Got in a pretty heated discussion with a group of guys at the McDonalds tournament about plastic bait companies having a shelf life of a few years.

Seems like a new company pops up, gets massively popular then fails/liquidates then sells out to new owners never rebounding.

We sat down and named off company after company after company...with the only exception being ZOOM.

Anyone have a theory why this happens? Or why has Zoom beat the "system"?

Looking at it now it almost seems so but i doubt powerbait will go anywhere along with zoom.

If the Flw and Elite guys are winning with their product they stay in business. Thats how it seems to me anyways.

I think alot of it is in the distribution and the new product development. When they stop fighting for their share, they fold.

Not sure, but who came out first Berkley or Zoom?

berkley is just a part of pure fishing which is massive. zoom does well with great products at great prices.

u must realize that in the mass production fishing industry that many different branded products are made by the same manufacturer.

Seems to me several companies have staying power. They stay because they have one or a few main sellers that help carry the rest of the product line.

Zoom
Berkley
Culprit
Kalins
Lake Fork Tackle
Creme
Mann's
Gambler
Yamamoto

all sold at bps...

I think that part of the issue is that a lot of smaller companies are just that- smaller companies and a lot more informal so they fold when business difficulties start to arise.

I also think that knock off baits curtail a LOT of small companies from growing like they should/causing them to fold. I think that has a lot to do with the shelf life.

Just look at Senkos, Beavers, Brush Hawgs, etc. There are hundreds, if not thousands, of small companies making knock offs of these original baits. I have even heard that the beloved Rattlesnake/Tornado is about to be knocked off by a couple of bigger companies. Hate to see it but it looks like it is inevitable... well it would be if we as fisherman would not buy the cheaper baits when they hit the shelves.....

It's the middle growth of the business that is hard. Hard to get to the top to compete with the big boys. Once you go from small company with a couple of employees to a warehouse full of people, it's a whole different business model. Distribution plays a huge part of it also, where can you not buy Zoom?

My .02

This is a good thread and I have had many sleepness nights pondering this very thought.

Some stay below the Zoom and Pure Fishing levels but compete well due to innovative baits/marketing like Reaction Innovation.
Some stay below the Zoom and Pure Fishing levels but compete well due to keeping regional and not trying to trade punches on a national scale with the big boys like Western Plastics in San Diego.
And as mentioned some try it at the the Zoom and Pure Fishing levels but fail due to their business plan/distribution system.
I will say that with online ordering a small regional presence can grow by word of mouth (today know as chatter on the internet) into a much larger concern than when retail stores were the major outlet for purchasing plastic baits.

Getting distributors to buy into your brand.

A company like BPS, Academy, Gander Mtn, Cabelas has to believe that they can spend X dollars for a product that can sell for Y amount and they make money off of it. In turn, a company has to be able to produce their product, manage the company, develop new baits, and ship for significantly lower than X to create a profit. Definitely not easy.

Owners realize after a while that a small business doesn't pay as much as they thought when they envisioned things. It is really hard work to run a company then you find out how expensive it is. Sometimes it seems there isn't enough left at the end of the day for the amount of work and stress you have.

When you jump to the next level, in whatever business you are in, is when the money starts happening. But you've got to get over the initial expense of getting there - more employees, more trucks, more equipment, more insurance, more material costs, more advertising, more loans, etc., etc.

Making that jump is very scary and if you can pull it off successfully than you can play in a different revenue bracket. A lot can't or don't want to then decide to drop their efforts or sell after a period of time.