Why do takeovers discontinue lures?

[Will1248]

So when pradco, purefishing etc.. take over lets say norman, war eagle, sebile, and Xcalibur. 

Why do they discontinue the lures and colors that grew the fan base??? 

That doesnt make any sense. They cut great products only to replace them with crappier, cheaper or just garbage models. Xcalibur Xr50 to Booyah lipless. 

Colors... gone. Great hooks... gone. The design is similar but they run completely different. 

It seems like when a small company has a great product for cheap a big company buys them out. The products that helped make the brand are tossed aside. Cheaper materials get used for an increased price driving a once amazing budget product away forever. 

They discontinue entire lines, only to never replace them with the same quality for price. THATS WHAT GREW THE BRAND!! They assimilate the technology only to never, or barely use it, but with less quality and an increased price. Every time it seems that I find a cheap and good quality lure line. It gets discontinued or bought out.

 

Storm subwart. Xcalibur brand. Sebile brand. Storm arashi 3' rattling. 

 

I feel like the brands usually diminish products and innovation as they go on. What works and isnt broke is thrown away after inquisition. Rant over but dang do I miss subwarts, manns minus-1 is close but for some reason I catch so much more on the one bass pattern that I have left, it has caught over 100 alone. If they scrap Norman gel coating or N series it will be a very sad day. 

 

How do you feel about the bitter sweet takeovers and discontinuations?

 

 

[Deleted account]

For the same reason any company does anything. $$$.

 

The reason conglomerates can buy small cottage businesses on the cheap, is because often the acquired business is operated with an "enthusiast" frame of mind, and find themselves unprofitable or insolvent at some point. So why wouldn't they now use the brand(s) acquired to market a larger volume of product to a wider consumer base? 

I'm not suggesting this is a good thing, just that it makes good financial sense.

[Chance_Taker4]

As a financial advisor and scout for a bank my job is to keep track of small banks and when they hit a certain "score" write up a proposal to purchase said small bank. We acquire about two small banks a year. And when we do acquire the banks we put everyone in our accounts paying our fees. We don't buy other banks because they offer good products but to eliminate competition, the same reason fishing companies get bought out.

 

[burrows]

Take it from me a financial mess and a scout for good lures ,Stock up on war eagles before they make those slight changes that’s all I gotta say. It takes them about a year to make complete changes and from there on the changes just continue. 

[Will1248]

But do they ever experience backlash and aggregate loss after the takeover? Sebile had a market for very innovative and productive products that sold like hot cakes, but now they are gone. Wouldnt it make sense to test the waters with the current unaltered product and compare it to a new cheaper crappy option under the same brand? Or does extinguishing and forcing a buy that many people probably wont purchase after one of the new items really make that much more money at the cost of reputation?

[the reel ess]

They make decisions based purely on profits and nothing else matters. They couldn't care less how many fish we catch. But necessity (our desire to catch fish) is the mother of invention. If there's a market vacuum and it looks profitable, someone will eventually fill it. 

[Deleted account]

2 hours ago, Chance_Taker4 said:

As a financial advisor and scout for a bank my job is to keep track of small banks and when they hit a certain "score" write up a proposal to purchase said small bank. We acquire about two small banks a year. And when we do acquire the banks we put everyone in our accounts paying our fees. We don't buy other banks because they offer good products but to eliminate competition, the same reason fishing companies get bought out.

 

As someone who did a short stint with CitiCorp® in the 80s, I'll say a little prayer for you, but I would pack the (really, really) warm water species lures if I were you...

[burrows]

I worked for a big company don’t want to mention the company but the product is in many of your households. The company was Bought off by another major company and the changes didn’t happen over night it definitely took about six months to a year some changes were cutting cost with cheaper material some changes can be good but it does take time for the company’s to make those changes it doesn’t happen overnight.

[J Francho]

6 hours ago, Will1248 said:

Xcalibur Xr50 to Booyah lipless. 

Colors... gone. Great hooks... gone.

The baits and hooks are exactly the same, just the colors, and the name on the package changed.  I have baits from both.  Xcalibur was always a Pradco brand.  They just folded the line into Boo-Yah.

[Boomstick]

Remember when iTunes became popular so Apple bought out competing websites like lala.com and shut them all down? By removing the competition, you put people onto your offerings.

 

Similarly, if tackle manufacturers keep the tackle around, they have to keep paying to manufacture it which costs them money. It's often more profitable to remove competitors and get everyone buying your offerings, sadly.

[burrows]

Kinda like how eye glasses are all owned by one major company except for a few that didn’t sellout.

[Will1248]

@burros and then partnered with opticians and then lobby for their monopoly forcing the government and insurance companies to wildly overpay for a test you could easily administer by yourself and of course glasses. The best part is mine only cover 6 months worth of contacts by insurance!?!?!

