I, personally, not being a kit manufacturer, can't work out how the MMP range of kits can be cost effective for the manufacturer. There's a lot of kit in the box, all top quality, yet the price is incredibly good. Even a JLTRT kit is fairly good value for money, yet between the two is quite a margin.
Heather - you must seen some of my previous postings.
As I have tried to explain several times on here these kits are lower in price, relative to what you get in the box, than most other railway kits because they are susidised by our military ranges. Remember too that they also include VAT @20%, unlike most of the part-time manufacturers that are not VAT registered.
We pay prices for much of our input material that most of you could only dream about and that economy of scale can only come from a large enough number of products over four ranges. As an example, we spend around £300 a week on postage and between £500-700 a`month just on printing of instructions & labels. This throughput enables you to haggle with suppliers to get better prices and SOME of these savings we pass on!
However we are not a charity and I am a mercenary sod! - so I can assure you that we have set minimum mark ups for ALL our products and that is absolutely sactosanct! We never deviate from that otherwise it becomes impossible for full time kit manufacturer to live with any degree of luxury!
As I see it, cutting input costs is the duty of a manufacturer. An example is the 100gsm paper we use for our instructions. When we need another batch I decide on the sort of price I am willing to pay and I just find someone who will supply it within, say, 5-10% of that price. I may have to buy a lot of it to cut the deal but then they in turn, want a large order.
Where we might deviate from the some railway kit makers is that we do not say 'that would be a nice kit to produce at any cost because I want one'. We decide on what we think the punters will pay. Then we have to produce it to a good quality to sell at that price but without affecting the percentage mark up we require. That is the juggling act that is helped by the advantageous prices we pay for some of our inputs. If our prices seem low to you then you can thank the modellers who add metal to their Lancasters, Tornadoes and Flower Class Corvettes.
I have been around long enough to have seen many traders come and go. I've seen the ones who produce one or two kits and then turn up at Telford [or Bletchley, when I used to do shows] and sell a kit or two and then dance a jig of delight around their stands. But that is not being a manufacturer and it does not put them in profit. The profit bit is the difficult bit!
To turn your posting around a little - your post says that you also think another manufacturers kits are fairly good value - now that I cannot understand and your assessment seems to be to be based on very different economics and a 'perceived value' to that which I understand!
Regards,
DJP/MMP
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