Indian and International Pricing

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As a buyer, I reserve the right to reveal anything about a deal that I make, and any dealer that thinks the situation could be otherwise is having a fantasy.

Absolutely. It is the individual's choice whether to disclose the deal or not. I don't see any issue in that.
 
The Reason,
i have not been replying on this thread being, that its just a arguement...

Now if you want to discuss things seriously, lets do it by answering my questions, else plz dont cross question on it...

We all Love to buy Levis Jeans....They are priced almost 10 times, what they are priced in US...and still we are mad on for it...
How many out here aware that all the Apparells Companies provide 50% Margin to the Retailers... And LEVIS is made in India...How many are aware of this...??? They dont pay any customs, nothin...What they Pay is just a royalty to LEVIS Stross US, that is 10% of the Product Cost...
The manufacturing in India costs per jeans hardly 25% of the MRP...They sell 25-30K per Day...And still no one even ask for a single Rupee Discount, apart from the offers...You dont get any service if there is a defect in the product...You dont get any warranty...And all the advertisement is provided by the company not the Showroom...They just pay rent and staff cost...
Apart from that they dont even pay Stock charges...All showrooms get 2 months credit period. Levis just take Rs.10L deposit....VAT is only 4% out here...

Then Why the bloody, when AV resellers, Pay Hefti Import Duties, Freight, 13.5% VAT, Advertisements, Stock, Demo, Installations, Showroom Costs, Salaries, Warranty, etc etc etc...and are a bit extra compared to the International Pricing... You Guyz say that we are earning HUGE bucks...???
AV market in India is not a day to day sales market... A reseller may do 50-60K business, but it is 5-6 deals a month...and they work on 20% margin.. wherein customers beg for HUGE bargains...

I just dont understand why is there so much tension when you get proper service, consultation, and a good product...

Wherein we are ready to spend a huge amount on apparels, food, and other things...???

I think in India we have a mentality, we screw a person more, who is ready for negotiations, but we bend down before a person who hits back at us...

Sridhar, the day one of these guy get into some or the other business which goes through the same process, i think that day we will ask these guyz, why are they keeping the prices so high...and then how much are they saving...
 
We all Love to buy Levis Jeans....They are priced almost 10 times, what they are priced in US...and still we are mad on for it...
How many out here aware that all the Apparells Companies provide 50% Margin to the Retailers... And LEVIS is made in India...How many are aware of this...??? They dont pay any customs, nothin...What they Pay is just a royalty to LEVIS Stross US, that is 10% of the Product Cost........
.

Hmmmmm I buy Levis only when there is some discount sale going. Got my last pair of Jeans for a huge 50% discount. So are you planning to go for a discount sale? ;)

I just dont understand why is there so much tension when you get proper service, consultation, and a good product...

Wherein we are ready to spend a huge amount on apparels, food, and other things...???
Perhaps because apparels, food etc. doesn't costs fortune and you can anytime go and change with a new pair of jeans easily or change to a different eatery. But can I change my hi-fi that easily and forgo the huge investment that I made?

I think in India we have a mentality, we screw a person more, who is ready for negotiations, but we bend down before a person who hits back at us...
Now, isn't this line is insulting to every one of us here? I think so and I do take offense when people try to generalize there opinions.
 
We all Love to buy Levis Jeans....They are priced almost 10 times, what they are priced in US...and still we are mad on for it...
How many out here aware that all the Apparells Companies provide 50% Margin to the Retailers... And LEVIS is made in India...How many are aware of this...??? They dont pay any customs, nothin...What they Pay is just a royalty to LEVIS Stross US, that is 10% of the Product Cost...
The manufacturing in India costs per jeans hardly 25% of the MRP...They sell 25-30K per Day...And still no one even ask for a single Rupee Discount, apart from the offers...You dont get any service if there is a defect in the product...You dont get any warranty...And all the advertisement is provided by the company not the Showroom...They just pay rent and staff cost...
Apart from that they dont even pay Stock charges...All showrooms get 2 months credit period. Levis just take Rs.10L deposit....VAT is only 4% out here...

