Products I feel theory11 would benefit from having

[Madrovych]

Hello there Dear Reader,

As this is my very first forum post, and I am currently staying up quite late, please kindly either ignore any glaring faults with this post, or on the other hand, feel free to openly mock them in the replies below. It's up to you. Actually, I would quite honestly prefer the latter. Makes for quite the anecdote, that it does.

Alright, now getting to the actual topic at hand here, these are some things that I feel would be great additions to T11 (that's what I'm referring to Theory11 from now on, as it takes less time to type, and goodness knows if there's one characteristic that defines me, that's laziness) as far as it's store is concerned.

On the playing cards front, I feel that so far it has pretty much everything covered, except for the glaring lack of Fontaine cards, but I'm sure that hole of disappointment will eventually heal...eventually.
Now, onto more serious type typing type stuff.
Since I don't actually live in the US, choosing where I buy my cards from makes a pretty significant difference, since shipping fees tend to be above 20$, and the average income for where I live about 10 times less than in America.
As such, I want to be able to find a single store where I can buy everything I need. So far, re-seller sites (like ebay, for instance) have gotten close, simply because of their selection. However, the problem of the cards themselves costing more becomes an issue.
So T11 it is. It has almost all the cards I want, having just the important basic ones one would use for practice, and a nice selection of more showy, fancy ones for performing. That's good and all, but unfortunately that's where the good (as far as the physical goods shop is concerned) ends.

What if I want to buy a card clip to keep my cards in good condition longer? What if I want to buy a T-shirt that DOESN'T cost $50? Well, I could turn to other online stores, but because of the extra shipping, the result is me being unable to buy something I would willingly give up a nice amount of money for, and T11 (using as an example) not getting the extra money from me purchasing more products.

I'm not a lawyer, nor do I wish to be (far too many suits and bad TV shows have ruined that profession for me), but I do think that selling just a regular Porper clip wouldn't be too much trouble. You could even make one with your fancy circley T11 logo! I would get that! I know like 5 friends who would get that! Not too much creative work goes into making one, since most of them look cool and classy just being plain metal, and thankfully, designing plain metal is just a tad simpler than a swing cut.

Another product you could introduce is a close up mat. I've seen some on Amazon for about $30, but am not sure whether I can trust their build quality or not. I would get it from Ellusionist, or D&D, where I know it'll be good, however, $200+ isn't quite my understanding of pocket money. So you could make a regular black leather mat (all the chicks dick the classy design-less black leather mats!) in different sizes for people with different incomes! Firetruckin' genius I say!

And what I was saying about the T-shirts, I mean... If you just made one with the T11 logo, that would look much cooler than the ones you have available, and I don't think you would have to charge so much for them (because my brain finally decided to make the connection between the copyrighted logo and that being the possibility behind the high price).

Also: Playing card business cards.
I don't know why.
But it sounds cool.
And I want one.

So on that strange, sleepy, and overall nonsensical note, I would like to wrap up what will most likely end up being a wall of text that I will have to shorten somehow (I was right on that, I think I'm clairvoyant or someshiz). So tell me what you think of my ideas, feel free to mock them and provide better alternatives to mine (I believe in you, you can do it!).
Also, if you feel that some of what I said could be expanded, feel free to do so. And if anyone from T11 agrees with me, please make it happen (I'm clearly referring to the Fontaine cards now).

Alright, enough of that. I'm done. Totally.
See ya maybeh,
MAD.

P.S.: My name is MAD not because I'm angry all the time, I just feel like that's the way it may have come across in this post, its merely because I'm at times mentally unstable. I hope that clears things up .

 

[moooozzz]

Totally agree. When i went to gear page I found nothing, almost nothing... really needs card clips, etc. Hope T11 will see this thread and do something (; . By the way, what is your profession?

 

[deck]

more uncut sheets would be cool

 

[Madrovych]

I am a professional student working full time as a student. In other words, unemployed

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

Neither T11 nor E have ever claimed to be a one-stop-shop. Adding too many products will just dilute their business.

