Prince at major sporting goods retailer

392Hemi

392Hemi

Professional
(Mods, I hope it is OK to post this as it is interesting news.)

I just got an email from the last standing big box sporting goods retailer advertising the Prince Beast 100. I see they also have the Phantom 100 a bunch of junior frames and apparel. I wonder if TW is acting as a US distributor and will roll out to other outlets?

Could Prince really be making a comeback?
 
CopolyX

CopolyX

Hall of Fame
93P is a sweet stick...

Come back?
Dont think so, although I do hope so.
Great for the market, players and the tennis industry ($$).

A few major things they would need to do which would take ....
(s)
Giant+tennis+ball.JPG


They would have to develop a strong "fixit campaign".
Meaning fixing the relations with there customer base.

Come up with incentives to there lost core and lost customers.

Get connected with there customers, social media, emails, blogs, forum, demo rallies, promo and connect.
Once you connect with your customers, listen, the relationship strengthens and grows.
It becomes now a company with a soul, the soul is great people that support, listen, response, care, connect and do the right thing.
That can go a lot further that have John Isner or the B Bros swing a P frame on the flat screen.

Will we see this.....
Cows%20Walking
 
KickVicious

KickVicious

Semi-Pro
392Hemi said:
(Mods, I hope it is OK to post this as it is interesting news.)

I just got an email from the last standing big box sporting goods retailer advertising the Prince Beast 100. I see they also have the Phantom 100 a bunch of junior frames and apparel. I wonder if TW is acting as a US distributor and will roll out to other outlets?

Could Prince really be making a comeback?
Click to expand...

I've gotten 2 email ads from a local independent pro shop: the first advertising the Phantom line and the one this morning saying they've got the O3 Black reissue in stock. I don't see Prince available at any of TW's main online competitors (MWS, H or TE) so I suspect TW still has a quasi-exclusive distribution deal of some sort.
 
vsbabolat

vsbabolat

G.O.A.T.
KickVicious said:
I've gotten 2 email ads from a local independent pro shop: the first advertising the Phantom line and the one this morning saying they've got the O3 Black reissue in stock. I don't see Prince available at any of TW's main online competitors (MWS, H or TE) so I suspect TW still has a quasi-exclusive distribution deal of some sort.
Click to expand...
It’s not an exclusive deal. TW is the US distributer and the other online retailers are threatend by TW. In fact when I talked to one of the competing retailers they claimed the reason they didn’t have Prince was because Prince went out of business. TW would love to have Prince products at other retailers in the USA.
 
DanS

DanS

Semi-Pro
TW must have made a pretty big deal with Dick's Sporting Goods. They are carrying the racquets, clothing, balls, dampeners, grips, and strings now!
 
Sintherius

Sintherius

Semi-Pro
DanS said:
TW must have made a pretty big deal with Dick's Sporting Goods. They are carrying the racquets, clothing, balls, dampeners, grips, and strings now!
Click to expand...
Actually noticed this the other day when I went to pick up a 10 pack Tourna grip.
The DSG near me quit selling lead tape though...
 
Sintherius

Sintherius

Semi-Pro
beltsman said:
I hope Prince thrives.

Where does everyone think they went wrong?
Click to expand...
I missed out on the last 5 years, but the last time I remember Prince being relevant was with the release of their O3 frames.
I guess the racquets they’ve made since then haven’t been as good
 
JOSHL

JOSHL

Hall of Fame
beltsman said:
I hope Prince thrives.

Where does everyone think they went wrong?
Click to expand...
Many people think that the o3 is where they went wrong because many tour players didn’t like the frames and there was no way to paint job them. I am of the belief that the O3 Technology is one of the best/most unique innovations to come into racquets since graphite.
 
kimguroo

kimguroo

Legend
beltsman said:
I hope Prince thrives.

Where does everyone think they went wrong?
Click to expand...
Hard to diagnose. Dominance of Nadal, Fed and Djokovic really hurt them.
Also not wise endorsements especially sharapova.
They were good with ferrrer, monfils, davydenko, Isner, Bryan brothers etc...
monfils was gone and not much interesting players were endorsed then financially struggled.
New investment took over and it gets worse and worse. No pro endorsement except small number of players.
They might think they can do well without endorsements but market did not response.
I thought textreme line might save prince but less and less people use prince rackets nowadays.
Looks like Current ownership is only interested in selling “prince” brand and asking for money which no one can afford.

Very interesting exclusive US distributor from TW.
TW said anyone can sell Prince products in US if tennis stores sign the agreement with TW but strangely No one signs the contract. I heard that the contract was not fair for stores so they decided to stop carrying Prince products but that’s from my friends who heard from tennis stores but I can not confirm. It’s true or not.

Honestly, I thought with good products and lowering price strategy might work but without endorsements, it’s tough to survive in tennis business.

I don’t think O3 Technology ruined prince.
There are many people used o3 rackets with dominance of babolat and Wilson because it was comfortable. Recreational players liked O3 Technology. Also many women players used prince rackets especially o3 red, blue, white etc... unfortunately, I barely see any women play with prince rackets nowadays.

I wish prince japan takes over the company since they are the most active and produce much better products but I don’t think they have enough money.
 
D

Deleted member 19728

Guest
I just had a chance to hit with the Phantom Pro 100 and 93P, what a great set of racquets and just so dang stable. I already made the switch to the Beast pro 100 LB. It is just what my game needed and I am serving like I did about 10 years ago. Overall I have been just amazed at all of the Prince tennis raquets I have hit with this year and IMO I think they may be the best brand on the market currently. Ever since the Pure Aero came out and the new pure drive I just can't play consistent tennis with the Babolat offerings. They seem to do one thing well and then I struggle with some other aspect of the game and tbh I think it is due to the wide open string spacing on these things. But dang I just love all the modern Princes I have played with, they just deliver the goods from all over the court. Glad to see Prince making a comeback, I just hope more people give their racquets a demo.
 
