SINCLAIR RESEARCH has introduced a new form of selling to the U.K. market. Following its success with mail order, it has now introduced the concept of limited mail order. Instead of offering goods for sale to anyone, it is making sure it can control demand by sending order forms to a select group of possible customers.
The novel idea has been introduced into the selling of its latest technological breakthrough, the ZX Microdrive and associated interfaces. It is the result of the company’s experiences in launching previous major products, the ZX80, ZX81 and Spectrum. All three suffered from delivery delays mainly because the demand was far larger than anticipated. The first few months following the launch of the Spectrum were dominated by news of missed delivery dates with some people having to wait up to four months for their machines which were ordered on the promise of 28 days delivery. The Spectrum was launched in April, but the situation did not return to normal until Christmas.
It was expected that when the Microdrives finally appeared that Sinclair Research would attempt to ensure that problems did not occur again by having sufficient stocks to take care of any explosion in demand. This of course is not an ideal solution when a revolutionary product is being launched. Past experience of other new products can provide little more than a rough guide as to what demand can be expected.
If this proves to be an underestimate, then delivery delays occur again. If it is an overestimate, Sinclair is left holding stocks for which it has no immediate customers.
The company, however, has two advantages over any other company in the same position. Because of its mail-order sales, it is able to identify many potential customers. It also has a captive audience as no one else has brought out a mass-storage device for the Spectrum at a similar price. It has been able, therefore, to send order forms to the first 1,000 people who bought the Spectrum last year in the knowledge that it will not lose any potential customers to a rival producer by asking them to wait a little longer.
By limiting the demand in this way, Sinclair Research is hoping to avoid the confusion and annoyance at ordering something on the promise of 28 days delivery and then not knowing when it is going to arrive. It is also intended to compensate for the delays of last year. Those who had to wait the longest were among the first to order the new machine.
In addition, the company hopes to be able to gauge the response of the Sinclair market to the new device. It is doubtful if it will be successful in giving an early indication of that unless production can be increased quickly. With large numbers of people having waited a long time already it is thought that most people with an order form will buy one whether they want one or not in the hope of being able to resell it at a premium. An alternative would be to sell the order form to the highest bidder.
By the time the full list of mail-order customers has been exhausted, however, a better idea of the proportion of Spectrum owners wanting the Microdrive will have been obtained.
How long it will be before Timex takes advantage of its agreement with Sinclair Research to make use of all its development work is still not known.
— Nigel Clark
in London