THE CHINESE GADGET MAKERS
If you’re a cook or like to repair things around the house or like to decorate your home or car or yard, you are probably using Chinese made gadgets to do so.
These gadgets used to be made in the country in which they are sold. A designer or inventor would have an idea for a gadget that he believed could be sold easily. He would design and perhaps patent the gadget.
Then, he would seek a small company to manufacture the gadget. After it was made he would find a small company to package the gadget.
Finally, he would market and sell the gadget. If he were lucky he would have a profit. If not, his loss would not be too big.
This type of gadget making used to take place in Western countries routinely. Then the cost of manufacturing anything soared. Workers wanted more money to work, owners wanted more profit and insurance companies wanted high fees to protect from law suits.
So the inventors went to China. The Chinese government was waiting for them.
They had the manufacturers with low cost labor. They had the packagers who had every type of package imaginable. All with tamper proof plastic encasings. They even printed dozens of “Beware†notices so that no one could sue. The Chinese learned the American and European preferences for gadgets to perfection. The designs on the packaging were as classically American or European as if they had not changed in centuries.
This perfection was a result of Chinese copying magic and tutoring by the American and European designers. Between the Western designers and marketers and the Chinese manufacturers a perfect result was achieved.
As for pricing, the marketing team knew what to do. Americans and especially Europeans are used to paying high prices. A gadget made for less than a dollar would fetch at least ten dollars in a U.S. or European store.
Like Nike shoes which cost three dollars to make and sell for over one hundred dollars, the sales price was always a large multiple of the
manufacturing cost. However, American and European buyers love gadgets. They paid the price if it was not from a different planet.
On television today we see actors touting kitchen gadgets that chop, slice and tenderize with absolutely no effort from the cook. Only twenty dollars! But, wait! You’ll get two!
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