Hikvision Launches Kits, Slashing Prices 40%

I see the HIKVision strategy as something that will eventually run out of steam (or run through that "free" government money), but they won't do so before running a handful of other manufacturers into the ground and changing this industry for many, many years (and not for the better either). 

The long term impacts of moves like this encourages the commoditization of the entire video industry, making companies fearful of investing too heavily in R&D and driving the industry forward. Instead they will focus on process improvements, and cutting any extra they can to hit that bottom line and simply survive. That fear won't go away the day that these deals stop, and I wouldn't be surprised if it is years before companies truly start to trust the market place to sustain heavy R&D budgets again. 

I am sure for some installers this won't be a problem as long as they can get a few extra NVR kits here and there and cushion their bottom line, but for the integration companies that bring their key value when there are high technology devices that they can utilize in designs, this will definitely hurt long term in the ability for us to bring additional value to our clients

In my opinion, I don't think this is likely to run out of steam. With government funding HikVision will likely be able to run this campaign as long as they want. When it tapers off, it will probably be because they will have reached/exceeded whatever market share in whatever market segment(s) they've set their sights on.

It's possible the current political climate in the US may result in higher import taxes from China which would drive their prices up making them a bit less competitive. But if they're willing to sell at a loss "indefinitely", that may not be enough to push customers to other brands.

Just looked at the specs of the 7100 DVR. It mentioned something about recording in 1080 lite mode. Whats HIK's definetion of lite mode? 

Gentlemen and Integrators, All's fair in love and war. Controlled revenue loss is better than uncontrolled revenue losses. You can rest assured a deep strategy developed within the Hikvision construct is at play here, make no attempt to analyze spilt milk as it will soon go sour. Hikvision is not going away anytime soon and neither is Axis. I personally want to head to ADI right now just to get the 4 cameras and free NVR so I can just have more toys.

I'm guessing HV is selling a camera for 15$ and the dvr + had for 80-90$.

This leaves a nice margin for ADI.

My take is that they are still making money on this but less and so they will make this price permanent.

While HV is very strong here they are not considered cheap in the tvi business.

Maybe they feel this pressure in other places too.

So the turrets are TVI and the domes are IP?  Hard to tell from the picture?

Are the Hik cameras being bundled part of their retail line or are they their b2b line?

Update: I just spoke to Brooklyn Low Voltage Supply, who confirmed to me that going forward they'll be selling these kits at the same price range as ADI is. This would seem to suggest that this is going to be the regular price and not a special sale. If any other distributors want to confirm, feel free to leave a comment below, or contact me privately at ari@ipvm.com. 

Hikvision's financials show gross margins of ~40%, that means they are selling profitably overall...

Clever / insightful response to the 'slit your throat business model' example from a person on LinkedIn:

In the curious case of a government backed player, they are in effect doing so whilst receiving a transfusion.

EverFocus is not out, we are simply shifting focus to Access Control, Mobile Surveillance and producing other niche market products.  Such as the

MoniVue: http://www.everfocus.com.tw/product/esn41-fhd/

EMX32: http://www.everfocus.com.tw/product/emx32/

Palun: http://www.everfocus.com.tw/product/palun/

Unfortunately video manufacturers are all running into access control as a haven and will now over-saturate and kill that ( currently very profitable) market component as well.

Do Software House, Lenel, Keyscan, etc have a plan for when Hikvision or its equivalent set their sights on access? 

“Most of the evil in this world is done by people with good intentions.”
― T.S. Eliot

“God save us from people who mean well.”
― Vikram Seth, A Suitable Boy

three great company started out with ONVIF, sony, bosch and axis in 2008. Come 2016 all three sold. very good intentions, The cornerstones of ONVIF are:

• Standardization of communication between network video devices
• Interoperability between network video products regardless of manufacturer
• Open to all companies and organizations

with open standards no advantage to any Manufactures, all have them have the numbers stacked against them, with chip OEM's supporting the large offtakes OEM's https://www.ambarella.com/products/security-ip-cameras

with +30K per day (hearsay, require correction) camera production line, HikVision is riding the tiger, no way it can get down 

'Ch'i 'hu nan hsia pei' goes the Chinese proverb, translated in 1875 as 'He who rides a tiger is afraid to dismount.'