 

[moooozzz]

Neither T11 nor E have ever claimed to be a one-stop-shop. Adding too many products will just dilute their business.

Larger variety doesn't mean adding all the product, don't you think so? A few here and a few there wouldn't do any harm but would only help people I think...

 

[Madrovych]

Hello, Christopher. I realize that neither T11 nor Ellusionist nor D&D (the list could go on, but I'm sure you get the idea) don't advertise themselves as being all-purpose magic stores like penguinmagic or any other (I really don't feel like looking any up, as I don't know them off the top of my head, since I generally do not use them, being mainly a cardist first and magician second), however, I do think that you will agree that it would be quite a bit more convenient that a place/store you really enjoy and appreciate the effort of could be your one place to buy.
Again, I would like to stress that I am not insisting that it be that way, it would be merely more convenient, cheaper, and would allow a buyer to dedicate their attention to one outlet, without having to look around too much, count and compare all the prices, etc.
Plus, just think of the possibility of a T11 card mat or clip. I know I'm not the only one who would love to own one.

And as to what you said about diluting business, I don't quite feel that it would apply in this case. That is primarily since this is a specialized online store, and all the customers are here for playing cards first, accessories second (like mats, uncut sheets (never saw the appeal of them), clips), and then merchandise, like t-shirts. I am of course only referring to physical copies of products, disregarding DVD's, since I am not aware as to how stores receive them and in what quantities.

Sorry for the wall of text,
MAD

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

I find it interesting that while ranking why people come to Theory11, a magic store, the magic doesn't even register.

I am somewhat familiar with how these processes work, so I'll relay what I know/think. First, every physical item has to be stored in a warehouse. That warehouse has to be paid for (rent, utilities, land taxes, etc). Which means the more stuff they have, the larger warehouse they need, the more it costs. In some states the company has to pay taxes on everything in the warehouse as well, so back stock that doesn't sell well can be quite costly.

I don't think the concept of 'branding' is making an impact on you guys. Places like T11 and E do well because they have a strong brand. They stick to what they are good at. Veering from that dilutes the brand, even if it's just a little. Then one little dilution leads to another, and suddenly, a year or two down the line, T11 isn't unique at all any more. They lose their edge and new customers don't have as much incentive to shop here as opposed to elsewhere. Branding.

This also applies to magicians, by the way. A magician that has a unique show may not be as marketable as a magician that does purely commercial effects, but they will be far more memorable, and eventually will end up being able to command much more prestige if they develop the act to perfection.

T11 doesn't sell card clips because they haven't made or found one that fits their image well enough. There's so many out there, if they just resell, say, Porper, then they become less unique and more like the other stores selling Porper clips. If they try to develop their own, there's costs associated with that. What material do they use? Who do they have manufacture it? Where do they store it and in what quantities? Card mats? You can find a 32" x 18" at Hocus Pocus for under $20 USD. Unless they can find or make one that increases their brand, they have no motivation to do so. Look at E, they recently sold a gigantic card mat. Had this eagle logo all over it, tons of people taking pictures and posting them online .. free marketing, tons of branding. If they had just sold a plain colored one, no marketing, no branding.

This is all the business side of this stuff. It's not just simply, "Sell what you like." They have to think about every product in the store and make sure it helps them as much as possible.

 

[Madrovych]

Thanks so much for that reply. It really helped me understand what you meant by diluting the brand, and now see why expanding what they do too much will hurt them quite a bit. The reason I didn't mention magic in my previous reply, is because the effects are either downloads, or DVD's, but I'm not sure how or where they were stored/manufactured, or even what they included, since I haven't actually ever bought one.

I also see why my previous statement of selling a generic card mat/clip would be a bad idea from an economical standpoint.
However, if you do go back to that Ellusionist giant mat, it was somewhat popular, got spread around, however, I don't see all that many people buying one, just because it sells for $180 I believe. And from what I know, making a custom good quality mat that size, even if E didn't make a large order for them, meaning that each mat costs more, it shouldn't cost much more than $20-30.

