The Window Tinting Asian Invasion 2010-2011
One thing is crystal clear to me after attending this week's SEMA Show:
You could see and feel it in each of the many Korean and Chinese manufacturer's booths.
Advanced Film Solutions and Window Film USA have to stay current on the latest technology.
There is really nothing new or innovative about any of these current Asian products.
One can argue that their lower roll costs are the result of lower operational costs, tax advantages, human costs and lower EPA type standards at their chemical plants.
There is a great deal of substance to that perception.
They are certainly not ISO rated and obviously their films are not NFRC rated so performance characteristics are often overestimated or frankly delusional.
Still this "industry" suffers from it's own narrow mindedness, limited earnings and a gross failure across the board to market or advertise the unique benefits of these thin film solutions.
The business models of the key U.S players in this business have been typically short term and transaction based.
Their long term planning appears haphazard and reactionary.
Most manufacturers have lost touch with their channel and the end user customer at the homeowner and driver consumer level.
They counter their own failures by obvious attempts to take over competing manufacturer's channels without doing the tough work of earning respect, loyalty and the subsequent business that they would generate.
That's the door our Asian friends are walking through now and will be for the next few years.
Mike Feldman
The Asian Invasion is stronger than ever in the window film "industry."
You could see and feel it in each of the many Korean and Chinese manufacturer's booths.
- IR Films and decorative films galore.
- Your standard metalized films in a host of light transmissions
- Rumors abounding that 3M is interested in acquiring the S. Korean Nexfil Inc.. (Now I'm very skeptical about the validity of this scuttlebutt but evidently someone has an interest in floating this story and my guess it's the S. Korean's themselves.)
Advanced Film Solutions and Window Film USA have to stay current on the latest technology.
There is really nothing new or innovative about any of these current Asian products.
One can argue that their lower roll costs are the result of lower operational costs, tax advantages, human costs and lower EPA type standards at their chemical plants.
There is a great deal of substance to that perception.
They are certainly not ISO rated and obviously their films are not NFRC rated so performance characteristics are often overestimated or frankly delusional.
Still this "industry" suffers from it's own narrow mindedness, limited earnings and a gross failure across the board to market or advertise the unique benefits of these thin film solutions.
The business models of the key U.S players in this business have been typically short term and transaction based.
Their long term planning appears haphazard and reactionary.
Most manufacturers have lost touch with their channel and the end user customer at the homeowner and driver consumer level.
They counter their own failures by obvious attempts to take over competing manufacturer's channels without doing the tough work of earning respect, loyalty and the subsequent business that they would generate.
Too much posturing and not enough leadership.
That's the door our Asian friends are walking through now and will be for the next few years.
Mike Feldman
Posted by Mike Feldman at 11/7/2010 9:54 AM 
Categories: Consulting Coaching
Tags: The Window Tinting Asian Invasion
Categories: Consulting Coaching
Tags: The Window Tinting Asian Invasion
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