Modern Vespa

I am currently developing a new web site that will cater entirely to scooterists. Since we want to create the best experience possible for users like the ones here, we would appreciate it if you gave us your opinion on what we're doing.

Features offered by e-ficient scooting:

- Retail of respected emerging scooter brands
We are scooterists ourselves, and have a pretty good finger on the market's pulse. Although we know there has been some question about the quality of off-seas manufacturers (ie Chinese), there are key companies in China who are the real deal, and are backed by the major Japanese players.

- Personalized home pages for user generated content
It'll be easy for any visitor to the site to create their own membership, so anyone can join in. From there, you can: upload pictures and videos, add "friends", post on message boards, send messages, set up a scoot meet with local riders, join a chatroom and more.

- Environmentally conscious business
Aside from the obvious EPA/DOT certifications, we are implementing many green technologies into our business. Users will be able to calculate the amount of gas and money they save while riding a scooter, as well as how much their individual carbon footprint will be reduced.

What would you change about these services? Is this a site that you would enjoy having available?

Thanks for all your responses, your help will not go unappreciated

- the e-ficient team



e-ficient scooting_____
_____down to the drop

A brand new and environmentally conscious hub to the growing scooter community


-join the revolution of e-ficient travel-

Sorry, but the last thing the web needs is another site hawking Chinese death trap scooters. It's the same lie repeated over and over and over: These are Honda/Yamaha scooter designs/engines produced in China for half the price!
Same Japanese quality! Buy now! Why pay thousands $$$$ for a Vespa?

You may want to come & see the Chinese scooter graveyard here in Honolulu before going into business. I'll drive by tomorrow and post a pic for you if you like.

efficientscootering, we see that you are brand new to this forum. It would be helpful to know a bit more about who you are and your relationship to Vespa/Piaggio scooters in particular (the focus of this forum) and the wider scooter community.

Thanks for providing us with some background, and for dropping by with your contribution.

Cordially,

The Management

I'm not keen on personalized pages. Myspace and Facebook have problems keeping security up to snuff is one reason. The second reason is the effort put into personalizing a page never materializes into the rewarding enjoyment. Seems like something that serves the younger crowd.

Reviews of new scooters can be found anywhere already. Frankly that's marketing and I don't need to be marketed to. When a new product stands out, people talk and I become aware. It's the grass roots at work.

What I like about MV is the grass roots of folks pointing out a particular scooter or m/c. Whether it's one they've seen on Ebay or elsewhere, one they themselves have worked on, had questions about, or seen at a show'n'shine.

Enviro-conscious... Does this mean it'll have a black background and white words to save on pixel energy consumption? Sorry, but that just bothers my eyes.

All two wheelers get good gas milage, some better then others. I really don't worry about a few bucks like some folks do. If you're buying new you've missed the whole point of the green movement anyways. Having a scoot last 30yr.s or more bypasses much of consumerism and steers clear away from the waste managment movement that environmentalism has become.

Why don't you start a "Scooter Ring"...
Bet that hasn't been done yet.

Dave

This bloke has spammed many scooter forums and is getting virtually the same reply. Don't bother!!!

sorry for causing a disturbance here everyone, I was actually recommended this forum by someone on another one

I'm really not trying to hassle anyone, just asking for a little help so I can learn a thing or two. I'll clarify a few things, however, to put some people at ease...

My name is Austin and I'm a business student in America. I have a passion for scootering and motorsports in general. In a way, I am my target audience for this project. I understand that many of you here would be uninterested in what I want to offer, but you are all part of the community so I wanted to hear what you all had to say.

IMHO, scooters are all about fun, and thats really what e-ficient is aiming to be--a fun company that offers a fun way for younger people to jump on the bandwagon here

-the e-ficient team

Wecome Austin. Good luck with your project.

thank you very much...its looking more and more like i'll need that luck 8)

out of curiosity, does anyone know the user demographics here. Of course we're all scooterists, but are there a lot of young people that come through these here parts?

thanks again
- the e-ficient team

You might want to PM Jess or ask him to publically share this information.

