Controversial question...
 

Really trying to address something I feel, but dont have any facts on (classic fake news). So people please dispel my myth. I am not a keyboard warrior so please dont do the classic forum thing of just asking another question with another question as its painful....

I really respect this forum as there are a lot of experienced people out there which understand the industry, sport far more then I do.

1) Shops-Are there less RC shops out there. I guess margins are squeezed, I see few sponsors, and in general fewer RC shops out there....

2) Oople activity-I feel less trade activity and less post on Oople, are the members still there of the sport-Oople, is this a wider thing with less participation

3) BRCA members are they up, down. How is the sport growing or shrinking.... I dont see anything on BRCA re members or in the AGM bit of the website

Oople to me is the best place on earth, and I just feel that compared to 5 years ago when there was like 8 cars posted for sale in the evening, loads and loads of posts about a new car, loads of RC shops trying to sell me an upgrade of this or that

Love to know if I am talking crap, and wrong, I do hope I am.....

I worry by asking a very open question, its licence for bullshit facts of my mate said this and that....hopefully those respected forum members out there can moderate the conversation.......

Most users ever online was 1,794, 16-01-2020 at 07:45 AM.

So maybe I just am wrong as the facts say different.....

And then I thought about number of clubs.... is that a good indicator of sport growth decline ?

Shops, I think there are less in general not just r/c, costs today are too high, there are plenty of news stories about the death of the high street, that includes the local hobby shop. With the web you only need a few good retailers to satisfy the market so the ones that got themselves sorted early on with decent websites and good customer service get the trade. The way the web is organised it’s hard for new traders to break in because search google and the well established shops are at the top of the results which then get the clicks and the business. Fewer businesses will naturally translate to fewer sponsors but my impression is the companies left support many more people because they need representation across the country, not just at their local track.

People have definitely moved to Facebook more, I see stuff posted for sale here that has also been posted on one of the trading groups on Facebook but plenty of items only on Facebook. The trouble with Facebook is it is fragmented and hard to find stuff rather than a site like this which has everything neatly organised and accessible but on the other hand seeing posts about friends racing rc cars in your timeline might encourage you to find out more and maybe give it a try. I would say based on your numbers, posts on new cars and items for sale are up but they are in a different place.

Membership numbers, probably they are right to not publish anything as what would be the upside? Sport is a luxury item which will do well when the economy is doing well but shrink back in tougher times, but a period of reducing numbers would no doubt be seized on by those who for the last 20 years have been saying this sport is dying and when newcomers read posts like that they keep walking. On the flip side how much of a growth would be required for people to be posting positive stories to entice newcomers, I suspect it would have to be a fairly large percentage increase.

Number of clubs is an interesting one. I am not sure that will correlate well to a sport in growth or decline. A club could be lost due to any number of reasons which have nothing to do with numbers, for example if they lost their track venue. Likewise a new club could be formed without any increase in numbers. I have seen a club (in a different sport) split into 3 because of some falling outs and if anything there was a decline in people despite this metric showing an increase.

Interestingly that the one hard data point you do to have to hand does seem to disprove your theory though!

It’s funny I took myself of Facebook as I am the one of the few who hate that social media stuff. I imagine that if you are a teenager you comes less to a forum and more to social media.

Interesting idea in general re Google searches. I moved to France and found three super rc shops across Europe Tonisport.de, Mibosport and rc kleinkram and no google search found them for me. Had to do some digging on a distributor list of a product, took me years to find and makes me think there must be so many little independent shops out there you just don’t know about.

Thanks, for your replies. My questions have been bothering me for ages

1) I've recently come back to the hobby and I don't think relative cost is more expensive (taking into account everything) than 10-15 years ago. I have noticed less physical shops but A LOT more online ones.

Yes, A Modified Brushless motor RRP is now £80-90 and back then it is was £50 for a Modified brushed but you get a longer lifespan plus no ancillary costs like brushes, skimming etc. Yes it is technically a higher price but why is that....

