A question often asked to CAPLINQ in particular or among peers in general is, “When is a generic material (such as Polyimide Tape vs. Kapton Tape or Volume-Conductive Linqstat™ Film vs. Velostat™) good enough?” The answer of course is simple, it is when the customer says it is.
Companies large and small spend both time and cash resources to develop innovative products that the market wants to buy. Intellectual property is gained and patents are filed in a rush to protect the best ideas and innovations. This is all good, and companies that develop these materials should be able to benefit from first mover advantage and a continued slightly higher market price.
Generic Products are good enough only when customers say they are.
The problem as CAPLINQ sees it however is that many of the companies that develop these technologies don’t build in marketing and pricing strategies to account for today’s fast pace of innovation. Products that were once unique become commodities and the companies that market them stick to higher prices despite the market realities that lower-cost options become available. Smart companies like Apple develop incredibly innovative products and build in marketing strategies to cannibilize their own business by reducing prices and introducing newer products and obsoleting older ones. In the case of iPods and iPhones, “old” is a relative term that recently is measured in months if not weeks.
So getting back to the question, generic brands of products are good enough when suppliers say they are to their customers and customers trust their suppliers enough to believe them. CAPLINQ works hard with its manufacturing partners to develop products that meet or exceed the expectations of its customers while keeping the prices of these products far below those of its competitors.
So when CAPLINQ offers its customers Polyimide Tape instead of Kapton® Film or Volume-Conductive Linqstat™ Film vs. Velostat™, its customers can be sure that the quality of the product is high, while the price offers significant incentive to switch from the better-known brand names.
3 thoughts on “When is a generic brand good enough?”