BallReviews
General Category => Miscellaneous => Topic started by: ignitebowling on June 27, 2017, 10:21:18 AM
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Lots of discussion in a previous post about 20 new balls being released, or more likely, which is par for the course this time of year every year.
You have the usual excitement by some along with the usual complaints by others of too many bowling balls etc.
The Ebonite brands only released one mid performance ball per brand along with the color changes to some entry level balls or new entry level balls, and then colors added in the plastic lines. No new releases in the high performance or the upper high performance price points. (assuming the EBI Matrix is a mid performance ball)
Interestingly enough there hasn't been much discussion on the lack of new releases from them or the happiness of it from say pro shops or other consumers.
Curious how many would consider buying one of the current EBI brands balls now for the up coming fall season since you have gone this long not to buy it already?
How many may considered other brands with new releases because of this?
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I've been considering Motiv for a couple of reasons, one of them being their release schedule. Now, I may put holes in 1 or 2 and hate them, so there's that.
I will say EBI is pulling themselves up by the bootstraps.
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I thought it was interesting. Bowlers and proshops have complained before of there being too many releases and manufactures haven't seemed to listen. Be interesting to see if anyone really notices or if it will be short lived and go by the way side.
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Manufacturers wouldn't do it if it wasn't making money . . and pro shops really have zero reason to complain. If something doesn't sell within 3 months, take it off the wall and back to the distributor, and order the latest and greatest. I do find it funny that bowlers cry about something while continuing to feed the machine at the same time . .
I thought it was interesting. Bowlers and proshops have complained before of there being too many releases and manufactures haven't seemed to listen. Be interesting to see if anyone really notices or if it will be short lived and go by the way side.
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Ignorance is bliss as thsy say......
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Manufacturers wouldn't do it if it wasn't making money . . and pro shops really have zero reason to complain. If something doesn't sell within 3 months, take it off the wall and back to the distributor, and order the latest and greatest. I do find it funny that bowlers cry about something while continuing to feed the machine at the same time . .
I thought it was interesting. Bowlers and proshops have complained before of there being too many releases and manufactures haven't seemed to listen. Be interesting to see if anyone really notices or if it will be short lived and go by the way side.
Since when can you send undrilled balls back?? That's new!
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Not sure if you're being sarcastic or serious lol. As long as it's undrilled with original packaging and hasn't been discontinued, they should all take returns . .
Manufacturers wouldn't do it if it wasn't making money . . and pro shops really have zero reason to complain. If something doesn't sell within 3 months, take it off the wall and back to the distributor, and order the latest and greatest. I do find it funny that bowlers cry about something while continuing to feed the machine at the same time . .
I thought it was interesting. Bowlers and proshops have complained before of there being too many releases and manufactures haven't seemed to listen. Be interesting to see if anyone really notices or if it will be short lived and go by the way side.
Since when can you send undrilled balls back?? That's new!
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Not sure if you're being sarcastic or serious lol. As long as it's undrilled with original packaging and hasn't been discontinued, they should all take returns . .
Manufacturers wouldn't do it if it wasn't making money . . and pro shops really have zero reason to complain. If something doesn't sell within 3 months, take it off the wall and back to the distributor, and order the latest and greatest. I do find it funny that bowlers cry about something while continuing to feed the machine at the same time . .
I thought it was interesting. Bowlers and proshops have complained before of there being too many releases and manufactures haven't seemed to listen. Be interesting to see if anyone really notices or if it will be short lived and go by the way side.
Since when can you send undrilled balls back?? That's new!
I don't remember being able to do that, but last shop I worked in was 02... I wish the first shop I worked in did that. Do you know how long it took to sell 40 blue Omegas??
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My understanding is EBI has a few to release within the next few weeks. Ebonite has a new ball coming as well as Track. Some will be released during the next few trade shows. I think EBI sometimes hurts them self by how they release balls.
Example:Impulse, Side Swipe and Kinectic released same time or close. Making it hard to move those balls. My PSO has a harder time every year selling all 4 brands before the new ones come... He said this year he will carry more of Hammer and Ebonite and not so much C300 and Track because they sell the least..
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According to bowlexpo post there is the Kinetic Ruby Red and the Matrix and that's it. One mid ball per brand.
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According to bowlexpo post there is the Kinetic Ruby Red and the Matrix and that's it. One mid ball per brand.
True, I know the name of the new Ebonite ball but I don't know the price point.
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I don't know how the kinetic emerald didn't sell. I picked one up and it is literally the only ball i throw in two different houses (one synthetic lanes with less oil and one wooden lanes with more oil.) And this is coming from a guy that used to use another bowler walking by with cheese sticks as an excuse to change balls... that ball is special for me.
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I don't know how the kinetic emerald didn't sell. I picked one up and it is literally the only ball i throw in two different houses (one synthetic lanes with less oil and one wooden lanes with more oil.) And this is coming from a guy that used to use another bowler walking by with cheese sticks as an excuse to change balls... that ball is special for me.
