When Will TW Carry Grapplesnake Strings?

J

JK208

Professional
@TW Staff , when will you start carrying Grapplesnake Strings? I know they are a fan-favorite, and there has been a lot of interest in getting them sold by a major retailer. They have one of the most popular forum threads and I don't understand why they aren't being carried. Can I please have an ETA of when we can expect them in the shop? Thanks.
 
@JK208 - Obviously I can't speak for TW Staff directly, but I'd have to imagine it's related to overhead/profitability, on some level at least. As easy as it might be to negotiate a wholesale agreement, it's a lot less easy to keep moving a bunch of piled up product once the hot new thing becomes yesterday's news, and that seems to be happening in the co-poly segment at an ever-increasing rate. And that often spells doom for a retailer. TW has also already been down this road before, with older small brands like Genesis, Topspin, Weiss Cannon, YTEX, etc. and considering how there's almost none of it to be found any more on TW, well, I think that tells you all you need to know. And please know, I don't mean that as a knock on GSnake, no; rather to say it can be tough trying to move product, period, especially when the neighboring stuff is already there from all the big incumbents. And yes, I get it - "but, Grapplesnake is special!" And I would resoundingly agree. They make great product. But then again so do (did) Genesis, etc, at least to a certain degree. It's a tough line to draw sometimes. At the end of the day, TW can't carry everything, even if it is a better mousetrap among current choices (and much of Grapplesnake's lineup certainly is). It's just that in the case of TW, I think their past experience is guiding some of that hesitancy (whether well-founded or a little less so). I could be wrong of course, but I bet some of the above has at least something to do with it.

All that said, I also would LOVE to see Grapplesnake carried at TW, and even went so far as to start a thread on the very subject almost 2 years ago:

Grapplesnake Strings

@TW Staff - It would be great if you'd reconsider carrying Grapplesnake strings, at least their mainstays: Tour Sniper, Tour M8 and Game Changer, in all gauges. I think it's pretty clear from the forum activity that their product is not only competitive but class-leading in some cases, and...
tt.tennis-warehouse.com tt.tennis-warehouse.com

Obviously TW isn't interested enough (yet), whatever the reason. Hopefully they'll change course at some point!
 
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Inventory costs are not cheap. It probably is not worth it to TW to carry several hundred thousand dollars in stock and to have it turn over once a year. I would rather they carry the name brand stuff casual players want. Anyway, a simple Internet search can almost always find a seller somewhere that carries it. And 'gearheads' are not as loyal as people I know that are loyal to a name brand like Luxilon even tho it costs more. :whistle::alien:
 
esgee48 said:
Inventory costs are not cheap. It probably is not worth it to TW to carry several hundred thousand dollars in stock and to have it turn over once a year. I would rather they carry the name brand stuff casual players want. Anyway, a simple Internet search can almost always find a seller somewhere that carries it. And 'gearheads' are not as loyal as people I know that are loyal to a name brand like Luxilon even tho it costs more. :whistle::alien:
Click to expand...
Some people like order all their apparel, strings, rackets, etc at once so they can cut down on the headache and shipping costs. Regarding your point about a lot of money in stock, if they were to do a test order of 100 sets of Mako, TS, M8, and Alpha, and 50 reels of each, it shouldn't cost them more than $40k.
 
What brands TW should carry doesn't matter that much. As most brands are pretty easy to get.
What we do need is a place to get our hands on specific brands that are harder to get
So the question really is. What brands are hard to get for people from the US?
And what brands are hard to get for Europeans.

I myself can speak for Europeans, that the brands that are hard or less practical to get are Toroline, Restring, Ytex and Mayami kinda cause there situation changes constantly.
As for as Toroline and Restring go, we can get those if prepared to pay customs costs or getting it in portugal. The downside is mail delivery there is privaticed and thus a pain in the ... It's so freaking slow you see the grass grow.
As for mayami we all know the situation. Ytex is practicaly the only brand of interest that i can't get my hands on as European without a credit card. Did get my hands on Quadro Twist once, but forget about where i got that one.

So as for players from the US what are your brands you find hard to get?
 
Tennis And Anime Lover said:
What brands TW should carry doesn't matter that much. As most brands are pretty easy to get.
What we do need is a place to get our hands on specific brands that are harder to get
So the question really is. What brands are hard to get for people from the US?
And what brands are hard to get for Europeans.

