Big VEX sale at RadioShack

[Rick TYler]

Normally, RadioShack only does a big discount on items that are being discontinued. This is an unusual product line, though, and it's hard to tell what their plans are without talking to the product manager. There are a few reasonable scenarios.

1. Summer is the slow season in electronics. They might be dumping inventory as a seasonal reduction.

2. The product line is being discontinued due to slow sales. Two local stores report that sales have never been that great and that buyers are turned off by a "$300 Erector Set." Without a lot of marketing, this has been and will continue to be a niche product and may not need national distribution in 7,000 stores.

3. The current products are being replaced by new models. The shelf life for a consumer elctronics product used to be 12-18 months. I don't think it's more than six months these days. We might see a new VEX kit at a lower price point with a different set of electronics.

4. RadioShack may still be testing price levels. If they find a price point at $150 but not $300, they might retune the product, or just reduce the price permanently.

5. RS may have decided that VEX is not a mass-market product, but is still worth handling in a limited way. You might only find it on their Website, or in the largest stores, but not everywhere. If RS is planning to make money on VEX, I wouldn't care much for this possibility. If they can't sell 20,000 kits a year (as a guess), the product probably doesn't have a future with RadioShack. If they view it in part as a promotional item, they might still carry it.

My personal best guess is that VEX will get sold off to a smaller reseller that can stick with it despite its small (for RadioShack) sales volume.

All in all, if you want VEX stuff, I'd buy it now. Most of the possible reasons for the sale are not good for us robot people.