Author : Dave Wilshere
Date : April
For
some time helicopter pilots who spend a lot of time on the internet chat
sites have commented on the price of Miniature Aircraft X-cell kits in Europe
compared with America and one or two Far East countries.MA's home market is by far it's biggest customer and as such the price strategy that they work to is based around the home market.
Motors & Rotors have been the importer of MA items since 1995 and have done a lot to reduce prices on parts and even kits. Main shafts are still £14.99 for the majority of the range £4 cheaper than in 1994!
The simple reason for the price difference in our and some other European countries is that fact that we were distributing to the model shops and as such had to add on a profit margin for them.
The margin of discount offered by MA for a foreign distributor over what a US shop gets, didn't cover the shipping and import cost on the large shipments.
The UK hobby shops have never bought the kits in quantity, only Midland Helicopters are really supporting our kits as stock items.
Due to the low numbers of kits sold through the shop system we have decided to stop supplying kits through the shops.
Parts and upgrades will still be available as normal through your favourite shop and we will look to offer certain key shops the chance to offer their customers kits, at a fixed price.
Hopefully this will reduce the number of "grey" kits that are imported each year. We are never going to get down to the US price, on an exchange rate comparison due to having to pay duty and the much lower numbers sold.
We hope this action will improve the attraction the MA range has to offer.
Dave Wilshere
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