables. I wanted really long ones so I could have the packs away a bit from the charger. The only place I could find 1m extensions was nexus models. FL or midland don't even offer these, not even 0.5m ones. Only 6" ones.

I know I can make these up myself, but I hate soldering the ec5's, and with requiring 10 extensions, that's 20 ec5's to solder up, 40 joints! Pain in the ass!

[chrisleematt21]

I just want to beable to buy the parts I need when I need them, Ive only been in the hobby a few years and never had any issues getting parts until now. Id rather beable to buy it over here, even if the price has gone up than have to order for the USA and get ripped of by royal mail and the tax man.

[fatboyrob]

i just want to buy a kit or parts when i want. not even mikado is stocked properly at the moment. i find this anoying i except the pound is weak but we still need parts in the uk. its no wonder the sales are dropping there is very little to buy

[hedge]

Hate splitting orders and will happily pay to get from one source in one go. Don't know what's happened recently but it's very hard to achieve. Is it the pound, is it the variety of models, is it the manufacturer or is it the lack of heli flyers crashing regularly?

[Guest]

Way too many lines for the shops to stock they haven't got a chance. End result of the manufactures realising all this stuff is we now miss out. No idea of the health of these shops but I imagine unless some of them think how they operate we will be a few less within a few years.

MJ

[bigpops]

The pound is only making a bad situation even worse. The number of heli pilots is falling. The ones that quit aren't being replaced thanks to the "drone".

I'm personally more likely to spend my spare cash on quads than helis, even though I much prefer helis. The reason is simple. I get far far more for my money. I don't like it, but I can't do anything else. I'm not swimming in spare dosh. I wish I were, I'd have a new Logo 700.

So far this year I've spent precisely ZERO on helicopters. Not bought any blades, parts, lipos, nothing.
I had a couple of hundred quid spare this month. What could I get for my helis for £200? They don't 'need' anything, so what about what I want?

Here's the list of stuff I want:
Scorpion Tribunus - None in the UK, and double what I have to spend. I'll have to see what the 130A costs when it comes out in a few months.
VTX Blades - Yeah, right. Good luck finding those.
Logo 550 - Too expensive again, even though I have all the electronics waiting.

The only helicopter thing I could possibly afford and buy would be a used 550 - 700 air frame, but the only one I want is a TDR. That wouldn't help the shops in the slightest.

What can I get quad wise for £200? Pretty much anything I want, and at least twice. Latest and greatest motor? £100, max. Best ESCs, £80 max. Best flight controller, £50 max. Best VTX, £30. Best cam £55. Best frame, £90 max. The only thing I can't buy for £200 are goggles, but I already have the best I've tried, so don't need them.

[waveydavey]

True that

[Mike656]

Been looking for a few spares, just to take advantage of the 10% sales. Most shops seem to only have one of each item I want in stock, but what happens if I want two? So I'm thinking the shops must be able to source replacement items pretty quickly. Do they all get their stock from the same importer / distributer? Then surely this guy carries most of the risk with the exchange rate and stock levels? But then you have to ask what margins are there for the shops? If I can buy directly from the manufacturer, get free shipping on an order over $150, and get stuff weeks ahead of the shops, or go directly to the EU importer, get free shipping on an order over €100, and delivery is only a day later than ordering from a shop, you have to ask how the shops are going to survive?

So what would I like to see from our shops? Probably a bit more individuality where each shop doesn't sell exactly what all the other shops sell at exactly the same price. Yeah you need your bread and butter, but where are the hooks to get your customers interested? Where are the flagship models that you can only dream about owning?

[tigeral]

Must admit i to have had to buy from germany following a major crash with my logo 600 sx v2, I couldnt fault there service deliveried everything within 3 days on a timed delivery at a reasonable price, I tried every know uk site without luck on simple things like boom and skids, had a simular issue with my lads trex wanting new gears, could'nt get all the parts from one site, these are the top brands along with SAB and Blade at the moment yet nobody are stocking the required parts for common crash parts. But must also agree with MAJ with the amount of models being brought to market, which is great but it needs to be supported by the manufactures, should they not supply there distributors with parts on a pay on sale basis so stock can be held?? you cant expect the distributors to stock all the parts for the 480,500,550,600,690,700,800 just for one brand

[bigpops]

The number of models, and therefore parts has gone down, significantly, compared to 3 or 4 years ago.

Miniature Aircraft, Next D, Dart Tin (okay, nobody stocked them in the UK anyway), Outrage, Avant, JR, Alees and some I'm sure I've forgotten, have all gone.
Thunder Tiger have almost gone. I don't know where they went wrong, because at a very small fly-in I went to in 2012, there were 9 Thunder Tiger G4s and E720s. Far more than any other 700 there. Everybody loved those things, and they were far from cheap.

Now we have Align, Gaui, MSH, Compass (barely), SAB, Mikado, Synergy, and I think that's it apart from the boutique helicopters. So that's 7 brands still making hobby grade helis, and 7 we've lost.

I'm sure the shops can analyze their sales to see what they should be stocking. For example, if the Goblin 700 is your best seller, you'll obviously want to be stocking more spares for that particular model. However if you've only sold a couple of Synergy E5s the last 12 months, you'll probably only keep one or two common spares like shafts and gears for that model.