Have you introduced a new product to the marketplace ?

[lendaddy]

Kevin,

One more thing I should have mentioned. Ecoat can be done in colors, it's just that most places only do black for economic reasons. You may get lucky and have a place locally that does a bright color like yellow or red for a long running customer and you can piggyback their orders. But there's no way it would make sense to do a custom run for your small volumes.

Everyone does black so you can always get it done and it's the cheapest. Just an FYI.

[techweenie]

Hmm, yeah, I guess I've introduced a few products to the marketplace: Apple II, Microsoft Excel, Suzuki Samurai... and probably two dozen others.

It's tougher when your starting out with a thin bankroll, but it can be done. I'm pressed for time, so pardon me if I repeat something previously in this thread, I'm answering the first post: find forums where people talk about kayaking and join them. Don't push your product overtly in the first post, but you can put something in your signature about a kayak carrier. If there is a forum participant (or admin) who has great credibility, send him the product for evaluation on the condition that he will report his observations to the forum. Ebay is your friend as well. Get your URL into your eBay ad, and sell through your site.

This is a grassroots tactic that will help get you through the onesy-twosey stage and into longer term production methodologies (and scaled costs). You can also visit independent sporting goods stores and get your product in, but the typical deal should include a 'demo unit' along with a minimum order. So the initial batch sold through any store will not be fully profitable.

I don't know the market size, but I suspect it's not large, which means the Internet is your best resource. You need to find online retailers and cut them a deal on 'drop shipped' product, and provide them with images and copy for their site. The topic is longer, but my available time is not.

Coincidentally, the company I started 2-1/2 years ago can be a resource, once you get the volume up, and an ecommerce solution in place, we can put you on this page:
http://tinyurl.com/4q4v22