[Cgolf]

I am curious what Pradco is going to do with the Bandit line. The ran a Facebook thing a while back that they were going to try to reproduce the original molds. I know over the years all of my Bandits have caught fish, but some snag up a lot less than others. This could be a case where it could work out in our favor minus the price increase after the buyout. 

[iabass8]

Xcalibur baits had people's signatures no them. Xcalibur was having to pay royalties to these pros even after they left. They dissolved the company and are now making baits under the Booyah brand thus resulting in not paying royalties. The tungsten weight in the bait is a little smaller thus the weight difference (1/2oz vs 5/8)  and there is a sound variation but it's subtle. I'm holding an XRK and a booyah 1 knocker and shaking them. Sounds are different. Again it's subtle, but different none the less. It's the same body of bait. Colors are obviously different but there's apparently a rumor a lot of the colors people complained were gone are coming back this year. 

[fishnkamp]

My absolute favorite color of the XRK50 and XRK75s was the Telopea. My stripers ate it like it was a live alewife.

[kickerfish1]

They do it so the bait flippers can keep their hobby of hunting for these discontinued baits from garage sales, small tackle shops, and people that don't know. Then they sell them to people on forums and Ebay for a profit. Xcalibur, original warts, original run vixens, etc.

 

Yea you know these dbs when you see them.

[Bluebasser86]

5 hours ago, fishnkamp said:

My absolute favorite color of the XR50 and XR75s was the Telopea. My stripers ate it like it was a live alewife.

One of my favorites as well. I have one XRK50 in Tilapia left that I'm scared to fish. It's a great juvi bluegill imitation. 

[Munkin]

16 hours ago, kickerfish1 said:

They do it so the bait flippers can keep their hobby of hunting for these discontinued baits from garage sales, small tackle shops, and people that don't know. Then they sell them to people on forums and Ebay for a profit. Xcalibur, original warts, original run vixens, etc.

 

Yea you know these dbs when you see them.

The flippers tick me off as well! I had someone give me a story about how something was their fathers favorite so I sent one for the cost of shipping. Now I knew what the going rate was on ebay but hey I was helping out an elderly fisherman. A few days latter the bait appeared on ebay with like a $75 starting bid by someone with the same username.

 

Allen

[J Francho]

Wiggle Warts were an interesting thing.  The issue was that it was the "bad" baits - ones that hunted and didn't track straight - were actually the good baits that were sought after and desired. Storm gets gobbled up, and that inconstancy problem get "fixed" and all the baits run true.  Now you have all kinds of OG Warts jumping up in price, and people complaining the new Warts aren't as good.  Meanwhile, people are unwittingly paying more for old Warts that work properly, while guys are hoarding the "bad" baits with the unusual action.  It's a cesspool.   I have a few of the true, "bad" hunting action warts.  I paid dearly for them from a trusted friend.  I also have some Sub Warts and Pee Wee Warts that I've had since I was a kid.

[Columbia Craw]

I think the sales people at the corporate level apply sales figures of colors, models of other like baits.  The cost of inventory is murder if it sits on the shelf stagnant. That is why sporting goods companies have such a tough time staying in business.  The shear inventory to cover all the options is staggering.  If the company doesn't achieve the number of turns a year, it impacts profit. 

 

Normans dropped a color that I love several years ago.  I knee jerked and bought everyone I could find and ended up with twenty of that color pattern.  A year later they put it back into production. Go figure. At least I'm set for life and beyond.

[Spankey]

Great post. This has been my feeling for quite a long time. I have Bandits that are long discontinued. Glad I have doubles and triples of some of them. Maybe it's a confidence thing, maybe it's that they work well in my region but whatever they are no longer available. They have some newer patterns and I just don't feel it with them. 

[thinkingredneck]

Corporate 101.  You have to grow every year to satisfy the board and owners.  It is ruthless.  You have to plan your growth (forcast) and make your plan (deliver your forcast).  There are two ways to grow, by increasing revenue in your company, or buy someone else's company.  You do not buy companies unless there are perceived inefficiencies, where you can tighten things up, whether it be personnel , tax advantages (move) or eliminate stagnant lines.  

We are enthusiasts,  but the large companies want to appeal to the general public.

one thing for sure:  buyout = change.

[Mobasser]

Sadly, this is all profit motivated.  I would even venture to guess that the bigwigs who make these changes don't even fish!

[J Francho]

If a company makes no profit, then there are no lures.

[dblades]

On 3/12/2018 at 8:32 AM, Chato_ said:

Take it from me a financial mess and a scout for good lures ,Stock up on war eagles before they make those slight changes that’s all I gotta say. It takes them about a year to make complete changes and from there on the changes just continue. 

They have already ruined War Eagle spinnerbait, changed skirt colors and eliminated the wire tied skirts. War Eagles were always disposable baits anyway, a couple of good fish and you'd better get another one tied on before it breaks and you lose a good one. Guess I'll buy my baits from a custom guy from now one. One shop locally has received the last good War Eagles they are getting in.