gewo rubber

[Gozo Aruna]

Just curious; why isn't Gewo more popular? It is hardly mentioned.

Is it because:

1. it is a new kid on the block?
2. Poor marketing?
3. Lack of sponsorship?
4. Nothing special about their product? Another ESN clone. Meh!

 

[PaddyPolar]

I suppose they didn't really have any massive hits or tons of sponsering. They struck a contract with Aruna then took a holiday. For example, Butterfly got big through thier rubbers eg. Sriver and tenergy. Joola got big through their tables. Tibhar through the Evolution series. Gewo through... green rubber? See what i mean.

 

[JJ Ng]

I have a sheet of Gewo Nexxus EL Pro 43. I like it ok. It is a bit softer than 43 degree when I play it. The catapult effect is not as much as Rakza 7 soft/Rakza X soft or Revolutions FX-P. So that Gewo rubber is not on any blade right now. I am waiting to put it on a spare blade at some point coming up. So with N=1, my opinion is that it is just another ESN rubber.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

I put forth this question and after more than 12 hours only 2 responders. This shows Gewo's meh-ness.

I was checking this rubber out recently, reading reviews, you know the usual typical EJ'ing activity.

From a business marketing point of view I was like, WTF is Gewo's marketing people doing? Are they asleep? First off, they did not differentiate their product from the other competitor. They claim that their product produces spin and speed, so do the other 999 ESN clones out there.

For comparison, let's take Andro's marketing / sales pitch. They offer Energy Cell ( EC ) technology. They even have nice video to illustrate the concept to consumers. Then they come out with C-series and with a clear and precise marketing pitch that any idiot consumer will understand easily.

Gewo offers thin top-sheet with thick sponge. So does Donic with their Bluestorm series and Donic's Bluestorm cost 30% cheaper than Gewo. The only saving grace is perhaps in all Gewo's packaging is a big you can't miss picture of the Lion of Africa.

Why am I writing all this?

Nah, it is just my inner marketing demon being active lately and I picked Gewo as my whipping boy.

NB: Gewo spy, if you are here, show this post to your boss.

 

[Migzkulit]

Another problem is the availability of Gewo compared to other rubbers.
Donic is more available, and Tibhar is more available.
Partner that with their lackluster marketing, why would anyone want to go out of their way to get Gewo?

 

[trumpet_guy]

Gewo is available at tabletennisstore.us
which is very reputable.

The Nexxus EL 48 is very good and pretty light in weight. It’s downside is that it wears out quickly.

 

[Tony Funk My Racket]

I may be out of date / wrong about this but as far as I know Gewo is a brand created by Contra which is the largest distributor / franchise of TT shops in Germany. I tried their rubber some years ago, namely the Nexxus EL (foget the precise one) but was looking for a "feet on the ground" affordable alternative to my T05 back then. I was quite happy with the performance out of the box, pretty much a standard ESN rubber.

 

[Gozo Aruna]

I may be out of date / wrong about this but as far as I know Gewo is a brand created by Contra which is the largest distributor / franchise of TT shops in Germany. I tried their rubber some years ago, namely the Nexxus EL (foget the precise one) but was looking for a "feet on the ground" affordable alternative to my T05 back then. I was quite happy with the performance out of the box, pretty much a standard ESN rubber.

we have multiple respondents saying Gewo is just another ESN rubber and yet they sell their just another ESN rubber at a premium to other ESN rubber. This is poor business decision no?

 

[Scarfed Garchomp]

we have multiple respondents saying Gewo is just another ESN rubber and yet they sell their just another ESN rubber at a premium to other ESN rubber. This is poor business decision no?

I think unit price depends on location. Gewo rubbers are pretty reasonably priced from Table tennis store.us, and some ebay sellers moving product in the US. But the price is not as attractive from TT11, and the selection there is much lower than in the US. I haven't done much research on sources outside the US though so ymmv

 

[JJ Ng]

we have multiple respondents saying Gewo is just another ESN rubber and yet they sell their just another ESN rubber at a premium to other ESN rubber. This is poor business decision no?

Let us say I am not jumping to get another Gewo sheet. I have moved onto the Xiom Vega series and so far I am happy with the price to performance ratio. Not interested in moving up to Omega V or Omega VII series. I mean so far Xiom Vega Asia, Pro and Europe has fulfilled my need for certain sponge softness (or hardness). Then I can go max sponge. Or I can go for faster carbon blade later. So getting to choose among the Rakza series, Revolution series and Xiom Vega series, my backhand is very happy....