Then Why the bloody, when AV resellers, Pay Hefti Import Duties, Freight, 13.5% VAT, Advertisements, Stock, Demo, Installations, Showroom Costs, Salaries, Warranty, etc etc etc...and are a bit extra compared to the International Pricing... You Guyz say that we are earning HUGE bucks...???
AV market in India is not a day to day sales market... A reseller may do 50-60K business, but it is 5-6 deals a month...and they work on 20% margin.. wherein customers beg for HUGE bargains...

I just dont understand why is there so much tension when you get proper service, consultation, and a good product...

Wherein we are ready to spend a huge amount on apparels, food, and other things...???

I think in India we have a mentality, we screw a person more, who is ready for negotiations, but we bend down before a person who hits back at us...

Sridhar, the day one of these guy get into some or the other business which goes through the same process, i think that day we will ask these guyz, why are they keeping the prices so high...and then how much are they saving...

Levis pricing for jeans seems to be in the $30-40 price range on amazon (Amazon.com: levis). By your claim, we pay $300-400 for levis jeans in India. Its clear you havent checked your facts on this. Also, garment retailers get 30% or less margin from big name garment brands on the MRP.

Coming to manufacturing costs, you seem to be ignoring a whole host of manufacturing costs (staff welfare costs, excise, CST etc). These actually make India a fairly uncompetitive location when it comes to mass textiles/garment manufacturing - we are less than a tenth the size of China in textile exports and actually smaller than Bangladesh. In addition, these companies also pay VAT, octroi etc for domestic sales.

I am not disputing the fact that electronics retailing is a tough business in India (for example, E-Zone had an EBITDA margin of around 2%). However, the constraits apply equally to all dealers/distributors. This makes it difficult for me to reconcile the vast difference in markups across the larger hi-fi brands.
 
The Reason,
i have not been replying on this thread being, that its just a arguement...

Now if you want to discuss things seriously, lets do it by answering my questions, else plz dont cross question on it...

We all Love to buy Levis Jeans....They are priced almost 10 times, what they are priced in US...and still we are mad on for it...
How many out here aware that all the Apparells Companies provide 50% Margin to the Retailers... And LEVIS is made in India...How many are aware of this...??? They dont pay any customs, nothin...What they Pay is just a royalty to LEVIS Stross US, that is 10% of the Product Cost...
The manufacturing in India costs per jeans hardly 25% of the MRP...They sell 25-30K per Day...And still no one even ask for a single Rupee Discount, apart from the offers...You dont get any service if there is a defect in the product...You dont get any warranty...And all the advertisement is provided by the company not the Showroom...They just pay rent and staff cost...
Apart from that they dont even pay Stock charges...All showrooms get 2 months credit period. Levis just take Rs.10L deposit....VAT is only 4% out here...

Then Why the bloody, when AV resellers, Pay Hefti Import Duties, Freight, 13.5% VAT, Advertisements, Stock, Demo, Installations, Showroom Costs, Salaries, Warranty, etc etc etc...and are a bit extra compared to the International Pricing... You Guyz say that we are earning HUGE bucks...???
AV market in India is not a day to day sales market... A reseller may do 50-60K business, but it is 5-6 deals a month...and they work on 20% margin.. wherein customers beg for HUGE bargains...

I just dont understand why is there so much tension when you get proper service, consultation, and a good product...

Wherein we are ready to spend a huge amount on apparels, food, and other things...???

I think in India we have a mentality, we screw a person more, who is ready for negotiations, but we bend down before a person who hits back at us...

Sridhar, the day one of these guy get into some or the other business which goes through the same process, i think that day we will ask these guyz, why are they keeping the prices so high...and then how much are they saving...

Sorry Mridul but your logic is not sound all the way through your communication. Clothes are considered "essential goods" so there is a bigger break on VAT and other duties. Further, the manufacturers better negotiate prices since we produce most of the raw materials that go into making a pair of jeans (its all not just cotton) - my dad used to work for Arvind Mills.

