Press Release details
Chicago Tribune - Games People Play
Inside Technology
Students at UIC turning ideas into real businesses
by Jon Van
....GAMES PEOPLE PLAY: When disappointed customers couldn't get Nintendo's Wii game console last Christmas, it made news, but few people heard about the much smaller run on Snap Circuits Electronics kits.
"What a wild ride," said Philip Cable, who operates American Science & Surplus Inc. of Niles. Cable's operations include retail stores, a mail-order catalog and a Web site, sciplus.com. Last year he also put some toys for sale on Amazon.com, and that's when things got wild.
Among the toys Cable offered was the Snap Circuits kit made by Elenco Electronics Inc., based in Wheeling.
"It's like a Lego kit with electronics," Cable said. "You can snap them onto a board to make a light sensor or a burglar alarm. We usually sell a few a week."
After Thanksgiving, Cable found he was selling dozens, then hundreds of kits through Amazon. Then nothing after another Amazon merchant undercut his price. Then it was hundreds again when the competitor ran out of stock.
Cable's company had orders for hundreds more kits than it had on hand, but a shipment from China arrived, and Cable's employees worked overtime to get everything out for Christmas.
Now, his Amazon sales of the kits have fallen to zero again because Amazon noticed their popularity and sells them, too, at a discount below Cable's price. But he doesn't mind.
"It's fun to play with the big boys," he said.
jvan@tribune.com
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