Window Film and Tinting in Different Markets

Comparing the window tinting for cars in different markets.

Over the years I have had the opportunity to travel around the world checking out different markets. It is amazing how much one learns when one travels as an entrepreneur. One also realises how different the markets are . What works in one market does not necessarily work in another market. I have spent a lot of time in the Australian market and make it my duty to visit tint shops when in Sydney. I have made a lot of friends with owners of tint stores as we always swop notes and get ideas from each other. Clever business people like to get new ideas to improve their businesses as things change all the time and being stuck in dark Africa one needs to keep researching to keep up to date.

Australia is a first world country with very strong competition and to play the game in such a competitive country one needs to be on the ball. This situation is highlighted in the Australian sportsmen who are one of the best sporting nations in the world. The same thing applies to Australian business and it is always a pleasure to learn from this culture.

The window film industry is widespread in Australia. These tint stores service mainly the car dealerships as it is the norm for car owners to have film applied to their windows to stop the sunlight from coming into the car. Australians are very conscious about the damage the ultraviolet causes to their health. This is one of the main reasons why sun control film is applied to car windows. The climate in Australia is extremely hot. Window film can stop up to 65% of the heat from entering the side and back windows of a vehicle. Window tinting for cars also stop blinding glare day and night, making a driving a pleasure.

All window films stop 99% of ultra violet, the main cause of fading of interiors of car upholstery. The fact that film also turns car glass into safety glass is not a big deal in a safe country like Australia.

Another interesting factor about the Aussie market is that most tint shops are located in areas where dealers are mushroomed together, so for a tint shop to collect a car from a dealer is a pleasure, as it is normally around the corner. This saves loads of time in travelling, bringing in the car as well as delivering it back to the dealer. The type and thickness of film in the Australian market is thinner than the film we use in the South African market as it is designed firstly for security and safety. The application of thin film requires less squeezing than the thicker films, so therefore it takes less time to do a window film installation on a car in Aussie than in South Africa and the prices are higher.

In South Africa the consumer buys safety window film to reduce the effects of smash and grab attack. Dealers are almost forced to ensure they sell cars with shatterproof windows as they understand the responsibility they have to ensure their cars are safe for their customers to drive around in one of the crime capitals of the world.

The dealerships are widespread in South Africa and collecting a car for Klingshield is more time consuming and expensive. It is for this reason that less cars can be done in one day.

The South African window film market utilises a thick safety film for safety and security reasons and this is a longer process as the film needs to be squeegeed more times than the regular tints used in Australia or the USA for that matter. This is another disadvantage as each takes twice the time to do. The costs of the thicker products are higher when purchasing them from the American manufactures.

The thick safety film used by Klingshield also has sun control properties like the tint films used in the Aussie and USA markets.

As for our labour the first world countries work at twice the speed than our local labour so in a tint shop where they have four people we have eight.

In conclusion all I can say is that it is much easier and more profitable to run a tint shop in a first world country rather than in Africa.