Capturing Markets And Missing The Mark.

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We have all seen it. Companies which design and build (Or use others to build) products that their customers actually want or need and have them sold in retail stores that are accessible to customers at the right price.
Some products rarely sell unless they are seen on the shelves of retail shops or stores. It is just how it is!
Often one comes across manufacturers that once had a great following with multitudes of loyal customers, where the owners retired and new owners (Often financial advisors with their qualifications) came along who did not understand their unique market and messed it all up and the company becomes a shell of its former self if it survives at all!
Other times greed sets in and this started a couple of decades ago (UK) when some manufacturers that used to manufacture on these shores decided the Far East was cheaper, so moved production and began to rake in big profits by doing so, and then were offered massive loans by banks so had the greedy idea of capturing the whole segment of the market for themselves through these loans... Then the recession came and their ONLY way to survive was to sell off some assets and significently raize their prices to their customers and in one hobby specific field, prices doubled, and doubled again and have even gone up again as even the most addicted customers have now said "No" to buying any more of their products. Had the companynot been so greedy, it would have still enlarged its empire and been financially boyant, retaining its loyal customers while actually doing well!

The main issue is not understanding their customers. The older managing directors who had been raised in the company knew their customers well. They dealt with them before they worked their way up. They knew some of them personally! So when they made it to the top, they knew how to steer the company to design and build products tailored directly towards their customers needs. Is the little aspects in design which help keep their customers loyal.
When companies are bought or taken over by those who afe fresh out of university, orhappen to have come from other companies which are different, so they may not know their customers requirements, they make changes and do not listen. Then even the loyalist under managers start to leave as they see upset customers, or cudtomers going elsewhere and feel frustrated.
I have seen this many times! It is frustrating! If when the directors retired they promoted others from within the company who had themselves worked their way up, they would be ok! There would be some changes but the changes would be made with the customers interests at heart!

Today more and more companies fail through a sheer lack of understanding when new owners take over and do not listen to advice within their company. It is sad! Listen to the little guys who know! Go out and sell to customers direct in the stores to learn their needs! Nothing like direct contact and is the difference between a great managing director and a poor one, as the great one meets their staff and sees their customers to make sure they understand their company and do not get alienated from them!

I've seen it with big brand names. Once popular selling quality products, they sell the name to some outfit, typically in China that churns out poor quality items under the brand name. Not counterfeit items as such as they are legal, but counterfeit in quality. They make money until the brand name is trashed.

amazon is prolly among the worst in that regard.

Its been going on a long time.

The Industrial Revolution started in Britain when Mr. Watt invented the steam engine (about the same time as we Americans broke away from Britain).

Then smoke stack industry spread to other countries.

And a number of countries, like the early US, earned a bad rep for making shoddy knock offs of quality British products.

We had as bad a rep as China does now back in the early 1800s.

The still disunited states of Germany also began to industrialize. And the one German state of Silesia (now mostly in southwest Poland) was especially notorious for its attractive but shoddy output...which is where the adjective "sleazy" came from.

that is a flavorful bit of trivia ["sleazy" etymology]

I have seen exceptional quality items come from China. When a certain company producing models first moved production to China, the Chinese factory made the same designs with very small subtle improvements from materials to fine tweeks (Often only noticable to those of us who really knew them) and those things were so improved one would think they were entirely different products yet visually they looked the same.
Yet so many years later when the said company took on debts, their products were re-designed for budget reasons so pennies could be saved and many are now returned under warrantee as not fit for use, and the others that do work have to be looked after to survive.
We can't blame the Chinese for this! They juet follow orders of what these western companies want. The Chinese cancertainly produce the best products the world has seen if they wanted to and were given the budget to do so, as they are real experts at copying and improving on origional designs!

At one time in the bicycle industry Bangladesh was used for cheap labour and the bicycle frames were not that great but then their experience gained and within a few years, their cheaply made frames felt better to ride and gave better performance then the best we had here! They were incredible frames!