A/V is consider a luxury item and is taxed accordingly - its still considered a privilege to own a system (vs. the no. of people who wear Levis jeans) if you look at the population.

I am not saying we have to price match what is in the US or Europe. The market is huge and competition severe there and its also much more saturated. I am all for taking a slightly bigger profit as otherwise the same companies wont survive and we will end up with crappy products. BUT having said this what bothers me most is when old models (many times discontinued) are being sold at new model prices. This just blows my mind. In addition, we dont have enough competition to push the price down in India. That day has not yet arrived.

A second issue is that people are spending on the average 50K to 1 lac for a system and the shopping experience is terrible in most cases with the salespersons not knowing enough or not caring about the customers. This is awful.

A final issue is pushing one brand over another - always a particular brand is pushed because of higher margins or the manufacturer cut a deal with the store chain to sell more. People buying jeans don't ahve to consider so many factors before picking a pair but I would say people are still very ignorant (in a good way) of the facts when it comes to A/V purchases and the stores are confusing them even more.

Sorry for the rant but my hope was to give a gist of the state of sales of A/V from a customer's perspective.
 
I have a straight forward policy.

If the difference in costs between something I can source from abroad and buy in India is within 5k, I will pick it up in India. Anything more than that I am willing to risk having to pay for repairs! (one year warranties don't make any sense to me in most cases). I have not heard too many people claiming their the 'warranty claims' experience to be delightful either.

I am an end user - and I will only think like one. It is upto the industry to put their heads together and find a solution - if its interested in doing business that is! Else they can continue to be happy with whatever sales/growth figures they have!

One last word about the so called "official service" - Most of the the so called official importers do not have the kind of support you'd expect them to have... both in terms of infrastructure, manpower and hell .. most of them almost always have to "order" the necessary parts as well! (their skills are limited to identifying the blown PCB and replacing it - at best)

I have not had to have anything repaired recently.. but almost all cities has an "expert" electronics technician - who more often than not is much more capable at repairing electronic goods than the 'official' chaps are. They often have a flourishing practice as well - with 100% repeat customers - esp mid & high end electronics!

Of late the Indian market itself has slowly started mutating into a "replacement" market. Hence you will be hard-pressed to find the hitherto common "audio video repair" shop now a days! AV & TV technicians courses used to abound at one time - not any more!
 
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The Reason,
i have not been replying on this thread being, that its just a arguement...

Now if you want to discuss things seriously, lets do it by answering my questions, else plz dont cross question on it...

We all Love to buy Levis Jeans....They are priced almost 10 times, what they are priced in US...and still we are mad on for it...

wow. now there's a workable model, right? buy levis abroad and sell them at "only 500% markup" you'll undercut the local stuff by 50%!! though for the life of me, I would like to know where Levis are available in the US for USD5 ( or less)..



Sridhar, the day one of these guy get into some or the other business which goes through the same process, i think that day we will ask these guyz, why are they keeping the prices so high...and then how much are they saving...

now that's the sanctimonious attitude that really excites me..

si tacuisses, philosophus mansisses
 
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Hi Mridul,

I think you are getting carried away by emotion. No where in India have I found Levis priced 10 times the cost of US. In fact even the highend stuff of Canali, Armani, Boss etc.. are not priced at 10 times. They are at around double the US price and I buy it from outisde because of this.

Marks & Spencer is one brand that I have been using for twenty years and now since many of their goods are Made in India, they are priced cheaper here than UK, which is their base. In fact recently I have started buying from India as the prices are now below UK prices always.

Anyways back to Hi-Fi, I do not mind paying a premium of 30% over US prices. I have been doing it for many years for TV, Camera, Laptop etc. There are duties involved. But what I simply do not understand is "is the duty structure different for brands". If one distributor can price close to UK prices his speakers, why cannot the others. They face the same costs and duty. Either the one who matches UK price has avoided duty or the other one is charging a premium. Is their a valid explanation for this difference between brands justified for the consumer?

