Online presence in retail is not enough to promote the sales of new or resurgent tennis brands.

Crocodile

G.O.A.T.
As one of the main tennis racquet forums in the world I sometimes wonder whether racquet company representatives read some of the posts about people’s views on brands and individual racquets that are posted here.
With the advent of online retail, digital marketing media plus other YouTube content making many companies have usually felt that this would be sufficient to get your product out. You, the company or an online shop dies a video review and then the online shop lists it on its website and then see how it goes. If you are a large company with a big budget you will do well with this approach, plus you will get the exposure through player sponsorship, if you sign up the right player whose profile works well for your brand. Some player sponsorships do not translate into racquet sales because of the twist in some aspect of the fashion as it were.
However if that company also decides to go direct online to the public then that’s a bit of an issue especially if the company withholds certain models from the retailer. I think you are either a distributor, or a wholesaler or a retailer, once you overlap I don’t think it’s a wise decision long term.
If you are a less of a high profile brand then I think this approach is not enough and I think what needs to happen is a return to good old fashion hard work with company representatives driving around and visiting many retailers, local community clubs and developing relationships with tennis businesses, coaches, sponsorship of community events, all that stuff. For example you might have arrangements where the company provides coaches with demo racquets, in which the customer tries and then buys the racquet from the retailer, in this instance lets say the retailer is TW. TW then refers its customers to the tennis business for tennis services. If you are a smaller company and/or you are trying to establish yourself you may need to do this if you want to grow the brand. I get the feeling that many are less prepared to do this these days and then they are left wondering why their sales are too low. Like everything, however you need to do things correctly.
Anyway these are my thoughts for today and I hope we can discuss this. Comment if you wish. Cheers
 

Tennisist

Professional
When buying a racquet, there are only 3 influences: (1) TV, (2) a coach, (3) a knowledgeable friend.
In this world view, coaches do play the most important role.
Coaches will not recommend anything based on what they “heard”. They will only recommend something that they have used themselves. Same for knowledgeable friend.
Whether there are online adds somewhere, or videos on it on YouTube or TickTock — does not play into this at all. Neither does the price.
 

Crocodile

G.O.A.T.
I’m putting a challenge out to all the smaller racquet companies to get out on the ground and do the work to build up their products otherwise get gobbled up by the large corporations. You can’t market the same way that Anta Sports does. You have to be different.
 

socallefty

G.O.A.T.
Do a lot of players switch racquet brands easily in the real world? I think there is a lot of brand loyalty out there for the big brands. It is not like TTW where so many people seem to try every brand that is out there.

I myself have been playing Babolat racquets for 24 years and even though I demo models from other brands when I have to switch racquets (due to products being discontinued), I end up buying Babolat if they have a racquet with specs (12 oz weight, SW>330, Beam width below 21mm, Headsize 97-98, Stiffness below 67RA) that I like which they always do. I am pretty brand loyal in most things I purchase and will rarely leave a favorite brand unless they make me unhappy in some way which doesn’t happen often with quality brands. I’ve been using Babolat racquets/gut, Solinco poly, Lacoste clothes, Thorlo socks and ProPenn balls for a long time. I switched from Babolat bags to Dunlop after two decades because the zips kept breaking too soon. I switched from Adidas Barricade shoes to Asics GR8s after a decade when the 2018 Barricade gave me knee pain every time I played in them.

Most guys I know stick with Babolat, Wilson, Head or Yonex and only those who switch racquets because of injuries seem to switch brands.

I know that juniors are influenced by their coaches in terms of the brand they pick for their first or second racquet and those coaches are sponsored by the big brands. I don’t know how adult beginners pick their first racquet which might end up being their loyal brand for a long time. Most are not coached and so they must buy the brand that someone else recommends or the one on sale at whatever store they walk into.
 
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Tennisist

Professional
People who have occasional interest, will not go with any exotic names like Diadem, or Tenx, or Solinco. They do not know them. They will stick with something they recognize ( from TV ) : Wilson, Babolat or Head.
People who have a deep interest ( juniors ) will seek advice from coaches. Coaches, again, will stick with Wilson, Babolat, Head — because this is what they are familiar with.
The only way to break this cycle is when a new Alcaraz appears on TV, wielding a new racquet in his hands — then a certain amount of juniors or people with occasional interest will suddenly show interest.
 

Crocodile

G.O.A.T.
I have seen it done before in many cities and communities where the manufacturer or distributor got together with the retailer and tennis business owner and they grew the brand in that city because they believed in the benefits of the product.
For example at the time Volkl was producing superior arm safety racquets than almost any other brand ( with probably the exception of Pro Kennex and Fischer/Pacific) and it was quite easy to sell this benefit to the community and the sales in that community were remarkable.
It is only now with the Wilson Clash and Auxetic, Heads and VDM handled Yonex’s that the big brands have caught up in offering very good arm saving technology. Pro Kennex is still king, Volkl has slipped with the V Cell stuff. Now Prince they have so many interesting frames and heritage out there, they could be doing really well except the structure is not right in some countries. Tecnifibre seem quite enthusiastic and they are doing well.
 

sureshs

Bionic Poster
I bought my current racket based on a hitting session at a Racket Demo day last year at a country club. I hit with rackets from Wilson, Head and other companies but the session with a Dunlop pro with a CX 200 Tour 18*20 sealed it. It helped that it was also his preferred racket.
 

Automatix

Legend
I have seen it done before in many cities and communities where the manufacturer or distributor got together with the retailer and tennis business owner and they grew the brand in that city because they believed in the benefits of the product.
For example at the time Volkl was producing superior arm safety racquets than almost any other brand ( with probably the exception of Pro Kennex and Fischer/Pacific) and it was quite easy to sell this benefit to the community and the sales in that community were remarkable.
It is only now with the Wilson Clash and Auxetic, Heads and VDM handled Yonex’s that the big brands have caught up in offering very good arm saving technology. Pro Kennex is still king, Volkl has slipped with the V Cell stuff. Now Prince they have so many interesting frames and heritage out there, they could be doing really well except the structure is not right in some countries. Tecnifibre seem quite enthusiastic and they are doing well.
I agree with you that hard work at a local level can/could be fruitful but from my experience most aren't willing to put in the effort.
I feel that nowadays most people in the industry think that if they post some ads online and give their gear to some quasiinfluencer it has to sell on its own.
This might spark initial interested but without proper follow through it will end as a flop. Big brands might get away with it, small ones won't.
One still has to admit that breaking through certain prejudice is hard. You wrote that ProKennex is king when it comes to comfort but do you really think people take this brand into consideration? From my experience outside the tennis geek world most look at ProKennex as an inferior brand because it doesn't have presence at ATP/WTA levels.
 

Tennisist

Professional
Strangely, it is the “big” brands that dominate the TV that also have done all the legwork on the local level. My club, for example, is a Babolat shop. They have everything Babolat— balls, banners, stringing machines and spare racquets for us to play with. Add to this Nadal and Alcaraz on TV, and there is no room left for competition.
Or is it another way around? Are these brands “Big” now because they covered all the bases years ago?
 
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