wrote in message
oups.com...
I guess this will be a real test of what we say and what we do. IF,
IF, they turn out a better product and it costs a little more, it will
be interesting to see if the general public supports it by buying it.
Plenty of good products are no longer available because of price point
objections by the public.

I think it could go either way. According to the manager of our local
Woodcraft sales of the big machines has definitely gone down. Is it
that people will buy nothing if they think their money isn't buying
value, or is it that the market is reaching saturation? Maybe even
lack of interest? They sure don't know the answer, but the guy owns 5
stores here in TX, so I am sure they will be watching this as closely
as anyone else. Their table saw sales have gone from 3 - 5 a week per
store to 1 -2, sometimes none!

Perhaps the increasing number of competitive businesses and bench top tools
offered by the name big name brands.
Car dealerships went through this also in the 70's and 80's. You cant sell
only 1 or 2 brands. If you want 40% of the potential market you need to
offer 40 % of the brands offering big equipment. IIRC Woodcraft offers Jet,
Powermatic, and Delta and those certainly are a good mix but there is also,
Craftsman, OneWay, Nova, Grizzly, Rikon, DeWalt, B&D, Hitachi, Makita,
Laguna, MiniMax which all offer some competitive products in their
respective markets. Then add in house brands.