I agree its a good piece, I think they get stacked in the wrong time release. I just think that 4 brands are hard to manage and not have several balls fall thru the cracks.
My PSO is on staff with Ebonite and he has a hard time selling Track overall. Now the Mako was a big seller for him but after that hard times with Track...
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Yeah, or at least that's how it worked with all the distributors we ordered from. Anchorman in Kansas City (has to be the worst one in the country though, never have anything and constantly ship the wrong items), and Classic Products in Texas. Now, shipping back to Texas was expensive so we never did that, and I suppose it helps being in close proximity to Anchorman (especially given how often we had to return all the wrong items we got shipped) to return things, but this is why depending on the circumstances I don't have a whole lot of sympathy for shop owners who cry about stuff sitting on the wall forever. Number one, you should have a good idea of what sells. I rarely had a dead ball sitting on the wall, and even if I had a ball that was popular, I wouldn't stock it after it had been out a couple months. If I didn't think it would sell, even if it was from a popular brand in the area, I wouldn't stock it, OR if it was a great looking ball from a company that didn't typically sell, I'd give it a shot. And if it's sitting there forever and gets discontinued before you can return it, mark it way down and just get it off the wall, that's an easy way to satisfy your bargain hunters who never pay full price for anything anyway. They can't turn down a deal and they're doing me a favor getting something off the inventory, because despite how many people complain about how fast the balls come out, it's amazing how many would still complain about seeing the same balls on the wall for just a month or two. "Same stuff you had last time I was here." Yeah, only been a month since this ball came out, give it another 2 or 3.
Pro shops don't do enough to limit their risk in my opinion, and limited risk is more about knowing what sells and what doesn't rather than running yourself short in inventory. Takes more legwork and a good understanding of your numbers and keeping them in perspective. Lol sorry for the rant, but my belief is that pro shops fail primarily because they're poorly run businesses rather than because the business isn't there. When I took over the shop I did in late 2014, I set the location record in 2015 that had previously been established in 2006 with half the league bowlers the city had back then, and set it again in 2016, and before I quit a month or so ago, was on pace to up it again this year. I increased prices, profit margin, and total business all at the same time, but it's because I really humped it and paid a lot of attention. See too many people in the bowling business crying because business is down or slow, but that's just because they suck at doing business. Nobody wants to walk into a boring bowling alley with employees getting paid minimum wage who weren't trained well and don't care, to rent 5 year old torn up house shoes to go bowl on lanes dodging popcorn on the approach to go up to order overpriced frozen fried food from the snack bar that's run by someone who isn't a cook, to also go over to the bar to find a tiny selection that's also overpriced served to you by someone who isn't a bartender. "Well we're just a bowling alley, what sense would it make to pay a real cook/chef and bartender, especially with how down business is?" Well maybe business would go up if you actually ran a decent business . . .
Not sure if you're being sarcastic or serious lol. As long as it's undrilled with original packaging and hasn't been discontinued, they should all take returns . .
Manufacturers wouldn't do it if it wasn't making money . . and pro shops really have zero reason to complain. If something doesn't sell within 3 months, take it off the wall and back to the distributor, and order the latest and greatest. I do find it funny that bowlers cry about something while continuing to feed the machine at the same time . .
I thought it was interesting. Bowlers and proshops have complained before of there being too many releases and manufactures haven't seemed to listen. Be interesting to see if anyone really notices or if it will be short lived and go by the way side.
Since when can you send undrilled balls back?? That's new!
I don't remember being able to do that, but last shop I worked in was 02... I wish the first shop I worked in did that. Do you know how long it took to sell 40 blue Omegas??
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On pace to be up for the 3rd straight year and you quit?
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I'll pm you.
On pace to be up for the 3rd straight year and you quit?
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It doesn't matter what the companies do because bowlers will complain:
If there are too many releases they complain.
If there are fewer releases they complain.
If the shot is hard they complain.
If the shot is easy they complain.
If they hit between the 1 & 3 pins and don't carry they complain.
If they hit between the 1 & 2 pins and don't carry they complain.
If the league is sanctioned they complain.
If the league doesn't sanction they complain.
If they shoot 801 with 3 open frames they complain (they got robbed).
We should start another thread about the things bowlers complain about. Coming right up!
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Its an interesting strategy for ebonite to wait to release the balls. I don't think it means there will be less balls released, just a strategic move to push back the announcements/release dates. I don't think its risky towards their customer base cause people will buy balls regardless, but I do think it's risky towards pro shops as they had very little new product to display at bowl expo where pro shops are going to stock up on fall specials to get the season started. And some pro shops will have gone to bowl expo and not be able to attend trade shows where those new specials might be offered. So I think there's some potential to upset some PSOs. Overall I don't think it matters for sales, but I do think it made them look really silly at bowl expo showing off 4-5 month old balls. Watching the FB live videos was even funnier as most of the pro staffers even referenced the age of some of the balls they were displaying.