I myself can speak for Europeans, that the brands that are hard or less practical to get are Toroline, Restring, Ytex and Mayami kinda cause there situation changes constantly.
As for as Toroline and Restring go, we can get those if prepared to pay customs costs or getting it in portugal. The downside is mail delivery there is privaticed and thus a pain in the ... It's so freaking slow you see the grass grow.
As for mayami we all know the situation. Ytex is practicaly the only brand of interest that i can't get my hands on as European without a credit card. Did get my hands on Quadro Twist once, but forget about where i got that one.

So as for players from the US what are your brands you find hard to get?
Click to expand...
One I can think of is Pacific. TW used to carry some years back but I think Pacific stopped their presence in the US. They make some good products especially string (natural gut, etc.). Another one I can think of is the Robin Soderling (RS) brand which I also think TW used to carry. RS and Pacific are definitely more popular in Europe than here in the US though.

As for Grapplesnake, it would be really cool to see them in TW but yeah demand might be an issue
 
elmaestro10s said:
One I can think of is Pacific. TW used to carry some years back but I think Pacific stopped their presence in the US. They make some good products especially string (natural gut, etc.). Another one I can think of is the Robin Soderling (RS) brand which I also think TW used to carry. RS and Pacific are definitely more popular in Europe than here in the US though.

As for Grapplesnake, it would be really cool to see them in TW but yeah demand might be an issue
Click to expand...
Grapplesnake is super popular in the US (as evidenced by the very active forum), so I don't think that demand will die out anytime soon. They've been active for about 5 years now, and I think that they are here to stay.

@TW Staff , do you care to chime in on this?
 
JK208 said:
Grapplesnake is super popular in the US (as evidenced by the very active forum), so I don't think that demand will die out anytime soon. They've been active for about 5 years now, and I think that they are here to stay.

@TW Staff , do you care to chime in on this?
Click to expand...
Maybe not a bad idea to actually start a new topic with an overview of hard to get brands voor US and European customers??? Collecting everything in 1 topic. As linking to sites is not permitted, we can let people know via pm still
 
Your assumption is that grapplesnake wants the reduced profits of selling their string wholesale which would take away sales at retail price. Volume of sales, yada yada…
 
A vendor should be willing to seed some inventory or do frequent replenishment to make it worthwhile to TW and alleviate inventory issues... though I don't really know how TW works.
 
Hey, Fellas!

Great conversation here. Thanks for tagging me, @JK208. Without wanting to get into too many details out of respect for TW and their own forum platform here, I will say that they have tested our strings a long time ago, and they loved them (their words). We have even offered to provide the initial inventory as a test, for free. From there, a long long time of waiting for them to make a decision, which bring us to today. The interest from players is there, I mean just our very thread here is super active at around 130k views, 3k comments, and so much positive activity. Before being "Grapplesnake USA Official", I was just another forum member here, and never saw something like that.

Regarding wholesales, just clarify that we would definitely like to be available in TW and all major online retailers for sure. As much growth as we've had selling direct to consumer, and as positive as everything has been, being available for thousands and thousands of people to see our strings in these sites every day would be even more amazing and a major step forward. Especially in TW, such a cool organization.

Just to touch upon the second comment here, I am of course biased, but there are some key differences between some of those other brand examples mentioned, and us. We are somewhat of a rare case, because at around 6 years in the market, we are still somewhat "new", but we have shown nothing but growth since the beginning. It has actually been crazy, with 99% positive comments/feedback in our thread here, and an overall great atmosphere and creativity within our company, always wanting to innovate and never compromising on quality. This has shown in many professional tennis players switching to Grapplesnake. They are not at the very very top, because there, everything is about money, and not too much about the string itself, but there are so many players that could have signed contracts with literally any major brand, but chose us. This is unique, because we can't offer as much sponsorship money on top of supplying them with strings as the other big brands can, and they still chose Grapplesnake.

I am talking about Mina Hodzic, four times German champion, she was playing with ALU before. She came to us. Certainly not for the money. Max Houkes, one of the best current Dutch players, he is only 22 years old and ranked around 270, he could have any contract, and switched from RPM to our Tour Sniper, because he can play better with it. Federico Gomez, who played the US Open qualifying rounds this year, currently 140 ATP, could have any contract as well; playing with Grapplesnake. Julian Cash, top 40 in doubles, same story. He has a contract with Babolat for frames and gave up some of his benefits to play with Grapplesnake strings. Nicola Kuhn, top 5 junior years back and now one of the best German players, contracted with IMG, formerly playing with Confidential, now with Tour M8. Isabella Shinikova, great talent, 10 years with RPM Blast, now with Tour Sniper. And more, and more. These stories can't really be told by any other "small" brand, and I think sets us apart.

