Editorial
Dear Friends, Welcome to the 200th edition of the Eduard newsletter. Two hundred issues, that's almost 17 years, during which, every month, we have kept you up to date with the latest news from our company while also bringing you plenty of additional, reading and entertainment.
Dear Friends,
Welcome to the 200th edition of the Eduard
newsletter. Two hundred issues, that‘s almost
17 years, during which, every month, we have
kept you up to date with the latest news from
our company while also bringing you plenty of
additional, reading and entertainment. But since
nothing in the world is as simple as it seems at first
glance, it is good to point out, however, that this is
the 200th issue of INFO in its current form. There
were at least ten years‘ worth of issues published
before INFO evolved into the modern format we
know today. These had a simpler form and were
more or less limited mainly to basic information
about new releases, and the publication was also
called ‘Novinky Eduard’ (Eduard New Releases).
This format was created in the nineties and in
a way it still survives in the form of a Newsletter
with information directed at distributors and
retailers. It continued to serve this purpose
while gradually evolving into an online magazine.
That didn‘t happen by itself, either. It was one
of the anti-crisis measures that we gradually
introduced in response to the problems brought
on by 2008 and 2009, which, however, affected
us much longer. The period of stagnation and
low performance growth lasted five years.
We did not surpass our 2007 performance level
until 2012, when a period of boom and rapid
growth began. This was mainly due to the
stabilization and growth of the world economy,
which at that time had already recovered from
the depression caused by the collapse of the US
mortgage market in 2008. However, our rapid
growth at the time, when in 2012 performance
increased by 15% compared to the previous year
and in 2013 even by a full 22%, was, in my opinion,
strengthened precisely by the innovations we
introduced in 2009 and 2010. This was most
evident in model kits. There, the fundamental
innovation consisted in the purchase of modern
CNC machines and the introduction of spark-
eroded Certal aluminum molds. This allowed us
to produce higher quality kits of interesting types.
Yes, those would be the Messerschmitts, Spitfires
and Focke-Wulfs for which we sometimes
received rather passionate criticism on Facebook.
For kits, the market response to the change in
technology and the increase in quality was fast,
growth there already started in 2011. In the
following year, accessory sets were added, sales
of photo-etched parts and masks, as well as cast
resin accessories from the then new Brassin
department, grew very rapidly. The establishment
of that department, which to some extent adopted
the know-how abandoned in the production of
kits, and the launch of the production of cast
accessories was another major innovation in that
2009 and 2010 timeframe. The first brassin sets
appeared on the market in January 2010, and the
growth of their sales was incredible, in 2012 it
was 190% compared to the previous year, so sales
practically doubled during the year.
The change in the newsletter format, a part of
a broader process involving the structuring of the
marketing department and the reorganization
of the sales department, fit right into these
efforts to modernize the company as a whole.
My colleague Jan Zdiarský led the establishment
of the marketing department and the development
of the NFO‘s new format. At the same time, a new
website and e-shop were being developed and
launched; this project was prepared and led by
my colleague Láďa Eštok, working with Libor
Havránek, who was his associate at the time. This
was followed by the reorganization of the sales
department, which had to gear up for a rapid
surge in orders generated by the new e-shop
and handle a much higher volume of shipments
than usual. My then-wife, Jana, was in charge
of this part of the project. All these initiatives
were our response to a phenomenon resulting
from the economic downturn that was absolutely
critical for us: the reluctance of retailers to make
purchases. This phenomenon had a clear cause.
It was a reaction to consumer behavior during
a crisis and our task was to overcome this sales
hurdle. Do not be misled into thinking this was
a minor issue; for us, it was a matter of
fundamental importance, and the newsletter was
essentially a support initiative designed to draw
customers to our new e-shop. We succeeded
in doing so. We launched our new website and
e-shop in 2011, and just two years later, the
e-shop had become our highest-performing
sales channel, a position it still holds today, in
2026, with a performance level ten times that of
2010.
With what I have described, I want to show
that, on the one hand, nothing happens by itself
and in isolation, and on the other hand to point
out the usefulness of a crisis situation in the
development of a company. At the beginning
of the century, we generally enjoyed a period
of solid growth, which was not shaken even by
the terrorist attacks in New York in September
2001, and we also managed a period of rapid
strengthening of the exchange rate of the Czech
Crown. Not that we weren‘t innovating back then.
That‘s when we introduced color photoetching,
started with masks and computerized design
of kits, bought the first CNC machines and put
new sales procedures into motion. For example,
we built a very solid sales network in the USA.
But the really hard and clear push for change
didn‘t come until the 2008 crisis, and what we
did in response to that crisis benefited us over
the next decade and continues to reap benefits
to this day.
Today, we are in the midst of another crisis, one
that has far greater consequences than the crisis
of 2008/2009. From today‘s point of view, this was
EDITORIAL
INFO Eduard4
October 2026