Opportunity for BGE Eggspansion

Cornfed

Just noticed today that Amazon.com has a new section for Lawn and Patio or something like. This section includes grills which can be purchased online. Is this something BGE is looking into? I personally love Amazon.com's customer focus and their reliance on customer reviews of their products. BGE obviously has a great product and a pretty big Internet following evidenced by this forum.[p]Does anyone else think this is a match made in Heaven? BGE should start negotiating with Amazon tonight. Combine Amazon's huge Internet traffic with the catchy name offered by BGE and millions will learn about the Egg within the first day it's online. Add to this the volumes of rave reviews the BGE forum community will add to the amazon postings plus the backing of great product and support from BGE and BGE might be a much bigger company a year from now.[p]As my finder's fee, all I ask is one large BGE,
Cornfed

Grumpa

Cornfed,[p]Your enthusiasm is refreshing and I don't mean to throw cold water on your hot coals but, the BGE cannot be sold through mass marketing. The egg is a specialized cooking instrument like no other on the market. It has to be examined in the presence of a qualified and trained staff person who can properly demonstrate it's abilities to a prospective buyer. If you were to advertise the BGE at $500 next to the $49 metal models without the opportunity to properly demonstrate it's ablilites which model do you think John Q Public is going to run out and buy? It is like putting a Mercedes on the same ad page with Chevrolet and expecting the public to buy it without understanding all of the added benefits they are getting for the extra dollars. Just imagine a K-mart or Home Depot employee trying to demonstrate this fine instrument to a regular customer who came in to buy something to grill and smoke with in the backyard. Would you have went out and bought the BGE vs a cheaper grill without knowing why you were spending the extra money?[p]I think the BGE folks have an excellent strategy in their current marketing plan. They produce and sell the BGE one unit at a time and that is how all products of REAL quality should be done. I hope I have not offended with my comments on this subject but, I believe most will agree that this method works quite well. That in addition to this forum is the best selling tools they have.[p]Bob

Cornfed

Bob,[p]Interesting comments and much appreciated. I agree that quality should not and could not be sacrificed with the Egg. Also, I have no personal interest in expanding the market penetration of the Egg. However, this to me seems like a natural fit. I know that John Q public who wants a cheap grill will still go with the cheap grill. Those wishing for the high end, however, will spend $500 on a gas grill or $500 on the BGE. I think that with the immediate exposure offered by places like Amazon (one of the top 5 or so visited places on the Internet) and with the incredibly positive comments sure to be posted by members of this forum that the BGE can grow exponentially in scope. If they wish to stick with their core values of quality and service, which I definitely think they should, they'd just need to hire more people and spend more on production and support. Same as when any other company grows. Also, with Amazon or any other millions of people per day site, people would see the catchy name of "Big Green Egg" and would definitely at least follow the link and see the very positive comments.[p]Again, far be it from me to question BGE's marketing strategy. I just think this would be an interesting avenue for them to pursue. The worst that could happen is that they'd be inundated with new orders and they'd have to hire more people and spend some more on production and service to accomodate for the new requests. Knowing a little about amazon and Jeff Bezos (I'm a big fan), they'd almost surely agree to host BGE ads. Amazon is an extremely customer focused, innovative Internet company that strives to be the "first to market" on new ideas and technologies. They already have the Internet infrastructure to support the selling of BGEs. I understand that BGE doesn't want to offer online sales since that's not one of their core values. Amazon, on the other hand, lives and breathes on Internet sales and has proven over the past year that they are the top of the class in that category. From BGE's perspective, Amazon would be just another regional distributor (BGE would sell to some Amazon location). Amazon would then take care of the Internet hosting and the whole credit card payment and shipping and distribution and returns and all that fun stuff just like they do with all of their other products. Everyone would be leveraging their existing strengths.[p]I dunno. Just a quick idea. I like innovation on the web and the whole uniting of buyers and sellers that's made possible on a much more broad scope through the Internet. I just couldn't imagine this being a bad thing from BGE's perspective except for the fact that they'd most definitely increase their sales by an order of magnitude and so they'd have to increase production and support. If BGE doesn't want to increase sales at that rate that's their decision and one that should be respected if they wish to remain a small operation. Amazon has a very well established track record of being quick to the punch on new ideas and their grill selection is currently very small and their marginal cost of adding the BGE to their arsenal is so small that I couldn't imagine them turning BGE down once they learned of the relatively large web following.[p]I have no affiliation with Amazon or BGE nor do I stand to profit by any interaction between the two companies. I just think this is a neat idea and wanted to suggest it in case BGE wanted to grow exponentially. Also, I respect all naysayers and will adjust my opinion if properly convinced.[p]Cornfed

