ROKA wrote:
Hey Trent,
I'm a little surprised to read this sort of trash talk on this thread since your shop actually applied to open a wholesale account with us in February 2015, but perhaps it's sour grapes since we opted not to move forward. I don't see you as a customer anywhere in our system, but it reads like you have at least tried some of our products, which is great. Not sure what you've tried and which products struck you as lacking innovation.
In any case, please allow me to address your comments. I don't care about the sustainability comments since you don't actually know our financials, but I take issue with your specific comment about innovation.
While some can certainly argue on degree of innovation, I think it is ridiculous to say we haven't brought anything innovative to market since launching in 2013, besides packaging. I like our packaging too, by the way, but gimme a break.
Definition of innovation
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1: the introduction of something new
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2: a new idea, method, or device : novelty
Here are four quick dimensions of third-party validation for you to consider.
Athletes - we would never have signed our biggest athletes, who depend on our product for their livelihood, without innovative products You can say maybe that our products don't influence the outcome of a race much or that using equipment "as good" as others is sufficient for these athletes when sponsorship dollars are on the line, but you'd be wrong, especially in ITU, where the right swim products can absolutely be the difference between making the lead group or getting dropped. Given the size of our sponsorship deals, which in some case are quite small or are gear support only, there is zero chance that any of our top ITU athletes would work with us if they didn't believe our products were superior to what's on the market.
IP Protection - We have several registered patents internationally, which means that by legal definition and third-party assessment, we are innovative. These patents cover our wetsuits, sim shorts, goggles, hand paddles and eyewear. We also have numerous other innovative products in development and numerous other patent applications in process. We spend literally hundreds of thousands of dollars to protect our IP precisely because we think it is innovative and provides a performance benefit, as well as a platform for new product development over time. Believe me, that is not marketing spend, as we could get a much better short-term ROI doing other things. :)
Press/Media/Industry validation - We've won numerous awards, including an ISPO award for our Maverick Pro Wetsuits and a Runner's World Gear of the Year for one of our run shorts. Many of our products have been widely acknowledged in and out of the endemic space, including on this very website, as being innovative on at least one dimension or another, including design, fit, function, materials, or construction.
Customer Happiness - Our customers love our products, and our net promoter score has averaged 84 since we started tracking it by a third-party in May 2014. We also track numerous other metrics for customer satisfaction, return rates, etc. Our cohort analysis suggests that people are ordering more from us over time, not less, precisely because they like our products. Lastly, you can also read the product reviews on our website, which are administered by an independent third-party and can't be manipulated. In those reviews, many people discuss how they found one or more innovations in our products.
Overall, triathletes are a fickle bunch and are always looking for the next level in innovation and performance. Sometimes it's a step change, and sometimes it's just stopping that one seam from chafing on the run. We get that. Given the competitive landscape and our price points, there is no way we could be growing at the rate we are, and with the retention rate we have, if our products didn't stand up to the test.
So again, am not sure what's informing your analysis, and maybe it's just that you haven't tried our products for real or haven't talked to enough of our customers who have used them, but I'd encourage you to learn more about our stuff before you just blast us on a public forum. That sort of thing obviously begs for a response, and we'd prefer not to get into a food fight. I spend a lot of time on this forum trying to understand what people want, trying to answer questions, and trying to help customers. Would prefer to be doing that vs. defending ROKA against unsubstantiated comments.
Re: profitability, and sustainability, we are very comfortable with our financial position and as a private company don't comment on the details of that publicly. Suffice it to say, we believe we are well-run and well-advised. We have a very strong core business and are simultaneously investing in future growth.
Re: how the media covers us - this is out of our control, but we're grateful for the elevated awareness.
Lastly, re: packaging, thanks. We like our packaging too. My teammate Mark Niiro (
https://www.linkedin.com/in/mniiro) runs packaging for us and joined us from Apple, where he also ran their packaging team for some of the world's favorite electronics. He is also an accomplished athlete and won the Texas State Crit Championship in his age group this year and was third at Masters Nationals. In addition to running packaging, he's also an accomplished product designer. He's currently contributing to the development of some cycling-specific eyewear along with five A+ design engineers we recently hired from Oakley, but I won't tell any of them you don't think their products will be innovative or that you think we're going under. :)
Since you're local, I'd like to invite you to come over to our shop sometime so you can check out our products, maybe go for a swim in our gym, and peak under the hood to see what we're really up to. Perhaps we can print out a hatchet on one of our 3D printers and bury it together. :) :)
Best,
Rob
I think you misread my post - or perhaps I wasn't clear enough - if you took it as trash talk. That's unfortunate, and was not my intention. I am aware, though, that it was likely ROKA and others would read my posts.
What you are doing and the success you are (or are not) having wasn't my point. My point was that the
perception of innovation that was promoted by several I heard from at TBI was not consistent with what I see from your company. Perhaps you're model is terrific. Perhaps your product is terrific. Perhaps your method of reaching customers is terrific. But innovative is not the words I would used to describe it.
I would say the same thing about my own shop. I've talked to other retailers that have asked what our
secret is that has led to what modest success we've had. The fact is, there is no secret. There is no switch to flip. It is the tuning of 1000 individual knobs that has resulted in a recipe that has, at least so far, provided us with sustainable success. I do not consider those efforts to be innovative, and think the word is thrown around far too often to describe what companies are doing. If the word gets overused, it will lose its meaning altogether. To each their own, maybe.
I'm a student of the economics of specialty sporting goods retail and the business of triathlon. I'm finding few others are, unfortunately, so sometimes my concerns aren't shared with others.
In regards to our historical relationship, you have it backwards.
We opted not to move forward, as we found the buy-in unnecessarily high and we found that your direct-to-consumer efforts were damaging to the profitability of the product for retailers. I made that decision personally, after our buyer opened the account. I believe you'll find that while the account was opened, no orders were placed or attempted. It's a shame you neglected to mention that, because I think it's an important piece of information to understand my perspective, which is not the product of sour grapes.
It is prudent not to carry product that sells, but to carry product that sells profitably. The recent (and ongoing) carnage of bike and run retail stores closing would indicate that this is an important point if one believes, like I do, that brick and mortar retail has a place in the industry's future. Perhaps you don't believe that's the case. If not, then I think the result you expect will hurt us both.
There is no hatchet to bury. So no printing is necessary. I can only provide my opinion and my arguments of support, and people can take from it what they will.
Time will tell whether I'm right about anything, but I'd expect to find little comfort in being right or little embarrassment in being wrong. I just hope that presenting my perspective and seeing arguments to the contrary will help me navigate whatever future is to come.
Trent Nix
Owned and operated Tri Shop
F.I.S.T. Advanced Certified Fitter | Retul Master Certified Fitter (back when those were things)