Regards,
Raghav

p.s.: I found your pricing to be fair in comparison to others, so my points are in general

The Reason,
i have not been replying on this thread being, that its just a arguement...

Now if you want to discuss things seriously, lets do it by answering my questions, else plz dont cross question on it...

We all Love to buy Levis Jeans....They are priced almost 10 times, what they are priced in US...and still we are mad on for it...
How many out here aware that all the Apparells Companies provide 50% Margin to the Retailers... And LEVIS is made in India...How many are aware of this...??? They dont pay any customs, nothin...What they Pay is just a royalty to LEVIS Stross US, that is 10% of the Product Cost...
The manufacturing in India costs per jeans hardly 25% of the MRP...They sell 25-30K per Day...And still no one even ask for a single Rupee Discount, apart from the offers...You dont get any service if there is a defect in the product...You dont get any warranty...And all the advertisement is provided by the company not the Showroom...They just pay rent and staff cost...
Apart from that they dont even pay Stock charges...All showrooms get 2 months credit period. Levis just take Rs.10L deposit....VAT is only 4% out here...

Then Why the bloody, when AV resellers, Pay Hefti Import Duties, Freight, 13.5% VAT, Advertisements, Stock, Demo, Installations, Showroom Costs, Salaries, Warranty, etc etc etc...and are a bit extra compared to the International Pricing... You Guyz say that we are earning HUGE bucks...???
AV market in India is not a day to day sales market... A reseller may do 50-60K business, but it is 5-6 deals a month...and they work on 20% margin.. wherein customers beg for HUGE bargains...

I just dont understand why is there so much tension when you get proper service, consultation, and a good product...

Wherein we are ready to spend a huge amount on apparels, food, and other things...???

I think in India we have a mentality, we screw a person more, who is ready for negotiations, but we bend down before a person who hits back at us...

Sridhar, the day one of these guy get into some or the other business which goes through the same process, i think that day we will ask these guyz, why are they keeping the prices so high...and then how much are they saving...
 
Hi Mridul,

I think you are getting carried away by emotion. No where in India have I found Levis priced 10 times the cost of US. In fact even the highend stuff of Canali, Armani, Boss etc.. are not priced at 10 times. They are at around double the US price and I buy it from outisde because of this.

Marks & Spencer is one brand that I have been using for twenty years and now since many of their goods are Made in India, they are priced cheaper here than UK, which is their base. In fact recently I have started buying from India as the prices are now below UK prices always.

Anyways back to Hi-Fi, I do not mind paying a premium of 30% over US prices. I have been doing it for many years for TV, Camera, Laptop etc. There are duties involved. But what I simply do not understand is "is the duty structure different for brands". If one distributor can price close to UK prices his speakers, why cannot the others. They face the same costs and duty. Either the one who matches UK price has avoided duty or the other one is charging a premium. Is their a valid explanation for this difference between brands justified for the consumer?

Regards,
Raghav

p.s.: I found your pricing to be fair in comparison to others, so my points are in general

I can answer the specific question about why different brands are differently priced wrt to UK or US prices. The simplest explanation is that the margins across brands are not necessarily the same across brands, so in effect even though customs/taxes as a percentage are the same, the net effect can be higher or lower.

cheers
 
I think in India we have a mentality, we screw a person more, who is ready for negotiations, but we bend down before a person who hits back at us...

Hi Mridul,

Can this be made to at least "I think here" and not India? Plz! We do understand what you are trying to say from the dealer's perspective. I do agree there are a handful of dealers/resellers here who stand behind their products before and after sales. The seller who sold me the panasonic TV is still helping me in getting my original invoice, when I had to submit one to the service center to claim warranty. I definitely dont mind paying 5K extra for this kind of service. But what our members are trying to say is that they are lot of dealers who just push off their items for heafty profits and I assure there are dealers who push demo stuff to the first-time buyers. I had a similar experience in the past.

