What Display Daily thinks: There is a process that, depending on your point of view, is either cheesy or very clever and involves pre-selling your new product on crowdfunding sites like Indiegogo or Kickstarter. Dasung’s color E-Ink computer monitor got the treatment recently and it isn’t, on the surface of things, a bad product. Today, we are covering the Navicam by Spedal. Both companies are legitimate vendors that could easily be selling or marketing these products directly, and they do. However, a crowdfunding campaign can help sell the first production batch or, rather, fund an initial product run.
The space is very busy because a lot of smaller or specialist consumer electronics companies use it to get some initial kickstarting sales for a new line. Should you consider Indiegogo and Kickstarter as social marketing tools? Sure. There’s the bonus of actually pre-selling your product to enthusiasts and getting some traction with influencers. It’s hard to get press for them and I don’t really care to chase down every lead because there are also a lot of products that shouldn’t be pre-sold because they are from dubious sources, are over-hyped, or are unproven to an extent that makes them a very risky investment for anyone being the first buyers.
I just wonder if there are advantages for more established companies with established sales channels and marketing routes that would be accretive to sales at launch. It certainly seems like there should be. But, it adds another layer of sales and marketing that requires very specific management processes. Yet, it wasn’t too long ago that major brands saw the advantages of opening up their own stores on eBay. I mean, I nearly bought into Uperfect’s folding portable monitor. What does that say about me or what does that say about the efficacy of this marketing channel? Am I being an ecommerce snob?
The Navicam: An Aftermarket Display for Bikes
Spedal’s NaviCam CL876 is being promoted on Kickstarter with the focus on the 5.5-inch full-color TFT display, measuring 6.86 inches, having an IP65 rating, and with a resolution of 1280×480. It’s a nifty little device that is supposed to be a universal fit, usable on all motorcycles no matter how old. It can use either Apple Carplay or Android Auto which pretty much covers most anyone’s application needs. It also has a wired connection to a 1080p/60fps dash cam mounted on the front and rear of the bike, and a tire pressure monitoring system (TPMS). The product comes with a claw mount, handlebar mount, and steering stem mount included.
The display system by itself is about $269 for Kickstarter fans ($399 otherwise), and the complete kit with four dash cams and four TPMS sensors comes out to $669 (full price would be around $1,038). Part of the enticement is the heavy discounts on the final selling price for early adopters, people who are willing to commit to a purchase of a product that won’t ship until November, 2023. There is also the added attraction of getting updates on the building of the product and being a part of the process leading up to final shipments, even though it is not clear in this instance how much of that is relevant because the manufacturer is quite well-established.
