Importing espresso machines

[Javaphile]

higher wages than who ?....China / Asia maybe, but not Europe or USA.

Picking a couple of countries off the top of my head a quick check shows that at current exchange rates the national minimum wage in Australia is 30% higher than in France, more than 50% higher than in the UK, and well over twice what it is in the USA.


Java "Looks like higher wages to me" phile

[Fresh_Coffee]

Thank you to the last couple of respondents.

Yes the thread is pointless especially when people keep arguing round in circles about how "they" (whoever "they" are) think we are all paying "inflated prices we pay here for imported m/c's..." and "...none if it can explain the additional $$$'s..." presumably being asked.

Well as I wrote on the previous page of this thread, for my own part we have decreased prices steadily over a period and are at european parity pricing or better for our own brand / model BFC / Diadema semi commercial machines. I understand others have done the same....

If people are bashing their heads against a brick wall apparently wanting to buy other brand machines here where the importers and or selling agents havent accommodated the changing market, perhaps "they" (the clients) arent looking around enough to see what IS available at the right price and of atleast equal quality if not better...

OR does this mean that euro parity pricing is not good enough.......or that this is just another academic thread for the sake of a discussion?

I have around 15 of each of our BFC / Diadema Junior PUL E61 HX and Unico Splendor machines left over from our Christmas sales at very very sharp prices that are not announced publicly on the web. The overall quality, performance and standard of design and build of these machines is undisputed in their class. Anyone that is a serious buyer is welcome to enquire off forum to our "contact" company email. Please do not send PM's as I cant reply ( a bug in the CS system).

The machines (like any machine) are a vehicle through which you can make excellent coffee if that is what you want. They can do it, if you have the capability.

If they are all sold in the next couple of weeks to people that have read this thread, that will be of great benefit for both the clients as well as ourselves, and the decks will be cleared to accommodate the imminent arrival of another container.

We have been giving you what you apparently want. Are there any takers, or is this thread indeed just an excuse for pointless grandstanding?

[chron]

Of course they charge what the market will bear. Why do you (seem to) think this is peculiar to Australia? Take the site that you mention, change your region to US, and compare their to prices in Russia, and you'll see even more stark price differences ('ripping off' US customers). Jump on a plane, and look at the bloke next to you. Odds are that you paid a different amount for your seat, largely (but not entirely) as a function of some indicator of willingness/ability to pay. They call it yield management. And so on across multiple industries/products. The obvious alternative to price discrimination is a long-run fixed price results in lower profit and fewer total sales (i.e. some mutually agreeable transactions don't happen). If people don't think a good is worth the offer price....don't buy it. Keep buying the goods, and they'll keep charging that price.

I would expect most countries to yield some unequal pricing on products, however it's not entirely the same. For instance, the largest price difference with Russia that I saw is equivalent to less than $20 whereas some Australian differences reach up to $70.

Anyway, I think you missed my point, that site was merely provided to show an example of major price discrepancies in digital distribution where isolation, distance and market size shouldn't come into play.

Apologies, there was a mistake made in my previous post also. The government hadn't actually issued subpoenas to any of those companies yet, just a request to appear before the committee. They were issued a summons today though, so it will be interesting to see if anything comes out of it this time.

[blend52]

..Picking a couple of countries off the top of my head a quick check shows that at current exchange rates the national minimum wage in Australia is 30% higher than in France, more than 50% higher than in the UK, and well over twice what it is in the USA.

..But why didnt you pick Germany or Italy ?...where there is no minimum wage ??
Or the Netherlands where it is 15% higher ??
Unless you know the Tax and social system,..the min wage is no indicator

Minimum wage levels are not representative of "normal " working salaries for the average "skilled" worker.
They are more of a reflection of the social/political situation.
And i dont think workers on the MW would be the target demographic as customers for these m/c's !

...I have around 15 of each of our BFC / Diadema Junior PUL E61 HX and Unico Splendor machines left over from our Christmas sales at very very sharp prices that are not announced publicly on the web

I'm no marketing "guru" , and i wouldnt interfere with the way you choose to operate your business,.
.....but i am sure there is a reason 99% of products advertised include the price....particularly if it is a "special" .

[TC]

I'm no marketing "guru" , and i wouldnt interfere with the way you choose to operate your business..

You just did!

If any respondents here are interested, they can easily make contact with Attilio. For the rest of us, it's none of our business.

[blend52]

You just did!.

NO .i did not !
..i simply ,made an observation about normal selling practices that are known to work and customers are used to.

[Vinitasse]

higher wages than who ?....China / Asia maybe, but not Europe or USA.
Now if you had said .."high COST of employment" .. that would be a different thing.

Open mouth.... Check
Insert foot... Check

ad nauseum

[mcm991]

Pricing for individual markets tends to take 2 forms.

The first one is purely economic. People in Thailand, for example generally cannot pay the same for a Big Mac as those living in Norway. Also, McDonald's restaurants in Thailand generally operate on lower operating budgets than Norwegian ones. It makes sense.

