arizen

Forum members, we need your opinion. Would it be better for us to go back to just importing a cheap seat and selling it "as is" like MAD and offering no options? We have spent nearly two years listening to feedback from customers and making changes and adding options. Now that we can give you options on 1) having a harness slot in the headrest or not, 2) more aggressive back bolster support, 3) subbelt slot for 5-6 point harnesses, 4) wider bottom, 5) seat belt guides, 6) heaters, 7) logos, 8) custom insert stitching (such as the o/e 69 camaro seat we offer), etc. we are getting many more questions in emails and requests for quotes but fewer actual sales. Are people just confused because there are so many possibilities now? I fear people see the options and price out what they would really like and then realize they only want a budget seat. It has become a full time job to monitor forums, answer emails and determine quotes but our pricing will not justify that any longer so we are considering various options such as:

1. Having a page that more clearly lists available options and pricing and reducing the amount of colors and materials we would offer. The potential customer could then determine the costs himself for seats he was considering and all orders would be at the listed prices.

2. Selling thru automotive businesses. Thus far we have told automotive businesses we do not have the room in our pricing to reduce it enough for them to make an acceptable profit. We can raise all current pricing and sell to automotive shops at or near what we've been offering to the public. The advantage to us this way is once the automotive business understands all options and details about the seats we do not have to answer questions continuously as you would to different individual buyers.

3. Import a cheap seat and sell it as is.

Any opinions or suggestions?

SRZ

iTrader: (14)

You run a business so I understand you are in the business of making a profit of some kind. Having said that, personally I'd skimp out on the cheap seat option since that is already there w/ MAD. Guess I'll have to bite the bullet now and make my order BEFORE the changes are made. I'll be in contact with my order in 30 days or less. Guaranteed.

6LITEREATER

iTrader: (56)

Well, let's put it this way... FORD (stick with me, analogy won't currently work with GM) OFFERS a Shelby GT-500... They SELL V6 Mustangs.

What I am saying is all your options are GREAT and definetly draw people into your site and, since they make you stand apart and above the rest, you should DEFINETLY keep all the options you have now...

With that said, add a low-cost/entry level seat (imported black leather seat) at the same price and quality as MAD seats and you'll have your bread and butter.

You will sell more than "the other guys" because you actually give a crap about your customers and have more to draw us in.

Just my $.02

Ling_650vette

iTrader: (1)

Its always nice to have options. Be it material, stitching, belt slots or having the ability to make certain sections wider (which for big/tall guys - it helps!). But its kinda like you're wanting Fikse wheels, but you're only willing to pay Eagle prices. People who want those features, know what they're going to pay.

It sucks having request after request yet no additional sales to account for that. But take into account also who's asking for those options. Are these guys making 50-60k a year who can actually afford these products, or are they college kids who cant necessarily afford to trick out their car?

And I mean your option list is pretty straight forward for the most part. You say the price is for 2 seats, list how the options will raise the price etc. That, and you offer pictures of the installed seats, dimensions, logos which can help make a sale (again, for those people who want that/those features)

IMO - keep with what y'all are doing.

BIG_MIKE2005

iTrader: (116)

Your seats are great. No doubt about it, but I fear alot of guys are in the same boat as me. I can rationalize spending $800 on a set of front seats. Especially when companies like MAD offer them for half the price. Which is in most peoples possible budget.

If you guys offered a similar seat to MAD @ the same price as MAD, then I'd definetly be more interested in buying from you instead, just for the fact your a site vendor & the price is more wallet friendly.

BitViper

iTrader: (63)

You need to hire a markiting person Mark....

Why not do both...sell the "Standard" seats and still do the custom work

Still waiting on a solution for Corvettes...trust me...come up with a seat that bolts right in....$$$$ Carviaggio is getting $1400/seat There's allotof room between you and $1400 bucks

jbuerke142

iTrader: (5)

x 1000000

I for one know there's NO WAY I'm going to shell out the money for Caravaggio seats. I'll probably end up spending $300 on sport seat foam and $600 on the black/blue leather I want, for lack of what I deem a better option.

Your seats, if I could buy them and install, are what I'd consider a better option.

Outside of that, I agree with what others said about offering a standard seat in addition to the others. If you throw your options out the window, the name of your company will go with them. But there's no denying that the cheaper seats will bring more money in the long run because of the sheer volume of them you'll sell. Everybody's looking for a deal these days.

