BREAKING NEWS: Shopsmith, Inc. Has A New Owner

[algale]

Did he really say he hopes to 25x sales?

Maybe I misheard it. Frankly, I think 2.5X existing sales would be a difficult goal to achieve.

Sticking a Shopsmith in a Home Depot (or Lowes) has been tried. I wouldn't give up on that; but I'd do aggressive on-line advertising and not necessarily in the woodworking mags (if they even exist). When people search Google for a drill press, or table saw or disc sanders, the Shopsmith ought to pop up in their search results.

[RFGuy]

Maybe I misheard it. Frankly, I think 2.5X existing sales would be a difficult goal to achieve.

Sticking a Shopsmith in a Home Depot (or Lowes) has been tried. I wouldn't give up on that; but I'd do aggressive on-line advertising and not necessarily in the woodworking mags (if they even exist). When people search Google for a drill press, or table saw or disc sanders, the Shopsmith ought to pop up in their search results.

I could have missed the 25X sales comment. Just curious, but not so curious to go back and re-watch the entire video to find it! Yeah, I agree on the Lowes demos and can see them not really getting the job done, except for Shopsmith diehards looking for a discount. My point was more along the lines that most DIY'ers buy exclusively from Home Depot/Lowes/Menards, etc. Dropping a Shopsmith there would really be an albatross when someone is looking to buy a cordless drill, palm sander, etc. to complete their weekend project. No one is going to stand there either for more than 2 min to hear a sales presentation if they aren't familiar with the product to begin with. Rockler or Woodcraft are potentially more suitable retail store fronts, but honestly there aren't enough of those stores across the US so building market share would take a loooong time. Yeah, you are correct...unless one has a family or other connection to Shopsmith, it won't be the 1st, 2nd, or even 3rd tool brand you consider when you decide to buy any of the 5 tools it is known for replacing.

[DLB]

He said 25X and he said it more than once. Within five years IIUC. It wasn't clear to me if this was sales or Marks, but I thought it was Marks. But a lot of their business is upgrades, accessories, parts, consumables, and repairs. Not having seen the sales numbers that the owners and new owners saw, I don't have an opinion on whether that is achievable. But say it is 25X Marks. How many more were they selling four years ago when they were doing live demonstrations every weekend at Lowe's? How many were they selling 20 years ago when Shopsmith Inc. was fairly big? IMO those numbers are huge compared to today's, which I suspect are dismal. I'm not saying go back to those, but with the right marketing budget invested the right way I suspect today's numbers are bad enough to allow for a huge increase. IIWM and the numbers look like I suspect, I'd go back to Lowe's demos immediately and invest in some young quality YT influencers with the intent that they'd go live within six months. But you also need to re-establish engineering so where is all of this budget going to come from?

- David

[RFGuy]

David,

Thanks. Much appreciated. You make a good point about the increase in sales relative to where it has been, but in my opinion this can't happen without a reduction in sales price. The high sales price of a Mark 7 in recent years is one key reason why sales may have dropped off. The price point is just not palatable to many, especially when compared against competitors. Where are you going to find a young quality YT influencer along the lines of being the exact opposite of John Malecki to promote Shopsmith?

[thedovetailjoint]

Scott, talks way too slow and rambles.

You should see how much of my yapping I edited out! But I get it.

[algale]

Scott, talks way too slow and rambles.

You should see how much of my yapping I edited out! But I get it.

Hey, I thought it was a good interview! Your videos aren't the only ones I watch at fast playback. A lot of YouTubers just don't get to the point quick enough for my taste.

[thedovetailjoint]

A lot of YouTubers just don't get to the point quick enough for my taste.

You've just described my business model!

[HopefulSSer]

...But say it is 25X Marks. How many more were they selling four years ago when they were doing live demonstrations every weekend at Lowe's? How many were they selling 20 years ago when Shopsmith Inc. was fairly big?

He said that from 10 years ago til now there are virtually no new Shopsmith owners*. So if yearly sales are essentially nil, then 25x could mean one every other week. I wonder how many new units they actually move per year....

*I suspect there are lots more new Shopsmith owners than he's referring to. I'm one. I'm a new Shopsmith owner. But I don't own a new Shopsmith. I own a 63-year-old Shopsmith. That's both a blessing and a curse to the company. The machines are very well-engineered and built, such that they need few repairs and last forever. Great quality is a wonderful thing. But it bites you in the nether regions when you're trying to sell a new unit for $4200 and people can get +/- the equivalent used for maybe $500... Who'd buy new? Your second-hand market cannibalizes your new market. Singer sewing machine had a solution -- they took their old machines in trade on new ones and destroyed the traded-in machines. Not suggesting SS adopt that approach (it's too late anyway**) but just shows it's not a new problem.

**Hmm. Here's a thought. Maybe SS could buy up used machines and 1. reduce their in-built competition, and 2. offer "factory certified" refurbs for sale. Would you be tempted by a like-new, factory-warranted "vintage" SS for half the price of a new machine?***

***Hey Nick, how about a 1% royalty in perpetuity for this idea? ;-)

[edflorence]

**Hmm. Here's a thought. Maybe SS could buy up used machines and 1. reduce their in-built competition, and 2. offer "factory certified" refurbs for sale. Would you be tempted by a like-new, factory-warranted "vintage" SS for half the price of a new machine?

Yep, I would consider it. Especially if it was offered with the option of tubes that were a foot longer than the standard tubes. That way I could turn the full length of the back posts for some Shaker chairs I have been thinking about.

[RFGuy]

I like the idea of selling factory certified used models, but unfortunately I don't see how this would work. This works at car dealerships which are POS, but we are talking about one centralized factory. Imagine how these used models are going to get back to the factory for this repair work and then having to be shipped back out. Who is going to want to pay $1k to ship a used Mark V when it will be a substantial portion of the purchase price? Bad enough paying $1k to ship a $5k new model. IF shipping is paid on both transits to/from the factory then shipping may cost as much as the used model. Also, I like Ed's idea of customization. There really isn't a good reason why Shopsmith does do some of this today. On that interview it was suggested to have multiple paint colors which would be nice, but probably too cost prohibitive given their scale and the nature of their supply chain.