Lastly, we aren't that small today, let alone stuck in that position. We are currently available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Russia, Kazakhstan, USA, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. Players and retailers in these countries requested us, which is great. I do not see this freight train slowing down, and I am personally super happy to still be here in the forum engaging as much as possible and enjoying this crazy ride.

Thanks again for this!
 
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@TW Staff

The products grapplesnake are producing are fantastic, the service is also one step ahead .

It would be amazing for customers to have offered to them in USA and Europe one of the leading brands in strings . I hope this can become to fruition soon :)
 
Grapplesnake USA Official said:
Just to touch upon the second comment here, I am of course biased, but there are some key differences between some of those other brand examples mentioned, and us.
Click to expand...
First off, I apologize if any of my post came off as a slight on anything G'Snake related. I went back and edited the language to ensure it doesn't come off that way. It certainly is a better product, and a great company, in many regards. Rather, it was the idea(s) behind TW's no-decision as of yet, that I was trying to explain. So I just wanted to clarify that and assert that I in no meant to cast any shade your way. I hope my edited post helps better communicate what I was initially trying to say.

And as I did say in that post, I'm still a HUGE fan of you, the brand and your strings, and I truly do hope you get placement at TW! *fingers crossed*
 
Trip said:
First off, I apologize if any of my post came off as a slight on anything G'Snake related. I went back and edited the language to ensure it doesn't come off that way. It certainly is a better product, and a great company, in many regards. Rather, it was the idea(s) behind TW's no-decision as of yet, that I was trying to explain. So I just wanted to clarify that and assert that I in no meant to cast any shade your way. I hope my edited post helps better communicate what I was initially trying to say.

And as I did say in that post, I'm still a HUGE fan of you, the brand and your strings, and I truly do hope you get placement at TW! *fingers crossed*
Click to expand...
Thank you so much, and it was definitely not taken negatively, just wanted to expand on that point. You guys have always been great supporters and I appreciate that every day.
 
Grapplesnake USA Official said:
Hey, Fellas!

Great conversation here. Thanks for tagging me, @JK208. Without wanting to get into too many details out of respect for TW and their own forum platform here, I will say that they have tested our strings a long time ago, and they loved them (their words). We have even offered to provide the initial inventory as a test, for free. From there, a long long time of waiting for them to make a decision, which bring us to today. The interest from players is there, I mean just our very thread here is super active at around 130k views, 3k comments, and so much positive activity. Before being "Grapplesnake USA Official", I was just another forum member here, and never saw something like that.

Regarding wholesales, just clarify that we would definitely like to be available in TW and all major online retailers for sure. As much growth as we've had selling direct to consumer, and as positive as everything has been, being available for thousands and thousands of people to see our strings in these sites every day would be even more amazing and a major step forward. Especially in TW, such a cool organization.

Just to touch upon the second comment here, I am of course biased, but there are some key differences between some of those other brand examples mentioned, and us. We are somewhat of a rare case, because at around 6 years in the market, we are still somewhat "new", but we have shown nothing but growth since the beginning. It has actually been crazy, with 99% positive comments/feedback in our thread here, and an overall great atmosphere and creativity within our company, always wanting to innovate and never compromising on quality. This has shown in many professional tennis players switching to Grapplesnake. They are not at the very very top, because there, everything is about money, and not too much about the string itself, but there are so many players that could have signed contracts with literally any major brand, but chose us. This is unique, because we can't offer as much sponsorship money on top of supplying them with strings as the other big brands can, and they still chose Grapplesnake.

I am talking about Mina Hodzic, four times German champion, she was playing with ALU before. She came to us. Certainly not for the money. Max Houkes, one of the best current Dutch players, he is only 22 years old and ranked around 270, he could have any contract, and switched from RPM to our Tour Sniper, because he can play better with it. Federico Gomez, who played the US Open qualifying rounds this year, currently 140 ATP, could have any contract as well; playing with Grapplesnake. Julian Cash, top 40 in doubles, same story. He has a contract with Babolat for frames and gave up some of his benefits to play with Grapplesnake strings. Nicola Kuhn, top 5 junior years back and now one of the best German players, contracted with IMG, formerly playing with Confidential, now with Tour M8. Isabella Shinikova, great talent, 10 years with RPM Blast, now with Tour Sniper. And more, and more. These stories can't really be told by any other "small" brand, and I think sets us apart.