As the years go by the RPI pushes pricing up given the impression that things are a lot more expensive - You'd expect around 2-3% increase per year. I think we just get used to things being a price and we don't want that to increase in particular if you don't get a 2-3% pay raise each year to offset it.

I think this has a knock on effect to the physical shops, as you'll need a bigger margin to cover your overheads (premises, staff, gas/electric etc etc) and things are more cost effective providing services online. There is also the convenience element thrown into the mix. If you are not in a prime location, you aren't going to get the footfall into your store. It's just retail evolution and it's just a couple of reasons the general high street is dying IMO.

2) Definitely Facebook has had an impact to life on here. Trying to figure out why, I can only think it's because there are lots of specific user groups where Oople Forum is an all in one.

3) I think the rate of growth is fairly similar to 10-15 years ago. Lots more 'bashing' products which is another route into racing, when people want to take the hobby further. I think if you lost that element then you may see numbers drop.

I used to utilise actually Oople forum regularly until I stopped previously. It was the first place I looked when I got some interest back but admittedly I find it easier on Facebook as I'm normally already on there.

oople
 

Hi
Like you I love Oople and what Jimmy created.

Unfortunately with social media growing onto many stages and are all unfortunately more easily accessible than oople, the whole racing community has taken to the likes of Facebook and Instagram and so on.
I was dead against joining facebook years ago but unfortunately just to keep up with goings on I had to do it.
Numbers wise I think the numbers have grown, last year at the Nationals I believe that nearly all of them were full and very few reserves got a place, at least the first 3 rounds NO reserve got in.

Unfortunately yes the numbers on oople are way down which is having a cascade effect, less people on means less make the effort to come on.

Sad but straight

Ok sorry to jump on this but are people also holding on to there cars as I can’t seem to find any really on eBay and here ?? Are they on Facebook ?

I think your questions have been answered very well above..

Oople is definitely a less popular way of communicating these days, sadly, perhaps since the driving force, Jimmy, left us..😢
Personally, I've always loved Oople as being a single source for all things rc car racing. It seems that most Clubs now use their own Facebook page to communicate with members.
Sales, and specific model information, is almost entirely Facebook based these days, but, as said above, it is very fragmented across different models and activities.
There are still some excellent shops around providing both face to face and online service, but yes, there are probably less than a few years back.
Clubs, as always, have mixed fortunes...some events are very well supported Oople series for example, but other, normal, club meetings can struggle for support.
Currently with the decent weather, I am really missing running outdoors. Hopefully we can return to "normal" service before the end of Summer.

My mum and dad used to run a model shop. The margins are a joke. Middlemen take the biggest cut leaving the shops with hardly any profit especially on kits

I still check oople and contribute regularly , I still dont use Facebook I have seen so much damage it can cause I'm sure it has positives too but I'm not too worried about not using it

my lad uses it and tells me anything I need to know

Dave

I just rejoined Facebook yesterday evening and see the problems with it and also the advantages. Like instant posts, but it’s soo fragmented and if you read some of the stuff on there people are talking absolute shite. Loook at this car that goes 10000 mph an hour.

Agree with you re Jimmy. What an absolute legend

Interesting about the margins. I heard that before from a guy who basically ran his shop as a hobby.... made money on his other shops and ran his shop as he loved it.

This forum is the most comprehensive almost database on anything rc related.

.

I love the Oople forum, I got back into racing 18 months ago and its been a great resource for getting help, etc as well as finding some really good second hand stuff.
I bought my Cougar KC, Hobbywing motor, couple of servo's, and other bits through the site which has been great.
Facebook is ok but there are alot of people who are just bashers, where as Oople seems to have the people who race and are more knowledgeable

BRCA membership is discussed anually at the agm and recorded in the accounts, last year we had around 7500, and were similar to previous.

Thanks Mark - good to hear numbers remain strong