We are a bunch of grumpy old gits.

Funniest line in recent memory!!

Less of the "old"if you please!!!!!!!!!!

Sorry, I didn't realize you represented a scooter manufacturer. Your OP passed you off as representing a new web forum, not a manufacturer. Misrepresentation is one of the things that gets folks in trouble. Don't bullshit and we'll get along just fine.

This is a Vespa forum, more or less focussed on CVT Vespas. So the demographics here would be the same as Vespa buyers, perhaps even a little broader as there are owners of other brands signing up as well.

Web forums in general work best when operated by the consumer base, rather then as a marketing tool for the corporate. In this way the criticisms are honest. But more importantly, the help is peer to peer, from real world experiences, rather then sanctioned approved messages from some corporate office that deals with these things.

You want feedback on how to be a better manufacturer? Quality. I you build a scooter with even better quality then Vespa, people would buy them. Give me five worry free years and I'll buy another and another. And all my friends would buy them too. We don't necessarily want to save money in the short term. If the quality is there, we're willing to shell out a little extra.

From either the consumer or producers perspective, buying/selling quality is the most environmental thing you can do. I don't care if it gets 200mpg if I have to buy a new one because I'm stuck at the side of the road all the time it's getting zero mpg on a workbench.

A fun company? Again, quality. Stuck on the side of the road or on a work bench isn't much fun.

Now nobody can prove quality right off the bat. It's earned over time. You can show me real chrome, but good chrome lasts.

I would offer that "scooter riders" is not a focused enough target market identification. It appears to me that the bulk of the MV folks use their scooters for serious transportation, which is a small subset of the PTW owners in the US. A rather small subset.

Based on the info floating around, most US PTW owners use their PTWs for diversion, and typically on weekends. People who use their PTW as a primary means of transportation have quite different expectations of the product. While a scooter is a scooter, it's intended use defines exactly which scooter one should buy.

That said, MVers also enjoy the "fun" aspect of scooter ownership. they probably have chosen Vespa because it represents good, reliable transportation that is fun as well.

So. pick your target market and then identify the best means to reach them. At least that's what my profs told us. They do still teach that in American schools, don't they?

2 Eurocents worth from a small island far from the US.

Al

I am guessing that we are all older then the OP.

post deleted by Salima

TROLL!

I like truth in advertising...
The OP seems way too vague, given that it probably is such

I also like the stated policy at Scooter Diva, where they warn posters upfront: (The bolding is mine )

If you want details about the users on this site, I would suggest you talk with Jess the Adim on this site.

Were all leary people pushing Crappy scooters, so dont take offense, were just looking out for each other and this site.

Manny

Something tells me he won't be back.

Sorry Davfff but I'm going to have to prove you wrong on that one 8)

Allow me to clear up even more confusion that has developed...

Yes I am Austin, and I am writing on these forums on behalf of my team which, as of now, includes a web developer, a marketer, and myself. We are a registered company, but have no hand in manufacturing. Our job is to work with those who do manufacture to provide the best quality product for the consumer, as well as to provide the online experience that I have touched on earlier.

"experience", in this context, refers to any interaction between the consumer and my company. e-ficient is being designed to create a single outlet where new, young, American scooterists (which is my defined audience, Aviator) can be fully immersed into the scooter world. Not only will they be able to make their first scooter purchase, but they will have a complete online community to support them from the get go.

Like I have said before (or maybe not), I'm not pushing anything on anyone here. I know the "users here"--members of MV--are not likely going to be interested in my venture. Rather, I am merely trying to learn more about communities such as these...believe you me, I've gotten quite the lesson

So if you still haven't grown tired of my nuisance, what is it that draws you all together on a forum such as MV. Of course we all share a love of scootering, but is there some other element that keeps you coming back?

thanks everyone for your help (even if you didn't mean to give it!)

-the e-ficient team

btw. e-ficient is a play on the word efficient, although I have found that the lack of a second "f" can annoy some people...