In another thread, I am also protesting the new ESN rubbers priced at the $55 to $65 price point. If people want to buy them, they can. I am just staying away from them.

I get pretty good catapult effects out of the three major rubber series I am EJ'ing currently.

 

[Tony Funk My Racket]

we have multiple respondents saying Gewo is just another ESN rubber and yet they sell their just another ESN rubber at a premium to other ESN rubber. This is poor business decision no?

Yes it's my understanding as well that Gewo (Contra) uses the services of ESN to manufacture their rubber sheets. I have compared them side by side to other ESN rubber (Donic Bluefire, Tibhar MXP, Stiga DNA, Andro Rasanter, Xiom Vega) and apart from colours I can't see much difference. I don't know about their prices though, but imho it's all marketing.

 

[cytivrat]

As for me, it is all combined. I don't know anything about their products except names. This means I treat them as another ESN product, and since it is "a new kid on the block" then I don't see why should I buy gewo instead of tibhar, donic, stiga or any other. And all those can be combined as poor marketing as well.

 

[ander999]

I guess their marketing isn't the best but I love their products.

 

[Metaxa]

I have played with a Gewo Hype XT Pro40.0 on my FH for several years to my complete satisfaction. We replaced it with a Nexxus EL Pro45.0, but that was not a success on my Andro TP_Ligna CI stick.
Now we have a Hype XT Pro40 on our BH on the SDC CI blade.

 

[Metaxa]

I may be out of date / wrong about this but as far as I know Gewo is a brand created by Contra which is the largest distributor / franchise of TT shops in Germany. I tried their rubber some years ago, namely the Nexxus EL (foget the precise one) but was looking for a "feet on the ground" affordable alternative to my T05 back then. I was quite happy with the performance out of the box, pretty much a standard ESN rubber.

That's right!!!
And the story from GEWO: https://gewo-tt.com/ueber-uns/die-gewo-story/

 

[Airoc]

Yes it's my understanding as well that Gewo (Contra) uses the services of ESN to manufacture their rubber sheets.

Correct. GEWO is a traditional brand and as you can read in the story linked to above were a leading manufacturer of tables. Their blades and rubbers were not so leading, but many small village clubs (in Northern Germany mostly) had their "man on site", typically a trainer equipped with some apparel by GEWO and meant to spread the word, often to no avail on any half serious level.

Their whole product range ist much, much better now.
I would always choose Rasanter over Nexxus, because at identical sponge hardness the ANDRO version of a similar recipe tastes better to me, but that doesn´t mean you couldn´t find the perfect GEWO rubber for yourself.

"Just another ESN" - yes, but that also typically means a quality product from a leading manufacturer who now supplies many brands almost exclusively.
I´ve been waiting for an exciting "Made in Japan" rubber outside of BTY´s portfolio for a long time now...

 

[Gozo Aruna]

Correct. GEWO is a traditional brand and as you can read in the story linked to above were a leading manufacturer of tables. Their blades and rubbers were not so leading, but many small village clubs (in Northern Germany mostly) had their "man on site", typically a trainer equipped with some apparel by GEWO and meant to spread the word, often to no avail on any half serious level.

Their whole product range ist much, much better now.
I would always choose Rasanter over Nexxus, because at identical sponge hardness the ANDRO version of a similar recipe tastes better to me, but that doesn´t mean you couldn´t find the perfect GEWO rubber for yourself.

"Just another ESN" - yes, but that also typically means a quality product from a leading manufacturer who now supplies many brands almost exclusively.
I´ve been waiting for an exciting "Made in Japan" rubber outside of BTY´s portfolio for a long time now...

Typical German businessman thinking. 100% budget into engineering / product and zero budget into marketing & sales promotion.

 

[Lazer]

I´ve been waiting for an exciting "Made in Japan" rubber outside of BTY´s portfolio for a long time now...

I'd say that Nittaku Hammond Z2 meets that criteria.

Cheers
L-zr

 

[Airoc]

I'd say that Nittaku Hammond Z2 meets that criteria.

Might be one to try then.

 

[Airoc]

Typical German businessman thinking. 100% budget into engineering / product and zero budget into marketing & sales promotion.

They´re doing quite ok on some markets, South Korea is said to be pretty strong due to Joo Nam-kyu connection, and with Aruna and Robles they seem to have more popular players now than Donic.
But the image isn´t the shiniest among all brands, that´s for sure.