The second is more insidious. The reason a Mars Bar in Australia costs double that in the UK is because simply put.... it just does. The whole confectionery industry has enjoyed big fat hairy profits in Australia for a very long time and no one wants to upset the apple cart.


Another example is the airline industry. The cheapest published business class ticket on Qantas from Sydney to London return costs $8776 plus taxes.


Buy the same published (cheapest) Business Class ticket in London to go to Sydney on Qantas return costs $3752 plus taxes.


Same Airline, same planes, same seats. (booking code I). Nothing to do with yield management.


This happens only because fares out of London are much more aggressively priced and Qantas has to play too or they won't sell any tickets. Nothing to do with minimum wages, buying power or anything else. If you want to buy a ticket ex SYD, you have to pay a lot more. Other carriers offering this route are happy to keep quiet and enjoy the fat returns selling tickets here.


Australia has long been considered a fat market and it has been traditionally quite an easy sell. Australians have always bought the line that we are far away from the rest of the world and there are only a few of us etc. It has only been the recent access to information that has started make people aware of other possibilities.


The 2nd example of pricing only changes after much wailing and gnashing of teeth.



And yes... I know this has little to do with coffee machines.


MCM.

[Vinitasse]

..But why didnt you pick Germany or Italy ?...where there is no minimum wage ??
Or the Netherlands where it is 15% higher ??

The minimum wage in the Netherlands is 1,456.20 EUR per month, or given a nominal work week of 38.5 hours this comes to an equivalent of just 8.72 EUR per hour. In Italy minimum wages are determined by trade/industry so... for the sake of argument... let's take the case of someone selling coffee equipment in Italy... they would fall into the Salesperson group category and their guaranteed minimum wage would be a gross of 1,397 EUR with a net of just 1,062 EUR after deductions of 24%. So... you are once again WAY off base or just making things up.

I don't know what foundation of knowledge and experience you are drawing on but I lived and worked in Europe for 9.5 years and wages here in AU are soooooooooooo far and away better than what you would ever come across in Europe for anything to do with the coffee/beverage/hospo/retail trades.

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

The second is more insidious. The reason a Mars Bar in Australia costs double that in the UK is because simply put.... it just does. The whole confectionery industry has enjoyed big fat hairy profits in Australia for a very long time and no one wants to upset the apple cart.

MCM.

That's a great assertion, and one that will be reassuring to the employees and franchisees of Darrell Lea chocolates who were under the misapprehension that they were out of a job.

[mcm991]

That's a great assertion, and one that will be reassuring to the employees and franchisees of Darrell Lea chocolates who were under the misapprehension that they were out of a job.

Tough crowd.
Darrell Lea failed for many reasons. Does not matter what your margins are if nobody is buying your product.
Perhaps I should have limited my initial post to Mars / Cabury
(Mondelez) / Nestle for clarity.
I'll try to be more specific in future.

MCM.

[blend52]

I don't know what foundation of knowledge and experience you are drawing on but I lived and worked in Europe for 9.5 years and wages here in AU are soooooooooooo far and away better than what you would ever come across in Europe for anything to do with the coffee/beverage/hospo/retail trades.

you are deluding yourself trying to compare these salary figures since they are so distorted by the huge change in exchange rates over the past few years.
The $Au has increased 60% against the Eu and the $US since 2009 which has allowed importers to increase their margins by not reducing local selling prices by a similar amount.

[Vinitasse]

you are deluding yourself trying to compare these salary figures since they are so distorted by the huge change in exchange rates over the past few years.
The $Au has increased 60% against the Eu and the $US since 2009 which has allowed importers to increase their margins by not reducing local selling prices by a similar amount.

Silly me... I thought we were talking about the present and not burying our heads in the sands of the past. And... if you really want to drag history into the equation the Euro did peak at approximately 0.5 EUR to the AUD back in 2009, but for the decade prior to that the average was around 0.6 EUR to the AUD which would generate minimum wage rates of just $14.53/hr in the Netherlands and in Italy the rates would have been lower still... both rates still below what we call minimum wage downunder. It doesn't really matter if you delve into the past or concern yourself with the present... you're still wrong.

[Barry O'Speedwagon]

you are deluding yourself trying to compare these salary figures since they are so distorted by the huge change in exchange rates over the past few years.
The $Au has increased 60% against the Eu and the $US since 2009 which has allowed importers to increase their margins by not reducing local selling prices by a similar amount.

Funny that you choose 2009 as your base. Prior to the Lehman Bros fiasco (in Spring 2008), the AUD was buying 95 cents US (even if you rewind and look at the average rate 2004 to 1 Jan 2008 you're looking at a touch over 1AUD=0.80USD). Similarly, prior to the GFC, the AUD was buying about 0.62EUR. It now buys 0.75EUR. Nowhere near a 60% variation. Regardless, an X% change in wholesale price does not = and X% change in a full service retailer's average total cost per unit (COGS + overhead). Much closer to the truth for a box mover though.

[Yelta]

This from the Adelaide Advertiser this AM The price you pay for being an Aussie | adelaidenow interesting reading, as if we didn't already know it

Must admit things are changing for the better though, amazing what a bit of competition can do.