D

Deleted member 19728

Guest
Oh yeah I should have mentioned I bought three Beast Pro 100 Lbs (after small discount) for roughly the price of 2 RF97s....Prince has reasonably priced sticks and as Wilson and the others start pushing up to 250 and beyond I think they have a real competitive edge if they make quality sticks at 180-200.
 
PBODY99

PBODY99

Legend
DanS said:
TW must have made a pretty big deal with Dick's Sporting Goods. They are carrying the racquets, clothing, balls, dampeners, grips, and strings now!
Click to expand...
@DanS
I remember reading that DSG has distribution rights for the sub 100 items, TW for the 100+
 
speedysteve

speedysteve

Legend
Many I know are enjoying the Phantom over other current sticks from Wilson, Yonex, Babolat. Head seem to have dropped right out.

Somethings a changing..
 
Last edited:
JOSHL

JOSHL

Hall of Fame
DonBot said:
I just had a chance to hit with the Phantom Pro 100 and 93P, what a great set of racquets and just so dang stable. I already made the switch to the Beast pro 100 LB. It is just what my game needed and I am serving like I did about 10 years ago. Overall I have been just amazed at all of the Prince tennis raquets I have hit with this year and IMO I think they may be the best brand on the market currently. Ever since the Pure Aero came out and the new pure drive I just can't play consistent tennis with the Babolat offerings. They seem to do one thing well and then I struggle with some other aspect of the game and tbh I think it is due to the wide open string spacing on these things. But dang I just love all the modern Princes I have played with, they just deliver the goods from all over the court. Glad to see Prince making a comeback, I just hope more people give their racquets a demo.
Click to expand...
I agree with this. I think Prince has the best racquets on the market currently and Yonex is a very close second.
 
edelp

edelp

Semi-Pro
JOSHL said:
I agree with this. I think Prince has the best racquets on the market currently and Yonex is a very close second.
Click to expand...
I could not agree more. Obviously, this is also a question of "taste" but Prince frames currently and several Yonex are really nice offerings. I am really fighting between changing from a super nice DR98 to the Phantom Pro 100, excellent frame...Hope these guys of Prince continue like that as the "inertia" in Yonex seems stronger somehow with many Pros endorsing etc...
 
TennisHound

TennisHound

Legend
edelp said:
I could not agree more. Obviously, this is also a question of "taste" but Prince frames currently and several Yonex are really nice offerings. I am really fighting between changing from a super nice DR98 to the Phantom Pro 100, excellent frame...Hope these guys of Prince continue like that as the "inertia" in Yonex seems stronger somehow with many Pros endorsing etc...
Click to expand...
X2. I purchased the Beast 98, after getting slight TE from some other racquets (mainly Head). Prince has a real opportunity to solidify itself as a stable major brand since most of the offerings from Head and Wilson have been plain horrible.
 
D

dman72

Hall of Fame
To quote Davydenko "Sharapova took all the money". I guess that's why he needed to tank a match for the Russian mob.
 
D

dman72

Hall of Fame
The demise of tennis in big sporting goods stores is sad. I remember back in the 90's Sports authority had 2 huge walls of frames available. It shrunk down to a tiny end cap near the end of their existence. DSG has tennis in a tiny section near me.
 
DanS

DanS

Semi-Pro
dman72 said:
The demise of tennis in big sporting goods stores is sad. I remember back in the 90's Sports authority had 2 huge walls of frames available. It shrunk down to a tiny end cap near the end of their existence. DSG has tennis in a tiny section near me.
Click to expand...
The DSG by me doesn't carry a good selection of racquets either being a smaller store, but the one in Novi, MI is huge and seems to carry everything they offer online.
 
TennisHound

TennisHound

Legend
We'll see if Prince's decision to distribute goods through one licensee (TW) was a mistake or not. IMO it was a mistake.
 
kimguroo

kimguroo

Legend
TennisHound said:
We'll see if Prince's decision to distribute goods through one licensee (TW) was a mistake or not. IMO it was a mistake.
Click to expand...
I agree with you too. There are decent people who still use local tennis stores.
If items sold at only one or two places, it will be tough to move their products.
I really see much less people with price rackets nowadays. It does not matter how good they are.
Also usually distribution right contract is given to one company and distributor sends items to retailers but TW is retailer too. TW said any store can sell prince products with their agreement. I am wondering why no one wants to sign the agreement to carry Prince products......
With current owner/investment, there is no bright future for prince in my opinion and hope they just sell the brand with fair current value instead of more money. Otherwise they might have deeper problems or much less investment return.
 
TennisHound

TennisHound

Legend
kimguroo said:
I agree with you too. There are decent people who still use local tennis stores.
If items sold at only one or two places, it will be tough to move their products.
I really see much less people with price rackets nowadays. It does not matter how good they are.
Also usually distribution right contract is given to one company and distributor sends items to retailers but TW is retailer too. TW said any store can sell prince products with their agreement. I am wondering why no one wants to sign the agreement to carry Prince products......
With current owner/investment, there is no bright future for prince in my opinion and hope they just sell the brand with fair current value instead of more money. Otherwise they might have deeper problems or much less investment return.
Click to expand...
I like that part - "...TW said any store can sell prince products with their agreement."

So that puts TW between Prince and the rest of the US?
 
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