Hi,
In the 10 years that I've been racing radio controlled cars as a
hobby, I'm yet to see any kind of statistics about the actual size of
the hobby.
As such it's quite hard to give you a definitive answer, but here's
the best that I can do (just a note, my answer is geared heavily
towards RC cars, and not planes or boats). Also, it sounds like you're
considering opening either an online hobby store, or a physical hobby
store, so I'll also give you information on the state of this (I have
been investigating this myself recently).
- There are 4 radio controlled car magazines being published in the US
currently, although one of them is a subsiduary of the largest of the
4. They are Radio Controlled Car Action, Radio Controlled Nitro (RCCA
is its sister mag), Xtreme R/C Cars, and R/C Car.
- Radio Control Zone (http://www.radiocontrolzone.com) has over 10,000
members, and it covers RC cars, planes, and boats.
- The largest concentration of RC car racing is in Southern
California.
- As far as online stores go, there are several very large ones which
have very low prices & have driven many local hobby shops out of
business because of their prices (the larges online store is actually
a major distributor - so they can & often do sell items for less than
hobby shops can even buy them for).
- The general feeling about opening a hobby shop is to not do it to
make money, because the profit margin is very slim, and many big
dollar items only have around 15% markup from the distributor price
(and remember that several distributors sell directly to the public,
so there's no room to increase the markup). Parts & accessories
however have much nicer markups/profit margins, and this is where
profit is made generally.
The driving force behind the market demand first has to be split into
sub-groups, "racers" (people who mainly use their RC's at competitive,
organised race meetings) and "bashers" (non-racers who mainly use
their RC's in backyards, on the street, or in parks).
For bashers, it's generally faster, bigger, and more durable. This is
because they want to drag race their friends, do huge jumps, and drive
into trees at full speed. This is shown by the Traxxas T-Maxx - it's a
monster truck which is quite strong, an excellent jumper, and has a
two speed transmission to allow it to get up to very high speeds. For
several years this was "the" bashers truck to have, and now another
truck has been released which is probably the T-Maxx's biggest
competition yet; it's substantially bigger, can take more abuse, and
is more powerful.
For racers, it's many things, and not only "the faster the better". As
racers are generally far better informed & more knowledgable about the
hobby than bashers, the handling of the car is a major point. Also
comes into play is the weight, quality of the parts, how stiff the
material is, upgrade/aftermarket parts, efficiency of the electronics,
number of race wins at big events, and many other such things. Racers
are generally less concerned with the durability or the life-span of
their cars if it comes at a cost of handling, weight, or general
performance. There's also those racers who like to do what is known as
"bench race"; they are driven by all the 'cool' accessories and
aftermarket/upgrade parts, to make their car look great when it's
sitting on the bench with the top off.
It's hard to say whether the racing or bashing market is the more
profitable, because racers will generally buy the very expensive,
top-of-the-line items and keep their equipment up-to-date and in good
condition, while bashers generally buy a cheaper, tough to break car
and leave it pretty stock and run it without much regards to its
condition. This makes bashers sound like they'd be the less profitable
group, however there's probably more bashers than racers.
It's safe to say though that both markets will always want the latest
and greatest. Racers need it to be competitive, and bashers need it to
impress their friends and go faster with less breakages.
I hope this answers your question well enough, but feel free to ask
for more information on a subject.
-Richard |
