View Full Version : Clever Glock marketing strategy perhaps?
FlyingHunter
07-29-19, 18:40
Exhibit A: Glock 43x
1st: New model with silver slide which some love, others not so much. Excitement slows down then...
2nd: Reintroduce with black slide option, that covers the colors and when excitement slows down then...
3rd: Reintroduce 43x with light rail (now available in EU), once in US, will likely sell well, when excitement slows down then...
4th: Reintroduce with MOS option (total guess on my part)
A slow roll which markets the pistol in possibly 4 different iterations over time to keep the "buzz" up tempo and has people trading in the 1st version for the 2nd and so on which keeps used market humming along nicely as well. Seems like a clever way to maximize sales of a single engineered design.
This is not clever. This is marketing. See also:
Ford changes the Mustang circa 2007ish. First model available is a V6. Because people will by the new model because Mustang. Wait a year or so and here comes the 5.0 V8. Because people will buy the new model because Mustang.
Dodge circa 2006. Want a Hemi in a car? You’re buying a Dodge Magnum. A station wagon. Wait a year and 2007 brings you the Hemi Charger.
Why give your customer exactly what they want up front when you can milk them for two or three of the same product for simple improvements?
The Dumb Gun Collector
07-29-19, 20:08
Glock has been killing the competition with their marketing my entire adult life. Their first coup: ditching nearly every standard safety convention (heavy first trigger pull, manual safety, etc) and just calling this "safe action." I always compared it to whoever named the "smart" car. I know they were sitting around with focus groups who said the first word that came to their mind was "dumb" and the marketing guy said, "well crap, just call it the 'smart' car...problem solved."
I'll counter.
My wife quite likes the silver slide. I think she might be the target of marketing more than guys on a shooting forum. I don't care about the color. It looks like a pretty durable finish so far, and it's not pink. I'm surprised so many manly men on a shooting forum care.
I'm not putting a light on at this time, and if I do there are several options that seem up to CCW use without a rail. I won't be putting a u boat on a 43X, but people are running out to buy G45s to run one on...
A woman I work with was stoked about the two-tone on her new G48. She’s probably part of the target market.
I don't know who the target audience is but I can safely say the color of a gun has never been a deciding factor in any of my purchases. Typically I'll buy whichever is cheaper. If someone were to release a gun without finish but priced $100 less I'd be all over it!
At the gun show the other day there were olive drab Glocks , and desert tan glocks. Looked pretty cool.
grizzlyblake
07-29-19, 22:49
Of course it's marketing. The G42 and 43 were developed at the same time but they released the 42 first because if they were released together nobody would have bought the 42. They aren't in business to sell each person one perfect handgun. They are in business to sell as many units as possible.
I hate to bust your marketing bubbles folks but that's not the reason Glock made silver slides for the G43x and G48.
Glock spent tons of money trying to get the .mil contract with the G19X. Part of that money was spent on the equipment used to make the FDE slides. The process used to make FDE is different than making black. Because they lost the contract, Glock tried to recoup their losses by using the same equipment to make the lighter colored slides on the G43x and G48. Now that they made some money with the silver slides, they will now offer the slides in black.
grizzlyblake
07-30-19, 12:44
You're saying the same thing essentially. The question is why they delayed the release of the black slide, and the answer is that they knew people wouldn't buy the silver ones in the volumes they already have if they guns were offered in both black and silver from the beginning.
Glock’s marketing strategy: “Buy it, it’s a Glock”.
Bam, people lined up outside to buy one.
You're saying the same thing essentially. The question is why they delayed the release of the black slide, and the answer is that they knew people wouldn't buy the silver ones in the volumes they already have if they guns were offered in both black and silver from the beginning.
This really doesn't make much sense as an explanation as to why silver slides, and why first. If the slides were finished in silver, I imagine they could have just as easily been finished with a black coating. Had they done that up front, they probably would have sold even more guns at the launch of the 43x and 48. Glock generally does not keep inventory on hand, and produces to order, so arguing they already had that color slide in inventory may not make sense either.
