Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Technology Stocks : TouchStone S/W (TSSW) -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: David Alan Cook who wrote (1102)	12/10/1997 9:25:00 AM
From: Ryvers	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 3627

Input from Richmond, VA.- Still out here, still long, and mostly lurking due to lack of time. OfficeMax doesn't carry Touchstone products in this area, Comp USA does, but not well positioned vis-a-vis McAfee, Norton and Doc Solomon - fixed that problem as I could. Looks like the competitors put a big $ marketing blitz on at the holidays to capture the prominant endcaps at checkout and in the aisleways. I must admit, I had difficulty locating TSSW products on the shelves - the packaging looks good, but all the products are trying to stand out on crowded shelves. Without the endcaps and endorsements from store personnel, it will be difficult to capture purchases from folks who don't come in specificaly asking for TSSW products. Winchekit and Winchekit Pro were almost out on the shelves, so (in Comp USA) either Winchekit is selling well, or TSSW (and customers) are wary of last year's returns and so are shipping fewer products per order. Couldn't talk to store personnel - the stores were busy and I was in a hurry. I'll try to chat them up this weekend. What is TSSW's sales and marketing strategy? If the strategy is to capture end consumers and not PC professionals, hopefully marketing efforts will be focused in those areas- advertising in consumer PC publications, education of store personnel to the extent possible and securing endcaps. Would also be nice to have Dell, Gateway 2000, etc. offer their machines with PC-cillan and Winchekit preloaded, but Norton may have that market locked up - at least with Dell. If the strategy is to capture PC professionals, will want to use more direct mail, trade publications and the like. It's a less expensive strategy to be sure. Interesting conversation with an IS professional (a friend) this weekend. He is an NT server guy, and only installs that product. He said that he had never heard of TSSW, is a fan of McAfee and personally uses Dr. Solomon. No conclusions from the conversation, but found it interesting. He reads alot of trade pubs, so the lesson seems to be that marketing is the determinant of winners and losers. Ryvers