Arai - Losing market share ?
Discussion
Talking to a work mate who is ex racer, follows all the racing and runs a Blade on the road.
We realised that we struggled to actually name a current Motogp rider using Arai....Them and Shoei were pretty much all you would see on the grid back in the day,....
Seems like now its only Vinales, Takagami and Rabat on the grid......Cal sacked them last year for HJC...
Josh B is the only official BSB Rider in an Arai.
Hicky has now sacked off Shoei for Suomy......
Just found it interesting to actually see from Arai themselves....
https://www.araihelmet.eu/en/arai-riders
We realised that we struggled to actually name a current Motogp rider using Arai....Them and Shoei were pretty much all you would see on the grid back in the day,....
Seems like now its only Vinales, Takagami and Rabat on the grid......Cal sacked them last year for HJC...
Josh B is the only official BSB Rider in an Arai.
Hicky has now sacked off Shoei for Suomy......
Just found it interesting to actually see from Arai themselves....
https://www.araihelmet.eu/en/arai-riders
No doubt it's a more crowded space today than it was 10-20 years ago. Competitor's products are better than they were historically, and generally there are more 'reputable' brands out there than probably there has ever been. I doubt though that the amount of sponsored riders directly correlates to market share, but I could be wrong.
Pothole said:
I'm struggling here. How is giving away free helmets to racers a measure of market share?
I have no idea either maybe the OP has more statistics. My latest helmet after trying on many and looking for months at what to replace my RX7 with is a new RXx7 helmet due to quality and fit of my last 2 RX lids, and again his one Turn7 said:
Pothole said:
I'm struggling here. How is giving away free helmets to racers a measure of market share?
Not enough marketing budget maybe ? IDK, I posted it as I found it interesting.Pothole said:
Turn7 said:
Pothole said:
I'm struggling here. How is giving away free helmets to racers a measure of market share?
Not enough marketing budget maybe ? IDK, I posted it as I found it interesting.Back in the 500CC days, you only realy saw Shoei or Arai, with a few odd Bieffe and simialr for the lower ranked riders.....
The Hicky deal for example...I remember Frank Thomas first bringing Suomy into the UK, and it didnt really work. The next thing, Ducati Performance were really pushing branded stuff,and chose Suomy so all the Ducati riders had to use Suomy so they could sell replicas....Pretty sure Dovi still does.....
Pothole said:
Turn7 said:
Pothole said:
I'm guessing it relates to whether manufactures still see it as VFM marketing...
True, altho the win on sunday sell on monday phrase is still valid....Personally, ive always bought Arai since those 500 days for my main helmet however this year I changed to a Shoei, reason being Arai wont manufacture a helmet with an internal sun visor , compromises the integrity of the shell so they told me, anyways im glad I made the change as the Shoei is great helmet.
podman said:
Personally, ive always bought Arai since those 500 days for my main helmet however this year I changed to a Shoei, reason being Arai wont manufacture a helmet with an internal sun visor , compromises the integrity of the shell so they told me, anyways im glad I made the change as the Shoei is great helmet.
I think this will have lost them a lot of sales. I always used to buy Arai but I just got annoyed with having to swap visors all the time based on what I predicted the weather was likely to be and if I would be riding in the dark later on.Switching to a Shoei with a built-in sunvisor has been fantastic and I can't believe Arai continue to bury their heads in the sand and try and hide behind the safety excuse which is clearly the best thing they can come up with rather than admit they are unwilling to invest in any innovation and costly re-tooling.
I remember my local dealer showing me the pictures of Arai's plans to add an integrated sunvisor which was to be fitted on the outside of the helmet, forming a peak when not in use. It looked absolutely ludicrous so I don't know if they ever sold any.
Arai have always been at the premium end of the market but also, dare I say, they can seem a bit restrained in the styling department. Also, competitors do seem to have upped their game and offer some great alternatives, which are equally as safe, with more flare, for less cash!
Probably not that relevant but Arai have never been on the table for me because I've not yet found one that fits my head-shape well.
Probably not that relevant but Arai have never been on the table for me because I've not yet found one that fits my head-shape well.
A993LAD said:
podman said:
Personally, ive always bought Arai since those 500 days for my main helmet however this year I changed to a Shoei, reason being Arai wont manufacture a helmet with an internal sun visor , compromises the integrity of the shell so they told me, anyways im glad I made the change as the Shoei is great helmet.
I think this will have lost them a lot of sales. I always used to buy Arai but I just got annoyed with having to swap visors all the time based on what I predicted the weather was likely to be and if I would be riding in the dark later on.Switching to a Shoei with a built-in sunvisor has been fantastic and I can't believe Arai continue to bury their heads in the sand and try and hide behind the safety excuse which is clearly the best thing they can come up with rather than admit they are unwilling to invest in any innovation and costly re-tooling.
I remember my local dealer showing me the pictures of Arai's plans to add an integrated sunvisor which was to be fitted on the outside of the helmet, forming a peak when not in use. It looked absolutely ludicrous so I don't know if they ever sold any.
I ride east in the morning and west on the way home. Years I spent having to stop half way to put on or remove sunglasses/change visors is a thing of the past.
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