Tag: avadirect
This Is What’s Wrong With The Boutique Biz
by Chris Morley on Jun.06, 2008, under Industry Analysis
Since some people get their panties in a wad when I don’t fully disclose every business venture I’m affiliated with at the start of every sentence that comes out of my mouth, I must again remind people (and probably for the first time on THIS blog) that I do consult for MAINGEAR Computers.
In doing some competitive analysis, I came upon this gem of a post from a boutique builder as to why they are “better.” To me it sums up the biggest problem facing the boutique business:
But they offer a very limited amount of options and choices. They also charge more than us for the same options and configs. Sure people are happy because they can spit out these systems fast, and they know they work.
Our systems are completely different for every system we build. We have no idea what our next order is going to be. Sometimes components just do not want to work together and sometimes they work together the first time.
I’m not sure where to begin on this because it is so full of fail. First off - being able to be sure that a configuration is going to work is a Good Thing. That’s the point of a limited number of choices. If you offer 8 vendors’ motherboards, 6 vendors’ memory, and an equal number of heat sinks, power supplies, etc, there is no way to ensure that all configurations are compatible. That means there’s a very realistic chance that a customer will order a system that the company has never built before nor fully qualified as a reliable product. Furthermore, can you imagine the support nightmare? Personally, if I wanted to call up technical support on a product that I’ve dropped $2,000 on, I’d want to be damn sure that the person on the other end has at least SEEN a configuration like mine before.
I’ve run a real product development lab at a $30 million dollar company. I know exactly how difficult it is to balance choice versus responsibility when it comes to your customers. There is a balance and you always err on the side of responsibility. It is flat out not worth it to add that latest hot motherboard that got a great review on a website just because you don’t want to lose a sale. You must properly qualify it in your system configurations and in your production process.
To do otherwise is simply irresponsible and reprehensible.
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: Nice update to the site Chris, looks really good! We have recently launched http://www.allhtpc.com Come check us out, we would love to have you over there.
