K888D I think the passion you put towards your product is really remarkable and it was definitely one of the reasons why I went with your product. Also, disclosing your costs and markups is admirable and I really appreciate you doing it.
Yes, this product costs an arm and a leg but to me it is justifiable because as it is now this is the only product in the market that has a certain set of features: cooling, thermals, compatibility, volume, interchangeable parts, design, (availability) ... If you want those features you pay, if you don't need them you can go and buy a 30£ case with a little more volume, no one is forcing you to buy this one.
This is how i see it and why I bought this case.
Thanks for the comments, I really do appreciate it!
Admittedly I didn't think the cost were this high, but I still think there is a big missed opportunity in the after sale customer experience. I'm a marketing guy (up for hire :-) ) and to me the customization is a strong unique selling point of this case. Not being able to further customize/upgrade it after the first purchase, because price becomes prohibitive, shortens the life span of the product and somehow undermines the product itself.
You make lots of very good points, I will try and address them in more detail below.
- What about lowering your own margin ? I think that 20% is a really fair margin but maybe the reduction of it could increase your volume of sales and compensate. More customers, more word-of-mouth, more sales...
Hopefully over time I may be able to consider a reduction in margin to help bring prices down, but at the moment I have not yet recovered the investment I have put into the business.
Clearly this is a production cost issue but maybe there are ways around it...
- Have you considered handling the distribution in-house ? that 20% markup gives nothing* to you and makes a big difference in the end price. [*I know there are some benefits on using their platform]
Yes handling the distribution myself and selling direct to customers would reduce the cost of the case/parts.
However, I am very grateful to the opportunity that Overclockers UK gave me. We worked together to form a plan, after which they placed a size-able order for the various case parts enabling me to confidently invest in my own laser cutting equipment.
The laser cutter is the key to how Lazer3D can offer so much customisation off the shelf, without the help and commitment from Overclockers UK my finances would have been limited and I would likely have had to stick to small batch runs with long lead times and only a few customisation options, similar to how the LZ7 First Edition was handled.
In returns for Overclockers assistance in bringing the case to market I agreed for them (and Caseking, who own Overclockers) to be the exclusive EU retailers, therefore meaning I cannot sell directly to EU based customers as I would then become a competitor!
I made sure to get the Noctua NH-D9L from a seller which accepts returns so if it doesn't fit i can replace it with the NH-U9S.
Very interested to hear how you get on with this cooler compatibility wise.
