Wednesday, March 30, 2011

How NOT to sell a partwork

Mclaren Poster

The Formula 1 season has finally started and the TV has adverts appearing on the commercial channels for a brand new partwork. You too can build a 2008 racing car. Woo Hoo !

Regular readers will know I have mixed feelings about partworks. The total cost is high and sometimes the parts are, quite frankly, rubbish. On the other hand, my Dad is building the Bismarck and this is really impressive. When looking at the cost, you have to bear in mind how long it takes to write the instructions. They have to be aimed at idiots as do the kit parts - leading to heavy R&D bills.

The overall price though is the thing that amuses me. We all get the calculator out when we see the adverts but my local Post Office has saved me the bother. Somehow I don't think, despite what it says at the top of the page, that this is a poster for the window. Instead it's a sales tool to persuade the retailer to stock the partwork.

Oooops.

Just in case you are interested, here's the website.

2 comments:

Andy from Workshopshed said...

That's funny but it's nice to see how much people pay for these. I was looking at the kit Orrey a few years back but for the price of a plastic kit I could have almost paid someone to make a nice one in brass for me.

Anonymous said...

Yeah but if you try to buy a 1:8 scale model of a F1 car your looking at about £3000 so £670 can be seen as a real bargain.