Category Archives: Business
2020 is Coming Into Focus!
2019 came and went in a blur! In a few days it will 2020 and with it will come some exciting new tennis stuff, for sure!
I am not so good at predicting things but I do it anyway! Here are a few predictions I will make for 2020:
- Tennis racquets will become more expensive, but only slightly.
- On-line sales of tennis racquets will increase. See this previous post.
- Customer satisfaction with on-line sales will decrease.
- Small specialty tennis shops will be the source of information, then #2, and then #3.
- Players will stick with a racquet longer, making customizations as needed.
- String and stringing will become a more important component of a racquet purchase. See below!
- Tennis related injuries will continue to be a problem for the sport going forward.
No Underage Polyester, Please!
Thank you for thinking about the “long term” for all tennis players!
There are no bad strings just bad applications!
The right equipment is crucial to the long term enjoyment, and winning, of tennis!
The local representatives I deal with are committed to our “well being” even though some may feel like they are facing “extinction”!
An excellent example of what we are talking about just walked in! Two (2) new racquets so poorly strung it is shocking!
The customer is having serious arm issues with an excellent racquet, with a terrible string setup! But the string setup is probably considered by many to be the ultimate combination, that is RPM Blast in the main and VS Touch in the cross! That combination is coming out in a few minutes! No more polyester!
The quality of the stringing is what is so wrong! Had you or I received this racquet, we would have returned it at once! Why? Because it exemplifies the attitude of so many stringers that is “who cares”!
Happy New Year!
Anta Racquets?
A recent communication from Wilson Sports makes it official that Anta Sports is buying Amer Sports, the owner of Wilson Sports, for a tidy sum of $5.2 billion! This includes, I imagine, the entirety of Wilson Sports products including tennis racquets…which we care about!
Anta Sports is a Chinese company that is not new to the business, so I would expect that the great people at Wilson we deal with will not change. It is reported that Anta will operate Amer Sports independently from Anta with a separate board of directors.
You may be saying to yourself right now…”well here goes another US company to foreign ownership!” However, Wilson was acquired by Finn-Amer (a Finnish company) in 1989 I believe.
Wilson has produced some of the best selling tennis racquets of recent years so I would not expect Anta to change much, if anything!
What is Pointy?
Briefly, Pointy is a program that allows shoppers to enter a barcode, or Google product search online, to see if that product is available locally.
As a long time user of Square as the POS in the shop, we engaged with Pointy as a service through Square so our clients can quickly see what we have in stock. A link to our Pointy shop is below so you can take a look around and let me know what it needs to be a valuable resource for you.
Every product you see on the page was input by Racquet Quest so it is in stock at the time the shop was opened, however, the images are supplied by the software so some may not be exactly updated packaging.
Just click here and browse the store!
If you have any questions or would like to hear about any “special offers” please call or text!
Where do you buy tennis racquets, and why?
I wrote this post a long time ago but I recently saw where a tennis store was closing after many years of service to the community. I have NO idea if what I am writing about had anything to do with the closing but here it is:
Making a tennis racquet selection, and purchasing that racquet, has changed quite a bit in the last 15-20 years. Is that a good or a bad thing? Well, I suppose it depends on who you ask, but from a tennis racquet specialist, it is a serious question.
It is no secret or great revelation that racquet manufacturers want to maximize their income and bottom line, and what better way to do that than reduce the number of channels they need to manage!
Pretend for a moment that I am the CEO of XYZ Racquet Company, and I can sell 75 to 85 percent of all my racquets to two or three online operations. Why wouldn’t I do that? These chosen outlets would be “house” accounts, so there is a minimal cost of sales, so no need for outside representatives, or all these in-house CSR’s!
I want you, the customer, to go to a local shop. You can see several racquets and discuss each in detail and get recommendations as to which racquet may be best for you.
Great! Now the CEO wants you to hurry home, jump online, and order this racquet!
It sounds excellent to the CEO, but what about you, the customer?
Specialty racquet shops like Racquet Quest, LLC is in business to make this racquet the best purchase you can make! Here’s how.
A good shop will have knowledgeable tennis people there to help you.
A good shop will have a demo program.
A good shop will set up the demo as you will be using it. Yes, string and tension!
A good shop will take the time to help you make the right decision.
A good shop will be there for you if you need “after the sale” help.
A good shop will be able to string the racquet of your choice correctly.
And, all of this will probably be at a reasonable price, which includes “sales tax”! Sales tax is the 800-pound gorilla in the room, and this gorilla has convinced some buyers that they can save big bucks by not paying sales tax. Sales tax is an amount you can see, so it is easily quantified.
However, it isn’t very easy to quantify the assistance you get from your local shop, that is until you take time to think about it.
There are many reasons to buy from a local source, but some areas of the country don’t have a “local” source. So here is what I would do.
Search for a qualified racquet technician as close to you as possible. Talk to them, and if you are satisfied, have the racquet you buy online drop-shipped to them for preparation. They will be committed to an excellent job because they know you will send the racquet back to them if it is not done properly!
Racquet Quest, LLC
