What's the next big thing in the science education market?

Being a manufacturer's representative in the Science Education market, I've seen trends come and go. Some of them stick around and become staples. When I first started in the business, one area of growth was the inclusion of all encompassing kits into the science education distributor catalogs. Kits of general supplies (Glassware assortments, Hardware Kits, etc) began popping up in every catalog. These are still featured prominently in the catalogs today and proudly supplied by our principals.

Curriculum based kits were the next to grow. Many manufacturers/kit builders were seeing their product listings with the major distribution houses increase. Kits which included all materials on a particular subject matter or experiment were packaged with a teacher manual or instruction guide. Our principal, United Scientific features nearly 100 products of this type!

The next big boom came from an unlikely source, Mr. William Peterson. He may be better known the the TV viewer as "Gil Grissom". The immense success of television shows featuring forensic science, specifically the C.S.I. series, motivated manufacturers to develop CSI based kits. Open any science education catalog, they are featured in every one now! I have to think that these shows and kits have invited many young minds to consider a career in Forensic Science.

So what is the next "big thing" in the industry? My money is on Advanced Physics. Catalog placement is already growing at a rapid pace and we personally have had success with United Scientific's line of Advanced Physics. Would you like to offer these products on your website? Email me at jgura@fischertech.com and I can help get you started.

Have a great weekend and I hope to see many of you this Spring at NSTA!

John

Need a Science Fair Idea?

Our principal, Culture Media & Supplies has been supplying students with their Student Bacteria Experiment Kit for nearly ten years now. This kit contains instructions as well as materials necessary to complete four experiments:

1. Who's mouth is cleaner, mine or the dog?
2. Does washing my hands really get rid of the bacteria on my hands?
3. Does brushing my teeth really get rid of the bacteria in my mouth?
4. What item around the house/classroom/office contains the most bacteria?

I don't know about you, but these all sound like blue ribbon experiments! How do these turn out? Contact me at Jgura@fischertech.com and I'll be glad to refer you to one of our distributors. I won't spill all of the secrets here, but lets just say our pugs feel a little bit better about themselves after experiment one was completed!

John

It's not just pricing anymore!

For years, our primary competition in the wholesale market was by and large price. Lowest price from a trusted supplier got the business. Are things changing?

Our distributors are fighting through the rough economy by trying to increase margins and decrease costs in the absence of increased sales. One way to do this is to "farm out" the technical services department back to the supplier. I find myself taking more and more calls each day from distributors with their customer also on the line to answer technical questions.

Although this increases our workload, I'm in favor of this trend. We as wholesalers and manufacturer's representatives can now show our "value added" expertise and help our mutual customers chose the right product the first time. Direct customer service also eliminates a lot of "warranty voiding" amateur repairs on our more technical items.

During the last ten years I've spent in the Laboratory Supply and Science education market, I've based our company's success on three basic principals:

1. Having the right product
2. Having the right price
3. Being able to deliver on time.

It's safe to say that its time to add a number 4:

4. Be available to intelligently answer technical and maintenance questions from our mutual customers.

I hope to see you in Atlanta for Pittcon and San Francisco for NSTA to hear your take on this!

Best regards,

John Gura
Fischer Technical Company