Since this is a VESPA forum, and I love my Vespa's very much. I "myself" would not be interested in ANY other forums or webrings or anything not Vespa Related. Modern Vespa is a place for all things Vespa. an some NSR subjets too!

Try this board. Mostly made up of Chinese scooter buyers trying to keep them running, or to get the new ones they just bought to run in the first place.

http://scootdawg.proboards59.com/

Well damn, will I ever be right about anything?

So you will be working with a manufacturer overseas that produces scooters and then rebranding them with your company's name, much like the new Lambretta people have done with the Adly scooters? Am I correct in understanding this? If so, and you will have no hand in manufacturing these products, what is your strategy for quality control to make sure that these scooters aren't total pieces of shit that would drive away potential customers and ruin your brand's credibility? What is your strategy for a service and support network on these? is the online community aspect of your venture the only sort of support network you will have? if these scooters are new to the US, presumably, and nobody but your company will be selling/distributing them, how will you create an active online community from the get go to help if these are new scooters and new scooterists that presumably won't have the experience of years of wrenching and tinkering on older scooters or bikes, etc.? and will there be hot girls there? I'm interested. I would like to see how it grows and how everything pans out, and see if the scooters are quality, as well as the level of support given to them, or else I wouldn't be asking these questions. I think the best and most successful communities develop organically out of a common bond of love for their product and a desire to find other like minded people out there. That I think is the key: develop organically. In the end, it is the members of the community that will make or break it. Its not something that you can just throw a message board or something up about and sit back and wait for people to come talk, there has to be a reason, there has to be a sharing of information. This site has tons of great information, a lot of like minded people with a willingness and desire to share that information and experiences, and it is organized in a very clean, user friendly manner. And yeah, I can get annoyed by reading a ton of posts about how to properly color coordinate your outfit with your scooter, and every time you ride your scooter in a t-shirt and without a full face helmet god kills a kitten and jesus wept and whatnot, but there is so much other good information available minor things like that can be overlooked. yeah, that lack of a second f is kind of annoying, and that is the kind of thing that can take away from your venture's credibility before it is even out of the gate.

my two cents. good luck.

post deleted by Salima

I wish I could PM Salima and tell her how awesome she is.


Dear Austin,

I have only the most basic understanding of marketing but here's what I know...
#1 Identify a need
#2 Fulfill that need

I'm looking at the market right now and I can identify several needs. I think somebody with the right amount of resources and whole bunch of capitol could make a lot of money producing and selling scooters right now.

However, currently there's a whole bunch of competition selling entry-level cheaply priced, cheap quality scooters. An entrepreneur could skim a decent living here and brands seem to come and go.

The mid-priced range seems saturated. Honda, Yamaha, Kymco, Genuine, etc have each their own niches. Really have to stand out to make it here. This is a market for endurance.

But on the high end Vespa stands without peer. We've been anticipating for Vespa to have competition. We've been hoping it would be a new Lambretta. But this particular market seems wide open to me.

What I don't see a need for is another scooter web forum. All the particular slants have been fulfilled. Then again I don't see the need for more web-porn... yet I still havn't seen the naked-girls-on-scooters fetish being addressed yet. (note to self... buy more scooters, find at least one naked girl)

Perhaps, there is a need for on-line support for some of the cheap entry-level Chinese scooters that don't have many other avenues of customer support. One stop where consumers say what's wrong, and they are told how to fix it, and can order the parts right there immediately. One stop where they can order helmets, gloves jackets and gear. One stop where they can learn where to get their scooter inspected, registered, insured, licenced, etc. One stop where they can get help learning about parking, how to fight tickets, when to get a lawyer involved, etc.

Awesome post Salima. I totally agree with you on all points.

This post was almost deleted and moved to the graveyard when it was first seen by the moderators. Because of the complete lack of specific information and rather vague first post, we were debating its merits and were close to considering it complete and utter spam. You can see as Salima explained, that perception altered the tone of the posts that followed. More rather than less information in your first post as a newbie somewhere on a topic such as yours may have resulted in a more favourable result for you Austin.