USA/UK Price Differences

[obbm]

[quote name='Salt on your Bass?' post='1244443' date='May 25 2011, 04:22 PM']Wasnt the 'superstore' thing effectively what Sound Control aimed at/provided before going into receivership??[/quote]


Precisely.

[Russ]

[quote name='Salt on your Bass?' post='1244443' date='May 25 2011, 03:22 PM']Wasnt the 'superstore' thing effectively what Sound Control aimed at/provided before going into receivership??[/quote]

I think Sound Control's problem is that they set themselves up in large shops in city centres with very high overheads, eliminating their ability to be cost-competitive because of much higher operating costs, despite their increased ability to buy in bulk. They should have set themselves up in out-of-town shopping centres or other places where rents weren't as high. People shopping for musical instruments realise they have a somewhat niche interest and would probably be prepared to travel a little further to get their instrument fix. In the US, most Guitar Center locations are in out-of-town strip malls (roadside shopping centres) where they can pay much lower rents and get much more space.

[muttley]

[quote name='obbm' post='1244391' date='May 25 2011, 03:42 PM']in the UK most US products are handled by an importer who forecasts, orders and buys from the manufacturer and resells to the store, so there are 2 sets of mark-up being applied.[/quote]

Don't forget our 20% VAT as well. To properly compare UK to US prices you should deduct the VAT. After all, VAT is charged by the Gubbishment, not the retailer. Also, prices displayed in US shops/websites [u]do not[/u] include any kind of sales tax.

[molan]

[quote name='muttley' post='1246902' date='May 27 2011, 12:07 PM']Don't forget our 20% VAT as well. To properly compare UK to US prices you should deduct the VAT. After all, VAT is charged by the Gubbishment, not the retailer. Also, prices displayed in US shops/websites [u]do not[/u] include any kind of sales tax.[/quote]

Good point - most US states charge between 5 & 11% on top of their advertised prices for local residents (Except Delaware & New Hampshire I think which used to be zero rated states).

[tauzero]

[quote name='obbm' post='1244426' date='May 25 2011, 04:05 PM']Want to get rich quick? Get an industrial unit in a deproved area, stack it with equipment, sell it cheap on line, employ monkeys and pay peanuts. Someone tried in Liverpool and failed. Someone else tried to be the UK's equivalent of GC and failed. However they have one in Germany and it's still in business. Where do the Brits go wrong?[/quote]
Music King just down the road from me at work started out like this - sold online with a small physical presence (they had some guitars and basses hanging up in the reception area, effectively a showroom the size of a large wardrobe) and presumably successfully. They then got some retail premises down the road, continued parallel online and retail showroom activities, and went bust. I don't know why.

[skankdelvar]

[quote name='obbm' post='1244426' date='May 25 2011, 04:05 PM']However they have one in Germany and it's still in business. Where do the Brits go wrong?[/quote]
There's a long tradition of distance selling / mail order in Germany which quite dwarfs the equivalent British market. Bertelsmann (BMG), who are one of the world's biggest media companies (102,000 employees) started out in mail order in 1835.

Thomann have been in business since 1954 and have presumably developed considerable experience at flogging things to people through the post. For them, the web must have been a [i]fantastic [/i]opportunity to expand their existing skills and customer base. By contrast, the web has been a very steep learning curve for British retailers. Many conduct their operations in an atmosphere of slip-shod craftiness. For others, their website is simply a static calling-card and thus fairly useless after the first visit.

For still other guitar-shopkeepers, the interweb is an occult threat to be feared and reviled. Only a couple of years ago, I got a ferocious ear-bashing from a retailer when I mentioned I'd bought an amp online.

And there's the problem. Rather than explore the possibilities, he'd rather stick his head in the sand and give his customers a bollocking for not doing things his way. And that's a very British thing to do.

[dc2009]

[quote name='skankdelvar' post='1246987' date='May 27 2011, 12:56 PM']There's a long tradition of distance selling / mail order in Germany which quite dwarfs the equivalent British market. Bertelsmann (BMG), who are one of the world's biggest media companies (102,000 employees) started out in mail order in 1835.

Thomann have been in business since 1954 and have presumably developed considerable experience at flogging things to people through the post. For them, the web must have been a [i]fantastic [/i]opportunity to expand their existing skills and customer base. By contrast, the web has been a very steep learning curve for British retailers. Many conduct their operations in an atmosphere of slip-shod craftiness. For others, their website is simply a static calling-card and thus fairly useless after the first visit.

For still other guitar-shopkeepers, the interweb is an occult threat to be feared and reviled. Only a couple of years ago, I got a ferocious ear-bashing from a retailer when I mentioned I'd bought an amp online.

And there's the problem. Rather than explore the possibilities, he'd rather stick his head in the sand and give his customers a bollocking for not doing things his way. And that's a very British thing to do.[/quote]

Gotta love that German efficiency. As for buying online, I see nothing wrong with it. How many people on here buy a bass online simply on the name, or even moreso, get one made by a guy via the internet, and they just assume it's going to turn out as well as others he's made! Personally I know once I build up some money from summer work I'm planning on buying a Sandberg or a Gibson TB, and that's almost certainly gonna be over the interweb. My entire current amplification rig (in my signature) was bought on ebay/here without previous samples.

I seriously hope Thomann get themselves a single UK warehouse and also have a come and try facility. I guess it raises the overheads somewhat, but I think they would sell a lot with their great prices!