I understand the RRP, I understand global pricing. And there is more at play than just shipping costs and import duties (shipping costs for software is very low :) ).
The RRP is supposed to be higher than the retail price, the way the company does this is by imposing an additional margin. And this margin is usually consumed by the cost of supporting individual customers (local distribution offices of global companies are usually not geared up for that - they deal with distributors/large retailers, high volume buyers). So the fact that Logitech advertises an RRP higher than what we expect is logical. However, it is at the distribution end that things do not seem to be working out yet. I hope that the manuafacturing capabilities allow a Squeezebox Duet to be distributed by Harvey Norman, JB Hifi, and the like in Australia (or Dixons in Europe.. are they still around?), or MediaMart. Not the hifi niche channel, but a channel with access to a very good market share. Volumes from a small distributor base keep the costs down. Remember, there are account managers that need to be paid and commishioned, order processors, shipment agents (from Logitech national sub to distributor), warranty and repair services that claim a fixed cost, etc. Only with the appropriate scale can these operate without inflicting a price hike. My concern is that Logitech has not been able to enter this distribution market in the local subs very well with the SlimDevices product line. It seems that the local account managers do not want to burn their hands at the "hard to explain why it costs what it costs, high risk audio components that do not even stream video" (not my opinion :)) What we can do as consumers in a country, is just walk up to such retailer(they are in all the larger local malls, so combine it when you are there for other business), and ask if they sell Logitech Squeezebox, or Transporter (less chance that that will come out of the niche market into the main stream, but ask your HIFI specialist)... If enough people ask (and the staff is smart enough to notice), then someone may just ask the Logitech account manager... What SlimDevices can do, is to keep communicating the demand for local distribution through the Logitech train... The Squeezebox Duet may just be the product to break through the masses, and it does not cost more than an iPod Touch.. Just my two cents (spread out over a lot of words) Matt -- matthijskoopmans LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/mattkoop LastFM: http://www.last.fm/user/matthijskoopmans/ ------------------------------------------------------------------------ matthijskoopmans's Profile: http://forums.slimdevices.com/member.php?userid=2622 View this thread: http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?t=43128 _______________________________________________ discuss mailing list [email protected] http://lists.slimdevices.com/lists/listinfo/discuss
