An Interview with Gary Johnston
Managing Director, Jaycar Electronics
by Marvin Mallon
This month’s spotlight is on
Jaycar Electronics, a mail order
business offering a wide variety
of electronic equipment with
company stores located throughout
Australia and New Zealand. They also
maintain a manufacturer’s rep/distrib-utor business for semiconductors and
other electronic components in
those countries and additionally in
Singapore, India, and elsewhere. A
Mr. Jock Carr founded the company
in 1950. Mr. Carr died in 1962 and
Gary Johnston purchased the firm
which had all but ceased to function
in 1980. He revived the business to
the point where it presently has
approximately 650 staff members
and over 50 company owned stores
(not franchises).
Gary is the sole owner of the
business. He began operating Jaycar
when he was 30 and is now 57 years
old. Prior to owning and operating
Jaycar, he worked for a company
called Dick Smith Electronics. They
are an Australian firm that tried to
enter into the American marketplace
in the early 1980’s, but they did not
succeed. He left that organization
before that occurred.
The main office and warehouse of
Jaycar occupies 70,000 square feet.
They are moving later this year to a
200,000 square foot facility.
When interviewed for this column
recently, he replied to our questions in
this manner:
Marvin: Please describe the nature of
your business and how it operates.
Gary: As a business, the closest
thing in United States terms you
could compare us to is a hybrid of
RadioShack and Jameco. We also
do a large range of do-it-yourself
104 January 2008
kits so we are a bit like Ramsey,
as well. We do not sell brand-name
products at all. We generally either
make kits up ourselves or source
goods from overseas suppliers;
generally Asia.
M: How many different products do
you offer, either at your company
stores or on the Internet?
G: On that subject, we generally
release about 1,000 new products
every year on a range of 8,000. We
discontinue about 500 products a
year so our range is growing overall.
Naturally, we would like a smaller
number of products to manage, but it
just does not seem to work out that
way. As we indicate on our website,
we do not skimp on quality with our
kits. We supply 1% metal film resistors
in lieu of 5% carbon ones. We use
high quality MKT style plastic
capacitors and IC sockets, where
appropriate. Our kit production
department is audited under the
ISO9001:2000 Quality System, an
International benchmark. Jaycar sells
kits all over the world these days. We
cannot afford to let someone down
whether they are in Birmingham,
England or Birmingham, Alabama. The
kit that a customer receives in
Melbourne, Florida, is the same as
the one delivered to a customer in
Melbourne, Australia. We source
projects from all over the world.
M: How much business do you do
annually?
G: We are not a publicly traded
company and we tend to keep
financial details to ourselves, but in US
dollars, our ballpark retail turnover is
about $70 million. That’s pretty big
by Australian standards, but nothing
compared to RadioShack! We require
a minimum order of $15 USD for
our American customers. Other
minimums apply for other countries.
Shipping charges are a function
of order value, distance, and method
of shipping.
M: Care to comment on any problems
you have selling your products in an
American market?
G: We have been producing a US
dollar version of our catalog for some
years now. While we have had some
success marketing to enthusiasts in
the USA, I think that Americans have a
perception problem with “down
under.” I feel that many Americans
just don’t see Australia as a source of
technical products. Heck, we make
half the world’s heart pacemakers
down here, for example. We also
make about 25 percent of the world’s
slot machines — and the really
electronic ones at that.
M: Finally, how can our readers get
information about your product line
and place orders?
G: We have a 400+ page US catalog
that is free to any US or Canadian
customer. They only have to contact
us at www.jaycar.com.au. We have
been around for over 50 years, and
welcome any customer who holidays
down under to pay us a visit. There is
a reason why we are so big down here
and we would love to prove our worth
to US enthusiasts. NV