Thinking from a seller's perspective, "demand" is the factor which plays a crucial role. LCD TVs are selling like hot cakes, but still the awareness regarding AVRs and branded speakers is much less. Still majority believe that an ultimate high-end home theatre system can be had at a price of 7K, falling for the 5000W power, etc, where they are buying only a 5 sets of speakers.

The denon 1910 AVR retails at 45-48K now, but I got it for 23K 6 months back after paying customs duty and shipping; then it was around 50K here. I could see a huge price difference between dealers in similar cities, different cities, etc. When we dont get the service we deserve, we are left with no option than importing.

Cheers!
 
I have a straight forward policy.

If the difference in costs between something I can source from abroad and buy in India is within 5k, I will pick it up in India. Anything more than that I am willing to risk having to pay for repairs! (one year warranties don't make any sense to me in most cases). I have not heard too many people claiming their the 'warranty claims' experience to be delightful either.

I am an end user - and I will only think like one. It is upto the industry to put their heads together and find a solution - if its interested in doing business that is! Else they can continue to be happy with whatever sales/growth figures they have!

One last word about the so called "official service" - Most of the the so called official importers do not have the kind of support you'd expect them to have... both in terms of infrastructure, manpower and hell .. most of them almost always have to "order" the necessary parts as well! (their skills are limited to identifying the blown PCB and replacing it - at best)

I have not had to have anything repaired recently.. but almost all cities has an "expert" electronics technician - who more often than not is much more capable at repairing electronic goods than the 'official' chaps are. They often have a flourishing practice as well - with 100% repeat customers - esp mid & high end electronics!

Of late the Indian market itself has slowly started mutating into a "replacement" market. Hence you will be hard-pressed to find the hitherto common "audio video repair" shop now a days! AV & TV technicians courses used to abound at one time - not any more!

Correct! A dealer I interacted with promised me prompt service when purchasing, but on delivery when I inquired about replacing the WF 9.2 speaker which was found slightly scratched on unpacking the response was that I had to return my speakers immediately to him, then wait atleast one month or more (no ETA) before I would get a replacement!! Now isn't that a horrible joke being played on the customer? Spend 50 to 60K on a setup, but the minute there is a problem, give up you gear and sit at home with an empty shelf for god knows how long , with no gear to enjoy after all the money spent!!

Thats when I decided I would not fall the local service line for any Indian importer. The participating dealers on this thread may be better than the one I am talking about, but I am no mood to try when an cheaper option exists for quality audiophile gear - DIY ready to assemble kits :) Unless I serendipitously chance upon some gear you, Sridhar or a local dealer have that I hear and absolutely want, I will never go shopping for audiophile gear locally.


Regards

PS; and yeah Sujith, 5K is my limit too! :)
 
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Then if speaker Brand X and Brand Y cost the same in UK, yet price of X is 20% higher than Y in India, I am not buying X. Clearly the Distributor of X wants to operate at high margins, and this is where I feel the customer is being fleeced. In fact based on this simple analysis I have ruled out buying a few of speaker brands sold in India. What adds up is the distributor of X is sometimes a snob, who feels that price is a non issue for his brand. I will not name the distributor.

Here I am speaking of same price range across brands. Within the same brand markups can be different. Budget speakers are easier to price close to UK prices while higher-end models will have higher markups.

Regards,
Raghav

p.s.: I have still not been able to listen to the Ushers as Navi Mumbai is very far for me to visit Ronnie.

