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it might be the case that I am missing the essense about statistics.

It seems that the market share of Best is really significant taking into account that Best started in 2004 only.

Let´s assume for the moment that kites are being used (first hand or second hand) three years, all major competitors of Best have been there already in 2001, their relative market share has been the same over three years and market overall has not grown. I know, a lot of assumptions. It helps to simplify.

As a result Naish (14%), Cabrinha (12%) and North (8%) have sold kites over three year with most of them still in use somewhere while Best (12%) has only sold in 2004.

Let assume it is really true that Best holds a comparable market share (question is: what brand do you fly?; answers should be based on kites in use and not only newly bought kites) as the three companies mentioned above.

As a simple result of mathematics Best must have sold three times as much as Naish or Cabrinha or North (at least roughly). Or in other words: In 2004 Best has sold as many kites as all three brands together.

Probably I am getting too old and my eyes are losing sharpness. But I cannot really find them on the beaches in Europe. At least not in quantities as this poll might indicate. Are Best riders limiting themselves to secret spots only?

This poll again shows why you should not believe statistics you did not made up yourself.

There could be a good reason for these results: Best riders spend much more time in the internet than the rest of the kiteboarding community and therefore have a higher relative weight in this poll. A reason for this might be that they do not like their kites too much and prefer being in the internet rather than being on the water. Since I have a good friend who rides Best and likes them I think this is not the reason.

Conclusion: Poll result does not mean anything. But it is nice chatting about it.

Dirk

kite only wrote:As a simple result of mathematics Best must have sold three times as much as Naish or Cabrinha or North (at least roughly). Or in other words: In 2004 Best has sold as many kites as all three brands together.

I don't think you're far off there.

Let's make another poll! How many riders with Best kites did you see at your local spot?

I saw only 1 guy with Best Nemesis...

kite only wrote:Conclusion: Poll result does not mean anything. But it is nice chatting about it.

Dirk

Maybe it means all the best posts scared everyone else off? Hmm, I don't think that's it either because I started a poll about 9 months ago that Toby made sticky for about 6 weeks. It didn't have as many responses as this one, only around 200. It was well before Best came around. This one has more responses and includes Best. Hmmm...

As far as not seeing any Best kites, that was totally true around here up until around 3 weeks ago. Since then I've seen about a 10 people with quivers. I also talked with somebody the other day who rides with several people who got Best gear. The areas where I see the least kites are where the industry/pros/shops have the most influence.

gumball wrote:

kite only wrote:As a simple result of mathematics Best must have sold three times as much as Naish or Cabrinha or North (at least roughly). Or in other words: In 2004 Best has sold as many kites as all three brands together.

I don't think you're far off there.

Where are they? Who buys so many kites and does not use them?

Dirk

Dirk, you need to understand the world market to answer this:

Germany is one of the cheapest markets for kites, therefore it is not a big difference from Best to Naish etc prices.
So customers prefer to buy a known brand.

See Australia, the US and UK (huge markets!). Here it is a different story. The difference is much bigger and therefore many more Best kites are sold in these areas than in Germany.

And who uses this site the most, since it is their native language?
Correct, Australians, US and UK citizen!

And of course, since Best is an internet sales company, they get the most customers from the net.

Who do you think buys the most Dell computers: people living online or people without internet access?

So take the results mainly for people using the internet, not living without it (magazine readers).

But interesting topic....where will we be next year????
You may keep that in mind as well, don't be surprised....

Greets
Toby

kite only wrote:it might be the case that I am missing the essense about statistics.


This poll again shows why you should not believe statistics you did not made up yourself.

I have to laugh at this... the worse thing that can possibly happen is to believe statistics that YOU MADE UP!

What Toby says is true too... this is an English language website... but then again it is the business language.

As to quantifying whether how dominant Best is... I think you are looking at the wrong end of the donkey... the fact that you have not seen many Best kites but have heard of the company and know a little or a lot about the products means everything in market share potential... brand recognition, generally belief that products perform well and backed by exceptional warranty service... combine this with unbeatable pricing package... that's much more concrete statisitics than any poll.

I agree, US and Australia might be different but I thought this poll is global. I did not know that it is limited to US, Australia and UK.

My out in the field impression is only limited to Belgium, Netherlands, Spain, Portugal, France, Germany, Austria, Italy, Egypt. All within the last three months. Same picture all over the place. Best is minority in these more or less important markets. As Europe is still more likely the bigger market than US I doubt that the poll result reflects global reality.

So I do still not understand who bought so many kites from Best. If they are limited more or less to the US they should have sold 6 times as much as Naish in 2004. Did you see 7 kites in one place with 6 of them Best and only 1 Naish?

I doubt it, even for the US.

In the long run it is probably the same as with Dell, IBM and HP. IBM and HP are much stronger today than before when Dell was not around.

Dirk

at my beach the only new kites are best kites and 1 x4, i think there is another x4 on order but the rep for them lives there too.

kite only wrote:Best is minority in these more or less important markets. As Europe is still more likely the bigger market than US I doubt that the poll result reflects global reality.

I think yours and Toby's are all good points... but even if you take the poll as given, no kite brand has a dominant share... so if you are looking for a Best kite, 1 in 5 or 10 would be a "minority" wouldn't it?

Just take a look at the list, how many of those brands have you not seen, probably the majority... plus, major spots will be dominant with whatever the local shops are carrying... and Best is just starting... Best will likely have more a diffused distribution the majority of people who are not near a kiteshop and are used to buying online will naturally buy from Best... penetrating the major spots will always take longer... but hey... reread the comments from January and you will know how far the company has progressed...