RLA

Cornfed,
With all due respect for your enthusiasm, but please take the following into account:
BGE, as a small company, stresses quality above all things, and it is that quality that we all appreciate. The quality of the workmanship, the quality of the materials used to construct an EGG, the quality control as to the final product. And the only way that you can insure this "quality" is by utilizing the practices of MEASURED growth. If Amazon were to become a "distributor" as you describe, and if indeed, sales were to multiply, burgeon, expand....the onus would be on BGE to keep up with the sudden increase in demand. And it is easier said than done to grow and still.....maintain quality. That is the risk one takes with rapid economic growth in a manufacturing industry.
There are many examples of rapid growth among major, quality products in the American marketplace and sadly, the quality went downhill ie: KitchenAid Dishwashers and Mixers. The once vaunted name and reputation are only a thing of the past.
And finally, what of the loyal relationships between the present distributors that BGE has nationwide. Would they feel as if they had been betrayed if BGE went to Amazon ..who with their marketing methods would undercut the present distributor network. Does BGE owe anything to them?
So, if you are willing to see the EGG go mainstream are you also willing to take the chance that the EGG will never be the same again?
Just a few of my thoughts........
Respectfully,
Bob

Grumpa

Cornfed,[p]Your comments are respected and well taken on my end. I don't think we will see this happen as it just does not appear to fit the BGE marketing profile. Quality would surely be exchanged for quanity if this were to come about. The logistics of implementing a move in the direction you have suggested would be overwhelming to a small quality controlled environment as currently maintained by the BGE company. [p]I myself would never have plunked down the dollars for my egg if I had not made the trip to the Atlanta store and saw first hand, the product and people behind it. Larry was the sole reason of my purchase by showing me all of the benefits of BGE ownership. Even after the time he spent with my wife and I, we still could not totally justify the money involved. It was not until he insisted on giving us a sample of what he was cooking for his personal dinner that we were able to see and taste the difference of BGE cooking. How can this type of experience be achieved thru the internet or other mass marketing method? Again relating to the brand of automobile, until you actually test drive one it would be extremely difficult to realize the true benefits of one over the other.[p]The internet is a wonderful place just as you mentioned and I love to see the innovative ideas of amazon.com and others evolve before our very eyes. If the truth were known however, there are probably less than 1% of all BGE owners that have access or know how to use this or any other site for the purpose of shopping for a product as specialized as this. I still feel that it is a product that has to be experienced first hand either form a friend that has prepared a meal for you or thru a BGE outlet distributor.[p]Hey, y'all have a great time up at eggfest, I will miss being there first hand.[p]Bob

Tim M

Bob,[p]I will agree that the Egg is not going to stack up well against a Big K $45 grill special (I justy bought one for the house at the beach - it rusts through in 1.5 seasons) but I wonder when many of us last visited a true BBQ store? I was pretty shocked when I started looking a prices of BBQ cookers and metal grills. KennyG can elaborate more on the prices but $2000 is not uncommon - gees a $500 Egg is a deal.[p]Tim

Cornfed

RLA,[p]Interesting thoughts. It's definitely up to BGE to decide if they want to grow sales at a highly increased rate and also if they'd be able to sustain that growth without sacrificing quality.

Cornfed

Bob,[p]Interesting points. I just want to order a Large BGE with one click ordering! Amazon is great at supporting impulse buying through technical convenience. Thank God for that![p]We'll miss you at E2K.[p]Cornfed

Dr. Chicken

Tim M,
I was thinking those same thoughts yesterday looking at my "Od to Stupidity" or my "next to new" gas grill! My MIL just bought a gas grill for their patio and it cost them $1900.00. And someone says a BGE is expensive???[p]Dr. Chicken

Cornfed

Dr. Chicken,[p]Agreed. Most "high end" grills are at least $500. And you get so much less than BGE offers.

JimW

Tim M,
I stopped in on one of those 'real' barbeque stores in Charlotte last summer. They had Eggs but they also had a lot of other VERY expensive grills, gas and charcoal. With the Egg and ALL of its accessories including a table at about $750 or $800, the Egg seems like a great bargain.
Jimw

McKevin

Bob,[p]I won't address the issue of rapid expansion vs quality. That is & should be purely in the domain of BGE to decide.[p]As to whether or not the unit will sell without "hands on" testing, selling, or tasting , I can only point to myself as an example (not to paint myself as normal in any way...).
Roughly two & one half years ago when I decided that my custom black iron monstrosity required entirely too much babysitting, I set out on a quest for the perfect cooker. I read this forum, still in its infancy, for approximately three weeks before I made the 5 hr (one way) trip to the nearest distributor & laid my money down with no question that it was the right thing to do. Since that time I have never looked back & never had any reason to suspect that I did the wrong thing.[p]The enthusiasm of the participants of this forum convinced me much more easily that the words of a salesman. Frankly, by the time I got to the store I knew more about the egg than the salesman anyway. While I was there, I sold another Egg for them [p]At any rate, as with so many things, anything we "decide" here is moot. We are not the marketing department, just Sales / R&D...[p]Lets go light the charcoal!
Kevin

Grumpa

McKevin,[p]Well stated and I'm sure our story is told over many times with slight diviations. This forum has been a great asset to all of us in learning to use our toy and hone our skills.[p]My coals are burning a Q'ing week-end.