Well, I guess this forum post should be renamed to more "wishful thinking" than what would actually benefit it .
Anyways, thanks for taking the time to write that, it really helped me see your side of the argument.

Cheers,
MAD

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

Thanks so much for that reply. It really helped me understand what you meant by diluting the brand, and now see why expanding what they do too much will hurt them quite a bit. The reason I didn't mention magic in my previous reply, is because the effects are either downloads, or DVD's, but I'm not sure how or where they were stored/manufactured, or even what they included, since I haven't actually ever bought one.

I also see why my previous statement of selling a generic card mat/clip would be a bad idea from an economical standpoint.
However, if you do go back to that Ellusionist giant mat, it was somewhat popular, got spread around, however, I don't see all that many people buying one, just because it sells for $180 I believe. And from what I know, making a custom good quality mat that size, even if E didn't make a large order for them, meaning that each mat costs more, it shouldn't cost much more than $20-30.

Well, I guess this forum post should be renamed to more "wishful thinking" than what would actually benefit it .
Anyways, thanks for taking the time to write that, it really helped me see your side of the argument.

Cheers,
MAD

E's mats are hand made, one at a time. I don't personally think that justifies the price, but the people that bought them (And they were only releasing 100, I believe, all sold out) seem happy with them.

T11 could very well make a top-quality card mat which can help out their brand. I fully believe they have the designers to do it, they just haven't. I don't worry about it, because I can find card mats which are quite large for really cheap. It helps that I live in the same city as the head quarters for Hocus Pocus.

Anyway. Having to shop around is the nature of the beast. If you want to get the best prices, and you want to find the best products, you have to search around and you'll have to order from multiple places. Unless, of course, you find one of those retailers that also sells T11/E products as well as all the general supplies.

 

[Randy]

If they want to charge 180 for a close up mat then they can do so. I don't really think they need to add anything else to their stores. Though it would be nice if they started to do the online lectures that Penguin has been doing. Unless penguin owns the rights to that idea. The main thing here is that E and T11's branding is fine and they market towards teenagers and kids.

 

[WitchDocIsIn]

E briefly had one on one training, via Skype, with several different artists. It flopped. I don't know if T11 has tried it.

 

[TylerRouss]

Ellusionist flopped because the general customer base that believes they are in need of one on one training, generally don't have the kind of funding to pay $125 for an hour. Regardless of the fact that it is almost gaurunteedly worth that amount, it is just too high of a price for their primary customer base. It is still a wonderful idea though. Although that has essentially become the back room now at E so far as I understand it, which really is a much better system. Another point that I didn't see on here that I think is pretty important, is that sites like Ellusionist and Theory11 pride themselves on quality products. Venturing into the world of fabrics, metallics, and plastics is not only costly by material and production, but in order to maintain their quality, they would have to either bring in their own specialists to ensure everything is being produced correctly and up to snuff, or they would have to take away from their own time working on effects and decks and such, and learn about these very specific and complicated fields. Viewing it from a purely microeconomic stand point, it is illogical.

 

[Randy]

Well they could still do it in the way that Penguin is doing it. Where the lecture does a lecture to a few of the staff, but answers chat questions and teaches a ton of effects. I thin the Penguin ones are like 30 bucks tops and have 3 hours worth of material. So it's an idea.

 

[Justin.Morris]

Think of Theory 11 like a boutique - providing an elite selection of items*.

However I do like the idea of more gear, but one needs to be careful of the selection of items they carry, and needs to put thoughtful care into those things as opposed to just slapping logos on items. That's what makes them more like a boutique as opposed to a Target or Walmart of magic. What's the fun in doing what others are already doing?



*This obviously applies to the store front, but T11 also provides the forum community, media section, and more notably the Wire.