Stiga Marketing Policy

[jonyer80]

I'm absolutely puzzled by how Stiga has been going downhill lately with their marketing policy. How can they be discontinuing the majority of their most popular top blades?

The other day, I was browsing their website and noticed that most of their classic models no longer appeared. Imagine spending nearly $200 on a top-quality blade, only to see it discontinued just a few seasons later. How can they possibly justify this?

As a customer, this creates a sense of distrust and makes the company seem unreliable. No wonder so many users are switching to other trusted brands that at least offer long-term support and the possibility of getting a replacement blade if needed.

As far as I know, they’ve discontinued the Stiga Carbonado series 1XX/2XX (only the 45 model remains), as well as their hardwood series like Rosewood V/VII/XO, Ebenholz V/VII, Maplewood, Infinity, Intensity, Celero, Arctic, Azalea, and so on...

On top of that, they continue to offer outdated models like the Allround Classic, Evolution, and even the Offensive Classic, which no longer suit the modern game.

Sorry, but I just don’t get it — their customer policy feels completely misguided. You might be better off staying away from Stiga and going with brands that actually care about product consistency and long-term customer support.

 

[yamagata]

It is all about what sells well. In China Clipper are sold on big quantities and in Sweden Classic is the one every beginner goes for.

 

[ttarc]

These blades are still all available except 245 and 290 and many, many more that were discontinued long ago. Just not in Europe.
http://www.stigasports.cn/product/diban/ (122 blades in total)

 

[codebop]

This has become a problem with many TT equipment companies. They make a blade for a short amount of time, the blade gets a decent userbase and a good reputation and then they yank the blade off the market. Xiom might be the worst offender but it's become pretty bad across every company other than the Japanese TT companies.

 

[Tinykin]

I'm absolutely puzzled by how Stiga has been going downhill lately with their marketing policy. How can they be discontinuing the majority of their most popular top blades?

The other day, I was browsing their website and noticed that most of their classic models no longer appeared. Imagine spending nearly $200 on a top-quality blade, only to see it discontinued just a few seasons later. How can they possibly justify this?

As a customer, this creates a sense of distrust and makes the company seem unreliable. No wonder so many users are switching to other trusted brands that at least offer long-term support and the possibility of getting a replacement blade if needed.

As far as I know, they’ve discontinued the Stiga Carbonado series 1XX/2XX (only the 45 model remains), as well as their hardwood series like Rosewood V/VII/XO, Ebenholz V/VII, Maplewood, Infinity, Intensity, Celero, Arctic, Azalea, and so on...

On top of that, they continue to offer outdated models like the Allround Classic, Evolution, and even the Offensive Classic, which no longer suit the modern game.

Sorry, but I just don’t get it — their customer policy feels completely misguided. You might be better off staying away from Stiga and going with brands that actually care about product consistency and long-term customer support.

"On top of that, they continue to offer outdated models like the Allround Classic, Evolution, and even the Offensive Classic, which no longer suit the modern game."

Outdated? That's a strong statement to make about the best selling blades (and their copies) ever sold and continue to be sold today.

 

[kapahoo]

The biggest question is why the discontinued the handles for adult males a few years ago...

 

[John_]

The problem is that they release a bunch of blades and almost none of them reach target sales. Butterfly and dhs pretty much solved this because bty is the biggest company and dhs just doesn't release many new blades.

Stiga has new models almost every year, that they keep selling at increasingly higher prices. So they do terribly and the few people that do buy them are left wondering what they're thinking. I was trying to find an azalea off replacement and couldn't find it in any known shop, so that's the situation of stiga.