No prices in the new DW catalogue??

[Hud]

I was quite annoyed to see this, is it because prices have gone up a lot this year? If you want to buy something you will still eventually find out that it's expensive. It just means you have to ring the LBS and then wait for them to call back which is a pain. Hard to do price comparisons too. Personally, I like to see what the RRP is locally, see what it is online and then support the local shop if there isn't too much difference. Seems much simpler now to just buy online which I'll probably do.
Someone told me it may be that some shops don't like RRP's to be printed in a catalogue because it makes it harder for them to set prices above the RRP. (If someone comes in waving a catalogue...)
C'mon! In a time of economic slowdown and people tightening budgets this doesn't seem good policy to me!

 

[whitey89]

C'mon! In a time of economic slowdown and people tightening budgets this doesn't seem good policy to me!

Im pretty sure thats why they didnt put prices in and if its not then they should have! Any products from America have rised 20% in the last month or so (just have to look at Giants price hike from Oct-Nov) There are only prices for "Wheelcraft" (i think it was) im assuming becuase they are Aussie owned... correct me if im wrong.

 

[DW-1]

Not putting them in this year was not a choice. We sighed off on the proofs (for printing) in mid October.

This was just as the Aussie dollar was begining it's tumble from 0.95 to it's current 0.64 (yesterday?) *** UPDATE *** as of this morning we've tanked at 0.60

We went back and forth trying to decide if the currency was going to stabilise.

We worked out pricing based on 0.90 (expecting it to level off)

We then re-did it all based on 0.85 (couldn't go that low right?)

At this point the dollar hit the sub 0.70 zone and we decided that it wasn't fair to include pricing that would be wildly incorrect. (hell... what if it did rebound back to the 0.90)

Had we printed pricing... it would have been out by almost 30% by now.

I'm sorry... and I know it sucks.

We did include pricing for Wheelcraft wheels and even they are wrong now... (check with your dealer)

All I can say... is check with your local dealer for more accurate pricing. (they've had a copy of the catalogue for a few weeks now).

Again... my appologies for the inconvienence.

Elvis.

 

[DW-1]

Someone told me it may be that some shops don't like RRP's to be printed in a catalogue because it makes it harder for them to set prices above the RRP.

actually... we've had a hell of a lot of calls from dealers wanting to know why there are no RRP's listed too.

And probably equally as many happy that we didn't...

you can please some of the people...

Elvis.

 

[dain2772]

There have been some massive fluctuations in exchange rates this year, and with the vast majority of products being imported, this can vastly change the price. I don't think too many people would be keen to fix their prices now for the whole year given the uncertainty in the markets.

While it may not seem likely to some, not quoting the prices allows them to decrease prices if exchange rates allow and increase prices if exchange rates force them to.

They may also find that people compare prices to the catalogue, decide its too expensive and shop online, where they might be able to get a better deal if they go into an LBS.

Edit: just saw Elvis' post and it seems I was fairly close with the first point. Yay me!

 

[takai]

FWIW two of our suppliers for work have gone through and blacked out with pen every single price in their catalogues, and stapled a piece of paper to the front saying "Due to currency fluctuations we cannot print prices"

Seems to be a fairly standard thing currently.

 

[Fat_Ride]

Any products from America have rised 20% in the last month or so

Unfortunately it's not just any product that comes from the USA. The world works on the US dollar... if you're importing something from China from a Chinese company chances are you'll be paying in US dollars!

As Elvis said, the dollar hit 60c today as apposed to 99c a couple of months ago! This means that importers/distributors are paying an extra 65% for it's goods! All the price rises currently are not just to pocket extra margin for distributors.
As Elvis said, in such a volotile economy it would be silly to mention any pricing in any public catalogue.

 

[Hud]

Fair enough on the exchange rate part making it hard, though I'd have thought there would be contracts signed for the year making for constant prices, I guess there was no chance of that though with the current financial volatility. (going by what you're saying Elvis, the price can change shipment by shipment.)

On a positive note the catalogue is well laid out and a pleasure to read (apart from the lack of prices ) plenty of new gear to drool over, check out the hawt Salsa stuff!

 

[dain2772]

Fair enough on the exchange rate part making it hard, though I'd have thought there would be contracts signed for the year making for constant prices, I guess there was no chance of that though with the current financial volatility. (going by what you're saying Elvis, the price can change shipment by shipment.)

On a positive note the catalogue is well laid out and a pleasure to read (apart from the lack of prices ) plenty of new gear to drool over, check out the hawt Salsa stuff!

There may have been contracts, and they may have been in USD, which still leaves exposure to the exchange rate. And generally companies that do try to hedge their risk, only lock in rates a few months ahead. There were plenty of people who thought that the AUD would continue to rise or stabilise and not many who thought it would fall, let alone how far!

 

[Chuckie]

i was impressed to see that DW are now doing Push tunes

I just posted a question regarding this in the parts n Stuff section

 

[thecat]

Someone told me it may be that some shops don't like RRP's to be printed in a catalogue because it makes it harder for them to set prices above the RRP. (If someone comes in waving a catalogue...)!

As a LBSG I'd much rather they had prices printed. It makes it easy to look them up when a costumer asks about something I don't generally stock.

And even with stuff I do stock at the moment I have to keep my eye on current stock reports to see if prices have changed.

but as other have said setting prices in the current climate would be silly

 

[Spike-X]

actually... we've had a hell of a lot of calls from dealers wanting to know why there are no RRP's listed too.

And probably equally as many happy that we didn't...

you can please some of the people...

Elvis.

Maybe you could have included a dartboard, with a note saying, "Your guess is as good as ours!"?

 

[wittman13]

I find it interesting that comments about currency fluctation have come from a supplier. You may remember many a thread earlier this year about the currency and the apparent disparity in prices between us and overseas. One of the reasons being that we didn't see a price drop when the dollar went up was because prices were locked in. This is only pure hypothesis.

Anyhow, can we expect different prices at different times of the year dependant on the exchange rate? Me thinks not.

I think we are in for a very tough year, especially in the bike industry. In the latest AMB I question why Specialised would put the price on their S-Works bikes in there. Their prices had gone up 20%, even though the dollar had gone up. Spend a couple a grand more and you can get a bike that with an internal combustion engine and lights brighter then anything from Lupine.

After that hijack, I would of liked to of seen the prices as well. Maybe, they could be put up on the website? As a bit of useless trivia, the dollar is at the same level it was at 6 1/2 years ago. How much better are the bikes and bits that we get now? Lots I would say.

Cheers.

 

[DW-1]

I would of liked to of seen the prices as well. Maybe, they could be put up on the website?

working on that. We're currently trying to get our warehouse software people to talk to our web engineer and our (new) web designer.

The plan is to have a fully interactive online catalogue that both consumers and dealers alike can view. (yes... with retail prices)

If all goes well... it would be updated live from our own system showing stock availability in real time and pricing changes would be updated as they occur in our system.

oh... ad we're setting a schedule for the n+1 roadshow. Where we'll be taking the DW trailer, full of our demo bikes, to dealers around the country for test rides on local trails. (bug your local Salsa, BMC, Surly and Ibis dealers for info)

Elvis.