Should Prince go back to normal grommets?

[Rabbit]

I think Prince's biggest mistake was the same as IBM's; they told the customer what he/she wanted instead of listening to them. It's perfectly OK to have an innovation, but when a segment of the paying public says they'd like conventional frames, some business people should stand up and tell the engineers they aren't running the company. Ever since coming out with the O-ports, it's been reported that Prince has refused to budge off them. I mean what's wrong with giving folks a choice?

And, Prince has learned some things as well. A buddy of mine runs a large pro shop. He attends all the Prince sales and marketing meetings. At one, they had an engineer who was espousing the technical merits of the O-frames. My friend asked if he'd ever hit with a racquet. The engineer was befuddled and didn't know why that would make a difference. Someone else responded that the frames overall were too stiff and hit like bricks. Prince now has a line of much, much softer frames that are doing well with a segment they didn't reach before.

All that said, I'm a convert to the speedport frames. I liked the EXO3 Pro and like the Warrior. I personally like the feel of the frames. I don't like stringing them too much, but what the heck. They do hit well and are easy on the arm.

[svarthofde]

i think prince is going to have a coming back on the big market. players like sharapova and monfils dropped them and that sends a message.
apart from that a 8-9 year old kid who worships sharapova won't care about the O-ports. she will play with whatever sharapova plays with. that means they loose a large piece of the market because they do not have players in top 25 to use the racquets and attract fans.

[svarthofde]

" a hard time coming back"

[racertempo]

Originally Posted by niremetal

I don't doubt that you're being sarcastic, but this analogy doesn't even make sense. The illegal drug industry is not driven by "big name" endorsements like the sporting goods industry is. Really, no industry is as endorsement-driven as sporting goods. Michael Jordan lifted Nike from being an afterthought in basketball to being THE basketball shoe company. Chuck Taylor basically invented the basketball shoe years earlier. Sampras with the Pro Staff, Agassi with the Radical...the list goes on.

Prince has managed to stay at or near the top in racquet sales despite the fact that there hasn't been a slam champion using a Prince tennis racquet since Ferrero and no truly dominant player (one who stayed #1 for more than a few weeks) since...well...ever? That's a testament to consumer credibility for the brand.

The argument made was that Prince sells a lot of product without much advertisement or endorsement......so my point was obvious. Sales numbers don't always equate to good products. I made this point since the comment was made that Prince stopping the O-ports was synonymous with asking Yonex to make a round racquet. Yonex has made Isometric frames and ONLY Isometric frames for my lifetime.....while Prince has a "gimmicy" grommet with the O-ports. Not at all apples and oranges.

There are dozens of grommet technologies out there:

http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/technologies.html

They don't all sell racquets based on their technology advancement, but saying that the O-Port was a technological advancement that should not be dropped because it is better for the consumer is a going a little far IMO. I don't know Prince's numbers, but if they sell more of those frames then other frames, and if numbers are not in decline, then keep making them....and don't stop until numbers start to tell you to stop.

[TripleB]

Yes...I seldom look at any offerings by Prince anymore because of their open grommet system.

TripleB

[NLBwell]

If they've lost TripleB, they've lost a large share of the market.

At least at TW, they have started offering the original Prince Graphite Mid and Oversize. Add remakes of some of the other popular rackets that fill specific niches (Warrior for lighter racket, Chang for extended, maybe even a Thunderstick) and they would have a whole new line of popular rackets.

[CaptinStiff]

As an EXO3 user, I've never had an issue with their port hole racquets and tech personally, and don't think they should abandon it in their product line.

Although there exists a branch of tennis players that will always prefer the traditional feel of grommets, which are not served by this brand. Why not support some quality grommeted frames in your lineup and let the free market decide what is better Prince?

Prince does offer grommet kits for their frames as a compromise, but they never market them, and most consumers probably don't even know they exist.

For me Prince's issues don't solely lay with their existing products (most of which are great). It's just that they have an unbalanced product line to date. They've allowed themselves to get whacked by their competitors in the marketing department, and lack top pro exposure.

[TripleB]

Originally Posted by NLBwell

If they've lost TripleB, they've lost a large share of the market.

You got that right.

TripleB

*at least with me being off the courts for at least another 7 months they have an opportunity to go back to standard grommets