Lastly, we aren't that small today, let alone stuck in that position. We are currently available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Russia, Kazakhstan, USA, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. Players and retailers in these countries requested us, which is great. I do not see this freight train slowing down, and I am personally super happy to still be here in the forum engaging as much as possible and enjoying this crazy ride.

Thanks again for this!
Click to expand...
Great response. @dr. godmode , can you comment on how Grapplesnake is selling in comparison to Solinco? I'm pretty curious on what happens when someone sells both.
 
JK208 said:
Great response. @dr. godmode , can you comment on how Grapplesnake is selling in comparison to Solinco? I'm pretty curious on what happens when someone sells both.
Click to expand...
I'm probably not a great example because my reach is to niche of mega nerds, all of which who have probably tried Solinco before... but at least 10:1 in favour of Grapp
 
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dr. godmode said:
I'm probably not a great example because my reach is to niche of mega nerds, all of which who have probably tried Solinco before... but at least 10:1 in favour of Grapp
Click to expand...
Wow. That is really impressive- I'm really happy to see Grapplesnake (and you) doing so well. Hopefully the Corvette didn't take away from the Tenncom expansion money :-D
 
Grapplesnake USA Official said:
Hey, Fellas!

Great conversation here. Thanks for tagging me, @JK208. Without wanting to get into too many details out of respect for TW and their own forum platform here, I will say that they have tested our strings a long time ago, and they loved them (their words). We have even offered to provide the initial inventory as a test, for free. From there, a long long time of waiting for them to make a decision, which bring us to today. The interest from players is there, I mean just our very thread here is super active at around 130k views, 3k comments, and so much positive activity. Before being "Grapplesnake USA Official", I was just another forum member here, and never saw something like that.

Regarding wholesales, just clarify that we would definitely like to be available in TW and all major online retailers for sure. As much growth as we've had selling direct to consumer, and as positive as everything has been, being available for thousands and thousands of people to see our strings in these sites every day would be even more amazing and a major step forward. Especially in TW, such a cool organization.

Just to touch upon the second comment here, I am of course biased, but there are some key differences between some of those other brand examples mentioned, and us. We are somewhat of a rare case, because at around 6 years in the market, we are still somewhat "new", but we have shown nothing but growth since the beginning. It has actually been crazy, with 99% positive comments/feedback in our thread here, and an overall great atmosphere and creativity within our company, always wanting to innovate and never compromising on quality. This has shown in many professional tennis players switching to Grapplesnake. They are not at the very very top, because there, everything is about money, and not too much about the string itself, but there are so many players that could have signed contracts with literally any major brand, but chose us. This is unique, because we can't offer as much sponsorship money on top of supplying them with strings as the other big brands can, and they still chose Grapplesnake.

I am talking about Mina Hodzic, four times German champion, she was playing with ALU before. She came to us. Certainly not for the money. Max Houkes, one of the best current Dutch players, he is only 22 years old and ranked around 270, he could have any contract, and switched from RPM to our Tour Sniper, because he can play better with it. Federico Gomez, who played the US Open qualifying rounds this year, currently 140 ATP, could have any contract as well; playing with Grapplesnake. Julian Cash, top 40 in doubles, same story. He has a contract with Babolat for frames and gave up some of his benefits to play with Grapplesnake strings. Nicola Kuhn, top 5 junior years back and now one of the best German players, contracted with IMG, formerly playing with Confidential, now with Tour M8. Isabella Shinikova, great talent, 10 years with RPM Blast, now with Tour Sniper. And more, and more. These stories can't really be told by any other "small" brand, and I think sets us apart.

Lastly, we aren't that small today, let alone stuck in that position. We are currently available in Germany, Austria, Switzerland, Denmark, Norway, Finland, Sweden, Russia, Kazakhstan, USA, Canada, Chile, Ecuador, Brazil, Argentina, South Korea, Singapore, Indonesia and the Philippines. Players and retailers in these countries requested us, which is great. I do not see this freight train slowing down, and I am personally super happy to still be here in the forum engaging as much as possible and enjoying this crazy ride.

Thanks again for this!
Click to expand...

Love seeing this type of interaction on our forums. A great way to connect the most passionate about gear, thanks for sharing
 
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