Thursday, July 06, 2000
LapStand lands at computer retailer
Inventor ships 1,000 to CompUSA
By Sarah Anne Wright
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Momentum is building in Springdale, where inveterate inventor John Troyer has landed shelf space at CompUSA, the nation's largest computer retailer, for his newly patented LapStand.
Friday, the company shipped what appeared to be about 1,000 units (it would not confirm the actual number) for national distribution to more than 224 CompUSA stores, around the country, including the CompUSA near the Tri-County Mall in Springdale.
LapStand — a portable mini-desk designed to cradle a laptop a few inches above the user's lap — was invented by Mr. Troyer three years ago as an alternative to balancing a computer on the lap, where the bottom surface can get warm. The design goal was that the product be uncompromisingly portable while still folding out to a desk of sorts.
Since conception, LapStand has shed some of its girth and gone from wood and hinges to a powder-coated, metallic 16-gauge steel. It's sturdier, lighter and smaller, weighing about 2.8 pounds with folded dimensions of 2 inches by 2 inches by 9 inches. It fits into the side pocket of a laptop bag.
Mr. Troyer left his job in November to bring what he thinks is his most marketable invention to the market. His wife keeps his other “ideas” in a box.
“We went after the seven big retail outlets in America,” said Mr. Troyer, who believed the product wasn't shown to its best advantage at www.lapstand.com. “We have to get the product in front of people so they can see how it works,” said Mr. Troyer.
Mr. Troyer and his vice president of sales, Glenn Poller, took LapStand to the annual Comdex Show in Las Vegas. The response among the estimated 600 people they met there was encouraging.
“About a third of all laptop users wanted to know where they could buy one,” said Mr. Troyer. Another third were going to wait until it hit the mainstream, and the others thought, “I got a lap, I don't need it.”
Mr. Troyer was able to deliver his invention to the retail arena through Dobbs-Stanford, a firm that represents manufacturers' products to retail outlets.
Dobbs-Stanford's territory is primarily the Southwest, with most of its 60-person sales force in Texas and Oklahoma. Its only national account is Dallas-based CompUSA, located just five minutes down the road from its own headquarters.
The D-S president saw a review of LapStand in the Dallas Morning News. He called Mr. Troyer to offer his services for a percentage of sales.
Part of the attraction to LapStand was that it's a salesperson's dream to sell. It's a “two-channel” product, able to be sold either as a luggage accessory or com puter peripheral. The sales force liked the fact that it didn't plug in, and that it is easy to carry and demonstrate. But getting CompUSA to share that enthusiasm wasn't a given.
“It was 50 percent luck, 50 percent timing, and a few percentage points I'd attri bute to the product itself,” said Paul Dumas, division manager at Dobbs-Stanford, Inc., who sold CompUSA on trying the product.
Cracking the retail realm isn't an instant harbinger of high sales. The only commu nication that LapStand, a three-person company, has had with CompUSA is a faxed purchase order. There is no guarantee of a reorder.
“Often, with retailers, you have to participate in the advertising programs, such as the Sunday newspaper flyers,” said Steve Baker, vice president of technology research at PC Data, Inc., a Reston, Va., firm that researches trends in the computer industry. “The store views their shelf space and presence in their stores as a valuable thing.”
But so far, LapStand has not had to pay for its placement to be in a chain of stores that thousands visit every day. For the product to sell, it will have to get noticed amid a barrage of products in a warehouse setting.
“The downside is that people think they're going to get (their product) in a store like that and they're going to be rich,” said Mr. Baker.
Still, Mr. Troyer is optimistic.
“If each store sells just four units a week, that's (almost) 1,000 units in a week,” he said.
If LapStand sells for around $50 — which is what Mr. Troyer is guessing — that would generate $50,000 a week. He expects sales to increase from there and exceed $15 million by the end of the year. He plans to open more retail avenues and even plans on going public late next year.
His projections are based on capturing 25 percent of the growing laptop market. Around 40 million laptops are expected to sell this year worldwide.
But Mr. Baker said, “You can't base your sales on getting that kind of market penetration. That's a lesson from Retail 101.”
Mr. Troyer's patent, awarded June 20, could potentially have a bigger payoff. A patent gives Mr. Troyer limited protection in the marketplace from copy-cat designs.
“The opportunity is there because nobody else is selling it,” said Mr. Dumas. “It's anybody's guess how it's going to sell. Check back with me in three months.”
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