I can answer the specific question about why different brands are differently priced wrt to UK or US prices. The simplest explanation is that the margins across brands are not necessarily the same across brands, so in effect even though customs/taxes as a percentage are the same, the net effect can be higher or lower.

cheers
 
Hi Raghav

You can call Boomerang - Juhu showroom and ask for the Tiny Dancer Ushers audition. I have another person living in South Mumbai, I could check with him if you like.
Regarding brand X and Y in your example - what you are assuming ofcourse is that the quality of both speakers is the same or that COGS to retail price in UK is the same - this is not necessarily the case at all. Every company has a suggested price for its speakers, the distributors may or may not follow it, its up to them, usually this price is based on their business/strategy e.g. market heavily and how high ratio of parts to retail cost or go more by word of mouth (sell by reputation) and have low ratio of parts cost to retail. A good example of one company I am familiar with is Odyssey audio - their parts costs as a percentage to retail price is extremely high- they operate on a direct to customer model, do no advertising. I will also say that this type of approach is ok for such products, you cant follow this for AVRs and speakers worth a $few hundred.

cheers
Sridhar
 
South Mumbai would be great, but I am only looking at the S520 or max X-718. I would love to listen but only if it is convenient. Do not want to trouble your customer for it.

Hi Raghav

You can call Boomerang - Juhu showroom and ask for the Tiny Dancer Ushers audition. I have another person living in South Mumbai, I could check with him if you like.
Regarding brand X and Y in your example - what you are assuming ofcourse is that the quality of both speakers is the same or that COGS to retail price in UK is the same - this is not necessarily the case at all. Every company has a suggested price for its speakers, the distributors may or may not follow it, its up to them, usually this price is based on their business/strategy e.g. market heavily and how high ratio of parts to retail cost or go more by word of mouth (sell by reputation) and have low ratio of parts cost to retail. A good example of one company I am familiar with is Odyssey audio - their parts costs as a percentage to retail price is extremely high- they operate on a direct to customer model, do no advertising. I will also say that this type of approach is ok for such products, you cant follow this for AVRs and speakers worth a $few hundred.

cheers
Sridhar
 
I think in India we have a mentality, we screw a person more, who is ready for negotiations, but we bend down before a person who hits back at us...

Hey

I understand that you are a commercial member & are contributing to the forum financially but that doesn't mean you can say what ever comes to your mind.

I advice to mind your language in a public forum like this.
 
Hi Raghav

You can call Boomerang - Juhu showroom and ask for the Tiny Dancer Ushers audition. I have another person living in South Mumbai, I could check with him if you like.
Regarding brand X and Y in your example - what you are assuming ofcourse is that the quality of both speakers is the same or that COGS to retail price in UK is the same - this is not necessarily the case at all. Every company has a suggested price for its speakers, the distributors may or may not follow it, its up to them, usually this price is based on their business/strategy e.g. market heavily and how high ratio of parts to retail cost or go more by word of mouth (sell by reputation) and have low ratio of parts cost to retail. A good example of one company I am familiar with is Odyssey audio - their parts costs as a percentage to retail price is extremely high- they operate on a direct to customer model, do no advertising. I will also say that this type of approach is ok for such products, you cant follow this for AVRs and speakers worth a $few hundred.

cheers
Sridhar
Sridhar, IIRC such an example is the mission m33i and the q acoustics 1030i, both cost 169 pounds in UK, while at the time of my purchase m33i price varied between 13-19k while the q a 1030i, be it in Chennai/cochin/bangalore was for 27k! I actually liked the latter but I simply couldnt justify the price!
 
Hi,
I have observed that any business that caters to a very small segment of customers, generally has very high margin associated, compared to the actual material + labour + overheads cost. There are exceptions to every generalisation, and the same applies to this generalisation as well.

I believe Hi-Fi business also falls within this generalisation. However even in such businesses we may find some dealers who gun for "more volume less margin" strategy which translates to "value for money" products. Correct me if I am wrong, but I believe such dealers will always post more sales /regular sales per month than the other dealer who is having high margin products.

So what I am coming to? I am saying that market forces reward the VFM dealers automatically, and we in our indivudual capacity should also do the same (BTW VFM products need not mean "cheap" low end products... it utlimately means getting same performance as the so called "Hi-End model" from a given company at a lesser cost from another company. From the posts in this forum, I believe Usher, would be one such company). OTOH brands like Wharfedale have lot of happy customers (...who actually like smooth, only "moderately detailed" sound) even though their regular range may not have the same cult status as Usher's Dancers. Last but not he least, Norge-1000 amp can give good competition to many MNC amps that retail at twice its cost.

