Editing ZX81 (section)

=== Distribution ===
[[File:ZX81 kit.jpg|thumb|The kit version of the ZX81, sold by Sinclair through mail-order|alt=The component parts of the ZX81, including the case, keyboard and circuitry, resting on a blue sheet in front of the cardboard box in which it was shipped.]]
The ZX81's distribution arrangements were an essential part of its success and marked a watershed in the way that computers were sold in the UK. Sinclair had previously made its name as a mail-order retailer&nbsp;– the ZX81 was initially available only through mail-order&nbsp;– but the only truly effective way to reach the mass market was via high street stores. Fortunately for Sinclair, an opportunity to do just that was provided by W.H. Smith, a venerable book- and magazine-seller and stationery chain. The company had stagnated in the 1970s and was looking for ways to revitalise its image and expand its product range.{{sfn|Adamson|Kennedy|1986|p=109}}

Smith's had begun selling audio and photographic equipment and calculators at the end of the 1970s, with a modest degree of success. In 1980 its marketing development manager, John Rowland, hit upon the idea of creating "Computer Know-How" sections in major branches to sell computer books and magazines. Most of the items on display were imports from the United States but their relatively high cost reduced their attractiveness to the casual buyer.{{sfn|Adamson|Kennedy|1986|p=109}} The commercial success and mass market potential of the ZX80 caught Rowland's interest; he approached Sinclair, saw a prototype ZX81 and agreed to market the machine through Smith's on an exclusive basis for the first six months after launch.{{sfn|Adamson|Kennedy|1986|p=111}} As Rowland put it, "what we've done now is bring the computer-orientated publications together with an actual computer, to create the Computer Know-How section of the store", alongside computer software and blank cassette tapes. The ZX81 would be sold in 112 stores around the UK and would serve as the centrepiece of the "Computer Know-How" sections.<ref name="YC Nov 81">[[#YCNov81|Hartnell (November 1981)]]</ref>

Selling the ZX81 over the counter was seen as something of a gamble and Rowland's colleagues were initially unenthusiastic about the scheme. Branch buyers thought that the ZX81 was unlikely to sell more than 10–15 units per branch at launch.{{sfn|Adamson|Kennedy|1986|p=111}} Rowland himself thought that the ZX81 would sell about 10,000 units during the first five months of the retail agreement, equivalent to one month's mail order sales by Sinclair.<ref name="YC Nov 81" /> In the event, the ZX81 was a massive success for Smith's, it went on sale for {{£|long=no|99}} making it the first home PC in the UK to retail for under {{£|long=no|100}}. The "Computer Know-How" sections were swamped with eager customers, overwhelming the 300 staff who had been trained to demonstrate the machines; a ''Financial Times'' correspondent wrote of being "dazed and bewildered by the crowds of schoolchildren clustered round the ZX81 in your local branch of W.H. Smith."<ref name="Taylor" /> Within a year, Smith's had sold 350,000 ZX81s, making an estimated net profit of {{£|long=no|10 million}}. Sales of peripherals, software, books and magazines netted even more profit.{{sfn|Adamson|Kennedy|1986|p=112}}
<!-- Deleted image removed: [[File:ZX81 JP Mitsui advert.jpg|thumb|Advertisement in the Japanese computer magazine, ''[[ASCII (magazine)|ASCII]]'' Dec.1982. "Soon you'll be able to use it. It's for beginners."]] -->
[[File:Beocomp ZX81 with program listing.jpg|thumb|Beocomp ZX81]]
The British chain stores [[Boots UK|Boots]], [[John Menzies]] and [[Currys]] began selling the ZX81 as soon as Smith's exclusive distribution deal expired{{sfn|Adamson|Kennedy|1986|p=257}} and a number of companies secured overseas distribution rights for the ZX81, which was being sold in 18 countries by March 1982.<ref name="Needle">[[#Needle|Needle (15 March 1982)]]</ref> Sinclair launched the ZX81 in the United States in November 1981 at a price of {{US$|long=no|149.95}} assembled and {{US$|long=no|99.95}} in kit form, initially selling directly to the American market by mail order.<ref name="Wise">[[#Wise|Wise (2 November 1981)]]</ref> To be useful the computer needed an extra {{val|16|u=KB}} RAM pack which cost {{US$|long=no|49.95}}.  Sales reached 15,000 a month by January 1982, while [[American Express]] sold thousands more to its own customers. In February 1982 Timex obtained a licence from Sinclair to sell the ZX81 directly through thousands of retail outlets in the US, paying Sinclair Research a 5 per cent royalty on all Sinclair hardware and software sold by Timex.<ref name="FT13-02-82">[[#FT130282|Crisp (13 February 1982)]]</ref> The company was later to produce its own licensed clones and variants of the ZX81.{{sfn|Adamson|Kennedy|1986|pp=108–9}} By August 1982 Sinclair had lowered the American mail-order price of the assembled ZX81 to {{US$|long=no|99.95}} and kit to {{US$|long=no|79.95}}, and its advertisements stated that "more than 10,000 are sold every week".<ref>[[#BYTEadvert|''BYTE'' (August 1982)]]</ref> In December 1981 [[Mitsui]] obtained rights to distribute the ZX81 in Japan, selling it by mail order for {{¥|38700|link=yes}} (equivalent to £83 in 1982 prices), and had sold 5,000 units by July 1982. The Japanese market's favourable reaction to the ZX81 led Mitsui to begin selling the ZX81 over the counter in large bookshops from September 1982, with annual sales of 20,000 units predicted.<ref>[[#FT300982|Shibata (30 September 1982)]]</ref> In the Netherlands, the regular Sinclair ZX81 was for sale as well as a [[Bang & Olufsen]] branded version called ''Beocomp''.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Home Computer Museum |url=http://www.homecomputer.de/pages/f_info.html?Sinclair_ZX-81_Beocomp.html}}</ref>

The ZX81 was also sold for a while in [[duty-free shop]]s at UK airports. However, this fell foul of government export restrictions aimed at preventing the [[Soviet bloc]] countries from obtaining Western high technology goods. It was not uncommon for visitors from the [[Soviet Union]] and other eastern European countries to pick up gadgets in Western countries with the aim of [[Technology transfer|transferring their technology]] to their own states' industries. In 1983 the government ordered that the ZX81s were to be withdrawn from sale at airports.<ref>[[#DT300583|''Daily Telegraph'' (30 May 1983)]]</ref> There was no such restriction on sales to communist China and in November 1983 Sinclair Research announced that it had signed an agreement to export ZX81 kits to a factory in [[Guangzhou]], where they would be assembled for the Chinese market.<ref>[[#SU1183|''Sinclair User'' (Nov 1983)]]</ref>