'Trust'

iTrader: (24)

I agree with most here. I say you simply include the cheaper option and leave the rest as it is. Thats the main reason I didn't go with you guys, I am in college and although I can afford to spend the money on your seats, I simply can't justify it when products are out there that are very similar and half the price. I say, get the cheaper option and compete, you'll get alot more business from us than MAD will simply because you're a sponsor and their customer service is pretty crappy. Just my .02.

thosewhohatedmecreat

Meesas loves yours seats. Meesas cant affords to buys thems rights nows.. When meesa gettings moneys, he buys seats!

Reznor

iTrader: (4)

i'll be ordering some seats from you guys and would like to have the options available.

CULATR

iTrader: (96)

I myself think your options are great and you have alot of choices but I cant spare the dough right now but i do plan to buy some from you soon as i round up the money for the ones i want !!!

subtlez28

iTrader: (15)

Wow, I agree w pretty much everything posted b4 me!

Offer the cheap seats, but keep the options on the others for enthusiasts like me. Your service (pre-sale) has been outstanding. I personally don't mind ponying up a little more for some options. Thats why I plan to buy from you and not just slap the cheaper Summit Sport Seats (I already have) in my Camaro.

Looking forward to the seats we discussed!
-Shaun-

arizen

So I guess its offer cheap seats too because there's and *** for every seat!

BIG_MIKE2005

iTrader: (116)

Pretty much. If you had some nice seats that just had the harness holes in the backrest for around $400, I'd order a set with my bonus check in a couple months. Just for the fact it's more in my budget.

Brian2006

iTrader: (42)

I think everyone pretty much summed it up for me. I would rather purchase Arizens but do not have the money for your seats. I plan on getting MRCs but if you can get the cheaper versions then that's where my money would go

arizen

Unfortunately, it will take a few months at least for us to get completed imported seats. In the meantime, feel free to buy whatever seats you'd like but please don't ask us to sell brackets for them. Our shop isn't keen on making them either and it's hard enough for us to get them in a timely fashion for our own customers. We now will only sell them with our seats or to a person we can verify has recently purchased our seats.

For those who aren't buying strictly on price, we will be posting pictures soon of Ebony leather seats we are making with the factory style inserts!

EdwardL

If you import seats, make sure the material is still quality. I already wore through the faux leather on my Jeg's racing seat just getting in and out of the car.

6LITEREATER

iTrader: (56)

I would think money coming in is money coming in... If you're shop complains that you are giving them work maybe you should look for a different shop

I can understand that it is a PITA with little to no profit margin (Steve (toofazt) and I made some for my car and other friend's cars but have turned down requests because it is just too time consuming) for a normal guy to do but I would think a shop would be able to do it more efficiently (heck, even we had made jigs)...

Unless you just aren't selling to people who haven't purchased your seats to promote more sales... Which is COMPLETELY understandable and what plenty of other companies do (SLP, GMMG, etc...) when they have something unique to their product that they don't want to make easily accessible so others can profit off their work with knock-offs.

Regardless, to anyone out there (your customers included if you end up with even greater time delays than you have now) looking for brackets all these style seats (Arizen, MRC, Ebay crap, etc...) are all Recaro knock-offs at their most basic (not referring to all the cool custom work you guys offer, just the fact that the original design is from Recaro and that, even with your modifications, the bottom seat frame hasn't changed) and there are plenty of places out there selling adapter brackets for those seats and our cars...

Unfortunately none with as good a price as yours though

SPECIALIZED STAINLESS

iTrader: (15)

I'm w/ the others on this one. Offer a seat just like mad racing for the same price and I guarantee you no one will but another seat from mad racing off this board for the simple reason you're a sponsor here and they're not

Plus, I ordered Arizen seats Dec 9th of last year and they still look brand new and smell like leather Doesn't get much better than that!

6LITEREATER

iTrader: (56)

I agree but would add that, sponsor or not, you are 1000x's better at customer service, response, etc... and that definetly means people would go nowhere else.

Hell, I promoted the crap out of you BEFORE I bought seats (I stumbled across your site one day, seats like yours had never been seen on here then I started posting them in every seat thread I saw, KANDY finally was the first to buy them, then Steve and now it has snowballed), ended up going a cheaper route but still promote the crap out of you... So if you offered a comparably priced seat you won't need to hire a marketer/advertiser... You'll have me