While its good to post criticism regarding high-margin pricing of some dealers... to convey to such dealers that Hi-Fi customers are no fools... the best action is to hit back at those dealers with your wallet, and choose only VFM products.

regds,
 
I think that, in any business, we give respect to those that have a personal enthusiasm, involvement, knowledge, ethics and pure pleasure in what they do. Ideally, purchasing should be a pleasure, and so should after-sales experience.

About forty years ago, when I was doing my student holiday job in a shop, and reading books from the book section at quiet times, I read my first and last book on management and sales. There were two thing in it that stuck in my mind for ever:

--- Looking after your boss is wrong; you should be looking after your staff. If your boss is a good manager he should be looking after you.

and, more pertinent to our present conversation,

--- a sale is made when the customer comes back for another one.

Have to say, that in my working life, I met very few bosses who would have thought number-one right, but I feel that, in the retail trade, number-two is coming to prominence. India, however, is yet to experience real growth of consumer power. For instance, how ridiculous is it, that if I buy a dvd drive that turns out to be dud, the shop is not interested, I have to spend my time taking it to the manufacturer's agent, who then repair it and, after some time return it to me. Un-ridiculous is that I take it back to the shop and get a new one there and then. The shop returns it to their distributor for credit. I happily go back to that shop next time I buy. It's not, as they say, rocket science, and it is not even a great work or financial exposure for the dealer.

We want to have friendliness and humanity in all our dealings, because that is what makes the world go round, but dealers (of whatever commodity) must recognise that the buck stops with them. The customer is not responsible for the up-line relationships and pricing, and, even if the dealer can't do anything about it, they are at the sharp end when it comes to facing the customer. Tough.

Now, in the UK, a customer will walk into the shop with an internet page, maybe 30% discount, and the shop must match that price if they want to sell it all. There's a downside to all this too, of course, which is that the customer spends an afternoon in a dealer's demo room, taking his time, drinking the guy's tea, and then buys off the net. We need to compromise and be responsible customers too: those demo facilities, property, stock and staff, as has been pointed out, do not come free.

As to international price differences, the dealer must listen and take it up with his suppliers. The one area that none of us can do anything about is import duty and sales tax, but, hey, India is not alone in those, even if rates differ. If I remember rightly, the current VAT rate in UK is 17.5% --- a quite considerable chunk going to the government. Yes, this is good for travellers, who can reclaim at least some of it at the airport on the way home.

Another "As to"... end-of-line, last-year's-model, ex-demo units... In my mother country, expect up to 30%, even 50% off. There is absolutely no way that a British shopper will pay full price for something that has sat on a shelf for a year gathering dust (excepting an up-to-date unit that may have been unboxed and displayed for a short time, on which a nominal discount might be negotiated).

Case: both my amplifier (Cyrus IIIi) and speakers (Castle) came from a specialist London hifi dealer, not a box-shifter. Both were ex-demo; the speakers had some barely noticeable cosmetic damage. I think there was 50% off the speakers, and almost that much off the amp.

The dealers may not welcome all this, and some may not survive it, but, like it or not, this is the culture that is lapping at India's shores. What's more it is tenable. Whilst Richer Sounds shifts vast quantities every day (but hey, guess what: many of their branches have demo rooms and knowledgeable staff too!), smaller specialist dealers selling much more exotic, high-end stuff, still exist there too. Some of the medium-size businesses manage to straddle both, with several branches and internet sales.

As in the Chinese saying, we live in interesting times. Perhaps some dealers might find them a bit too interesting!
 
well - in many countries the concept of "returning with no questions asked work". Are those stores doing charity and making losses?
Contrast to what I read here from a commercial member - if we allowed that, there will be chaos and everyone would come back to return. This mentality needs to change. Not easy to do, and why should you do when no one else does that? I think the govt has to put up strict consumer protection guidelines, while more competition from likes of wal-mart should bring the change.
 
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