Dignics and its Effect on Sales of Tenergy and Rozena

[zeio]

The serial code is scratched so that the resellers can't be tracked and in turn banned for selling below the lowest MSRP.

P.S.
The Chinese market is simply too competitive. Honestly, if the Chinese brands spent more on marketing, they could've driven the Japanese and German brands out of business.

 

[Zwill]

Hmmm, well that makes sense, now I know why the cut the serial code from the back cover too.

But the sellers also sell blades below MSRP and they don't destroy the codes. Oh well, very interesting market indeed.

 

[zeio]

IIRC, Butterfly stuff is typically sold at 30% off. There is a Tieba post saying that resellers get rubbers at 45% off. On top of the yen depreciation, there is government subsidies to boost domestic demand.

省狂蓝海棉230，蝴蝶D09C220，这个价格正常吗？一个器
https://tieba.baidu.com/p/10225798427

 

[J-fed]

Yasaka still advertises Mark V in Japan so I guess there is still a sizeable user base among the older population.

Youngsters use it as a learning rubber too.

 

[zeio]

Youngsters use it as a learning rubber too.

Yes, but increasingly more of them are receptive of overseas brands as Masami pointed out.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/fo...ops-might-not-have-survived.38742/post-560096
●-For a while, German rubbers were in short supply.
"It's calmed down a lot now. There were a lot of shortages at one point. Manufacturers were probably cutting back on their inventory during the COVID-19 pandemic. Once a German rubber is out of stock, customers will switch to similar rubbers from other brands, but strangely, customers who prefer Japanese brands like G-1 or Rakza 7 don't move on, even though they're German rubbers. Japanese brands sell better, even though they're similar German rubbers. Why is that? Do Japanese users prefer Japanese brands? This tendency is particularly strong among older users. Tibhar and XIOM make some pretty good rubbers, but there are still a certain number of users who aren't swayed by them. Mark V still sells. Perhaps there's a conservative side to Japanese people. Those people won't even look at rubbers from other manufacturers."

●-So it also depends on the age group.
"Young people who use social media are increasingly embracing foreign brands. Those who aren't are still mostly into Sriver and Mark V."

 

[J-fed]

Yes, but increasingly more of them are receptive of overseas brands as Masami pointed out.

https://www.tabletennisdaily.com/fo...ops-might-not-have-survived.38742/post-560096
●-For a while, German rubbers were in short supply.
"It's calmed down a lot now. There were a lot of shortages at one point. Manufacturers were probably cutting back on their inventory during the COVID-19 pandemic. Once a German rubber is out of stock, customers will switch to similar rubbers from other brands, but strangely, customers who prefer Japanese brands like G-1 or Rakza 7 don't move on, even though they're German rubbers. Japanese brands sell better, even though they're similar German rubbers. Why is that? Do Japanese users prefer Japanese brands? This tendency is particularly strong among older users. Tibhar and XIOM make some pretty good rubbers, but there are still a certain number of users who aren't swayed by them. Mark V still sells. Perhaps there's a conservative side to Japanese people. Those people won't even look at rubbers from other manufacturers."

●-So it also depends on the age group.
"Young people who use social media are increasingly embracing foreign brands. Those who aren't are still mostly into Sriver and Mark V."

That’s not the case in my experience. There are many middle aged EJs and I’ve never seen anyone using Sriver other than me. I was extremely conservative about trying the new tensors.
Where folk are sticking with old rubbers it’s either Mark V or Tackiness as far as I’ve seen. I think Mark V is mainly used as a kids starter rubber. Tackiness obviously by old choppers.
In my two clubs since restarting TT about 6/7 years ago though, butterfly/yasaka/nittaku and Victas are the big brands. Plenty of options within that spectrum so I think folk are just satisfied.
They are popular and easily available in the sports shops. Often coaches order en-masses on the youth teams behalf from a shop and it keeps the stores alive.
Those shops have little walk in trade.

 

[Archosaurus]

My impression is that the durability of G-1 and R7 is simply just better than a lot of the newer ESN rubbers. They're also cheaper most of the time.

That combined with the low wages in Japan would explain why people "still" use those. Of course most of it is just Japanese people being conservative and preferring domestic brands.