Chapter 1324 – Many issues with the new product

Feng Yu flew to Shanghai and understood the situation. To capture the market share, they had introduced their HD video cameras simultaneously as Sony. But Wind and Rain Electronics and Aiwa Electronics have never sold Digital Video Cameras (DV) before.

Feng Yu had only given some suggestions and did not participate in the new product testing. That’s why this DV’s sales are doing badly in China and overseas.

If the DV is not sold under the Wind and Rain brand, it might be worse. Those Japanese companies had worked together and increased their marketing to beat Wind and Rain.

Wind and Rain Electronics’ partners, Philips, Thomson, etc., are also not doing well.

Feng Yu looks at the DV. It is not the handheld DV he wanted, and it looks bulky. The screen is small and can only rotate 90 degrees.

The battery capacity is not bad and can last longer. But the storage capacity is only 1GB, and it is using a storage card. The user can change it anytime.

Feng Yu tested the DV and noticed a few more issues.

First, the image stabilization is very poor. Xu Lihua also knows about this, and the Japanese DVs have better stabilization than them. Secondly, the focus and optical zoom are not good. Sony’s high-end DVs have ten times optical zoom, and their smaller model have five times optical zoom. But theirs only have three times.

Furthermore, the first DV in the world is produced by Sony, and they have better brand recognition.

Most reporters and TV producers are using Japanese digital cameras, and most of them are from Sony. Sony is no doubt the market leader in the digital camera industry.

There are several tiers of digital cameras. The top tier is those used in TV stations, movie makers, and news interviews. Next is the professional level, which is used to film TV series. Lastly, it is the entry-level and consumer level. The digital video cameras in this tier target the mass market and mainly use for making family videos.

Yes. In Feng Yu’s previous life, Teacher Chen uses professional equipment, but those are equivalent to the broadcasting equipment now.

Feng Yu knew why Wind and Rain, Phips, and Amazon failed because this product belongs to the mass market tier but is sold at high-end tier’s prices.

“Old Xu, what is the production cost of this product?”

“Around 10,000 RMB and our retail price are slightly above 20,000 RMB. This price is about the same as Sony’s latest model.”

Feng Yu rolled his eyes. The production cost is around 1,000 USD, and you want to sell it at 3,000 USD. No wonder the sales are not doing well.

You can sell your products higher than others, but the quality must be better. Our competitors are better in optical zoom and focus, design, branding, storage, etc. and our advantage is only the battery.

How are you going to compete with others? Also, they are using cassette tapes for storage and have lower production costs.

It’s not that Xu Lihua’s storage technologies are not good. In fact, Feng Yu felt this storage technology is similar to the handheld DV he saw in his previous life and makes reading the data easier.

But most people are used to the current video format, and their DV only supports HDV format.

“Old Xu, I remember telling you all that all new products must be include the old product’s features. Sony’s product supports DV format, but why do we only have HDV format? Why can’t we be compatible with them?”

“Also, don’t you think the storage of 1GB is too small? Although the memory card can be changed, it is too troublesome. What if it runs out of capacity during filming? Didn’t I tell you all to produce a micro hard disk? This can be used, but we have better flash technologies with higher storage. Why are we using 1 GB?”

“The screen is also too small. If you extend your hand, you cannot see what you are filming. The screen must be bigger, and the rotation should be 360 degrees. What can you do with 90 degrees?! I had mentioned several times that product design is very important to attract consumers. Look at the size of this product. It is too heavy to be held in one hand, and it’s too stupid to be holding it with both hands.”

“Why can’t we use five times optical zoom for it? The image stabilizing is too lousy. Have you tried filming with it? Who’s hands will not shake? This technology must be improved. If necessary, buy it from Thomson.”

“Lastly, I have not seen the commercials for this product on TV. Have you all forgotten about the importance of advertising?” Feng Yu asked.

“Manager Feng, we planned to buy the advertising slots for next year. The auction for next year’s advertising slots is happening soon. As for the overseas commercial, we planned to release it at the same time, and we will hire celebrities to endorse it.” Xu Lihua explained.

“Manager Feng, we still don’t have any ideas for the advertisements. Even if we advertised, it might not sell well. Also, our DV is different from the traditional video cameras, especially for the storage.” Jiang Wanmeng added.

“That’s why our target audience is those that have not used video cameras before. We will also be marketing our cameras as having clearer images and position them as family consumer products. In the future, we will introduce more professional video cameras for the professional and broadcasting tiers. But it is still not possible with our current technologies. When can our technologies catch up with Japan?”

Xu Lihua and Jiang Wanmeng stuttered after hearing what Feng Yu said.

“Then we should concentrate on the consumer and professional market. We must get this market share. Although the profits for this tier are low, the sales volume is much higher. You all must lower our production cost and retail prices and let the mass-market consumers like our products.”

These people had grown to be overconfident these years. They thought their products could sell well if it is sold under the Wind and Rain brand. But they don’t know that a failed product will tarnish the brand.

Luckily, they had just started producing this DV and had sold it at high prices. That’s why they have not suffered any losses. But without sales, they will not recover the development cost!

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