Change of Announcement process from Kato USA

[bbussey]

Kato is adopting the Exact-Rail / ESM method:

Kato USA is currently in the process of changing its announcement procedures. Instead of taking pre-orders 3-4 months in advance of a product shipping, we will now be announcing and opening orders once products have completed production, one month before they arrive in the US so that we can provide product photographs and complete and accurate product details for you and remove any guesswork from the ordering process; you will be able to see the actual, real model that you will be recieving, and because the products will be done before they are announced you can be confident that they will be available in hobby stores within 30 days. (Kato USA March Newsletter)

[wcfn100]

Well that probably kills chance of seeing undecs from Kato ever again.  Not that there was one.

I've already missed out on one car from EXR because of this type of structure.  I can only imagine how pissed someone will be if they order a whole passenger set and don't get part of it due to shortages.


Jason

[wm3798]

As long as they can continue to justify their belief that no one buys Conrail engines because they don't make any....

[MichaelWinicki]

All the pre-annouce/pre-ordering methods have flaws, but I like this one the best, due to the short lead time from the day you place the pre-order to the day you have it in your hot little hands.

[lock4244]

Why not just announce the product is canceled due to lack of interest before they even announce it. Would free up production space for...

[mcjaco]

This is pre-order all coast bias.

[lashedup]

Well that probably kills chance of seeing undecs from Kato ever again.  Not that there was one.

I've already missed out on one car from EXR because of this type of structure.  I can only imagine how pissed someone will be if they order a whole passenger set and don't get part of it due to shortages.


Jason

Why would it kill off undecs? If Kato builds a certain number of undecs out of the gate then it shouldn't be a problem...

[Ian MacMillan]

[wcfn100]

Why would it kill off undecs? If Kato builds a certain number of undecs out of the gate then it shouldn't be a problem...

Well you have to start with the idea that they weren't going to make any regardless.

Several years ago Kato changed it's business model to keep items in stock.  Most people missed this and don't realize that what they think is a 'rerun' with new numbers is just Kato replenishing inventory.  There is no way that Kato is going to keep undecs as part of their running stock so right there it's fairly dead.  The only glimmer I had was that they could try and do a pre-order where if they got enough orders they could do a run of undecs but now that is basically dead.

Hopefully someone will see that there is a market for a well detailed, quality F series which includes undecs as part of the ordering process.

Jason

[Puddington]

Why not just announce the product is canceled due to lack of interest before they even announce it. Would free up production space for...

Because, as Intermountain has learned, that small minority of loyal folowers for given road name will slay you on the web for years because you cancelled said model even though ony 17 people committed to it... and "commiting" is an issue in and of itself...........

[C855B]

Aside from there being no good pre-order system, no matter what you do... the problem for me is that this blows budgeting. If Kato does something I truly, truly want (...like the FEF-3... ahem...), and a bunch of other pre-orders start magically delivering in the same time frame, I have the difficult decision to burn my long-time pre-order commitments in favor of the soon-to-be-unobtainium, hope that Kato (or whoever) does enough to satisfy demand with some to spare, or expect to spend the rest of my days sniping on eBay hoping to get what I missed because I simply didn't have the lead time to set-aside the funds for it. It's a you-snooze-you-lose world in N scale production right now.

If it wasn't that both BLMA and FVM ran into their own problems with promised Fall 2011 deliveries (F89J and GP60s), with the mass quantities of Trainworx I had pre-ordered it all could have been a perfect storm of pre-order madness, and my checkbook would have collapsed under the weight.

[Mark5]

More Kato being Kato ...

[sirenwerks]

Does the announcement of the change of announcement count as an announcement?

[SkipGear]

I simply think they finally realized, even in their environment, products don't always arrive when they were planned. Bachmann went back to announce when it's in production a few years back after getting slapped in the face with the Decapod and the 4-6-0 for years after they were announced. I think Kato is feeling it with the Maxi and a few other projects that took longer than expected.

This announcement is really just a modification of their last announcement which was basically, we will take pre-orders for the first shipment when the container is on the water. Once it is here if you didn't pre-order, you may have to wait till the second batch. With their constant stocking plan, there is no reason to scramble and jump all over the first arrival because you know there will be more coming about a month behind the first batch. If anything, their strategy make it less important to pre-order. You will always be able to get them when you need.

[C855B]

... With their constant stocking plan, there is no reason to scramble and jump all over the first arrival because you know there will be more coming about a month behind the first batch. If anything, their strategy make it less important to pre-order. You will always be able to get them when you need.

That's more comforting, thank you. I neglected to cogitate what I knew, that Kato still keeps to a bit of the old school of keeping the pipeline filled. It just my frustration speaking from being so tired of "you better order it or you're hosed" that permeates the hobby today. I understand the limitations, the market, blah, blah, blah... but it still doesn't make the situation any more palatable.