Hikvision Marketing Across America

JH
John Honovich
Nov 20, 2015
IPVM

Interestingly, it seems a lot of people think Hikvision is simply selling based on low cost but the reality is that have a massive marketing push that rivals anything that Axis, Pelco, Avigilon, etc. have done in North America.

Here are some examples of the broad array of events they have done in just the last month or so:

This is the furthest thing from Longse spam email bombing people from China. This is a large American team going to every minor event out.

Two main points:

(1) If you are a competitor to Hikvision, you should recognize this and take Hikvision seriously (e.g., Dahua and their silly BBQs).

(2) Hikvision is spending a ton of money building their business in North America.

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Undisclosed #1
Nov 20, 2015
IPVMU Certified

There is a lot of talk in the industry about what our next move is going to be. Some are even quick to identify who our competition is. The truth is we haven’t even started competing yet. Jeffrey He - Jan 2015

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MC
Marty Calhoun
Nov 20, 2015
IPVMU Certified

We are a Hikvision platinum dealer. I personally have been in the security industry for 40 years. I am not an easy push over nor do I lack experience in seeing a quality product or salesmanship. we are very proud to support the Hikvision machine so to speak. Hikvision has given us excellent technical support and excellent product training. I have never had an American company tech support rep call me back after hours to offer advice just because they realized a different approach after hours, Hikvision does just that. Hikvision makes quality equipment and sells it for a reasonable price. Yes the VMS software, todays version, is a bit bare bones but in reality out of every end user we have sold to not a one has ever had a compliant that it needs more feature. We have sold 2000+ IP cameras over the last year and have had less then (2) replaced.

I hope that most dealers do stay away from Hikvision for their own reasons, that way myself and every other Hikvision dealer can continue to make money hand over fist installing quality equipment and build a database of happy clients every day.

Marty Calhoun

CR Services

Norfolk, Virginia

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Undisclosed #2
Nov 21, 2015

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Undisclosed #1
Nov 21, 2015
IPVMU Certified

We have sold 2000+ IP cameras over the last year and have had less then (2) replaced.

So just the (1)?

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JH
John Honovich
Nov 21, 2015
IPVM

Marty,

Thanks for sharing. That's consistent with what we hear. It also shows their level of investment on people to support and train their dealers, which is fairly amazing considering their low prices.

And I agree about making money using them. The main thing I am curious about is how much money can be made as Hikvision gets more widely used. For sure, it has been a big win for early adopters like yourself but there are a lot of dealers moving to Hikvision every month and I believe that at some point soon so many dealers in every area will be offering Hikvision that the profits will come down. What do you think of that?

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Avatar
Luis Carmona
Nov 24, 2015
Geutebruck USA • IPVMU Certified

This industry has a very bad habit of living in a box. When you look at IT forums, who are the big names there in security cameras and VMS? Ubiquiti, D'Link, BlueIris, anything Linux and open source... Axis and Bosch are the only real credible companies promoting themselves there. Maybe experienced dealers know better, but influencing the decision makers is paramount.

JH
John Honovich
Nov 24, 2015
IPVM

BlueIris?????

I don't think that's because of marketing budget. It would seem to me that it's because it's so cheap ($59.95 for 64 channels) and can be bought direct from their website. Yes/no?

Avatar
Luis Carmona
Nov 24, 2015
Geutebruck USA • IPVMU Certified

I would concede on that one, but another one is Cisco security. And products like BlueIris (and iSpy as another one) will continue being talked about many times when no other credible products speaks up in those circles.

UE
Undisclosed End User #3
Mar 21, 2016

Hikvision appears to be doing a decent job at marketing, and from my limited product testing experience they appear to have a decent product. However, the even the best marketing and greatest products will not be successful if the support is not there.

We regularly work with some competing integrators, all of whom have tried to price Hikvision products at our request for a couple of our smaller projects. Each integrator expressed frustration at not being able to obtain pricing in any kind of timely manner. One told me that they can't get price lists because they were told by their Hikvision contact that "prices change almost daily". One of the integrators has decided not to pursue any further dealings with Hikvision because of the inability to obtain timely pricing and at least one separate poor support experience in which they stated they were unable to get in touch with a live person at Hikvision's U.S. support group.

I think Hikvision has a good product offering, and for certain their pricing is beating many of their competitors. If they cannot deliver on the support (pre- and post-sale) for the products they are marketing, however, they will find themselves less than successful (in my opinion).

BTW, I'm posting undisclosed out of respect for the integrators I mentioned above. We're an end user with hundreds of cameras (several different brands), multiple NVRs, etc. I'm not a Hikvision competitor or "hater" trying to hid behind anonymity.

NOTICE: This comment has been moved to its own discussion: Integrators Can't Get Timely Pricing From Hikvision?

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