Don't forget that the firearm market is more than just the US. Maybe they had market research that said this would be a popular color combination in other parts of the world. Sometimes these things are not even decided using any type of real market research or logic. Maybe the engineer in charge of that product just liked silver colored slides. Product configuration decisions have been made that way before.
Maybe Glock brought out the silver slide for the same reason Ford introduced the Edsel
Take the same gun and offer variations for slide color, frame color, sights, mos, rail, front serrations, threaded barrel.
Then have LV do his version.
All without any real innovation.
Take the same gun and offer variations for slide color, frame color, sights, mos, rail, front serrations, threaded barrel.
Then have LV do his version.
All without any real innovation.Sooo......Sig a few years ago? I remember I counted once. There was like 27 variations of just the 226.
Sig for sure probably holds the record and used it in place of QC.
Glock isn't trying to cover a slide in quality at least.
Anyone read the results on the MAC testing of the decked out G17 Gen4 with a Glockmeister Gen 4 frame plug installed, Beretta PX4 was stock and HK P30 with only one custom, the USP hammer Spring? You Glock lovers will not like those results at all. It also failed at the same sandy water phase performed by a Navy SEAL and MARSOC testing. Not to put anyone in a panic, the chances of your pistola facing these conditions would be rare. However, the results even surprised me that 4 additional the G17 sent in to test failed and could not be repaired. The PX4 jammed but after a quick rinsing it went bang. The HK P30 went bang even under water. I am not a HK fan boy even though I own a few pistols and long bangers, I also like CZ, Walther and the Sig P320 and 226. I was just wondering if anyone had read or seen that testing on those 3 pistols.
My favorite part is how they still haven't made a G19L (19 grip length with a 17 slide), but they DID make the Gen5 guns compatible with each other, so you have to buy TWO guns to get a 19L if you want one.
Anyone read the results on the MAC testing of the decked out G17 Gen4 with a Glockmeister Gen 4 frame plug installed, Beretta PX4 was stock and HK P30 with only one custom, the USP hammer Spring? You Glock lovers will not like those results at all. It also failed at the same sandy water phase performed by a Navy SEAL and MARSOC testing. Not to put anyone in a panic, the chances of your pistola facing these conditions would be rare. However, the results even surprised me that 4 additional the G17 sent in to test failed and could not be repaired. The PX4 jammed but after a quick rinsing it went bang. The HK P30 went bang even under water. I am not a HK fan boy even though I own a few pistols and long bangers, I also like CZ, Walther and the Sig P320 and 226. I was just wondering if anyone had read or seen that testing on those 3 pistols.
The thing with Mac's "testing" is that he's testing ONE gun and using it as representation of the line. His testing methodology is also not controlled and has FAR too many variables to lead to any meaningful conclusions. Maybe during his mud test a slightly larger pebble got into one gun but not the others and caused a malfunction, then he says "Gee I'm surprised at gun X, it failed after one magazine."
I have a Glock 48 with the silver colored slide. It is likely the best feeling pistol in my hand I've ever had. The silver color doesn't bother me, although if a black one had been available I would've bought it instead. It's also not like I'm going to dump the one I have just so I can go out and buy one with a black slide.
YMMV
Anyone read the results on the MAC testing of the decked out G17 Gen4 with a Glockmeister Gen 4 frame plug installed, Beretta PX4 was stock and HK P30 with only one custom, the USP hammer Spring? You Glock lovers will not like those results at all. It also failed at the same sandy water phase performed by a Navy SEAL and MARSOC testing. Not to put anyone in a panic, the chances of your pistola facing these conditions would be rare. However, the results even surprised me that 4 additional the G17 sent in to test failed and could not be repaired. The PX4 jammed but after a quick rinsing it went bang. The HK P30 went bang even under water. I am not a HK fan boy even though I own a few pistols and long bangers, I also like CZ, Walther and the Sig P320 and 226. I was just wondering if anyone had read or seen that testing on those 3 pistols.
Somehow.....not in a panic. The results surprised even you? And you are?
ThirdWatcher
08-02-19, 20:16
I’m old school, I prefer blued steel and walnut. For my Glocks, I prefer the default color, black. Nonetheless, I’m in favor of just about anything that gets honest people to ‘arm up’.
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