Reynolds, Jason M. wrote: > ITmedia News reports Bandai is looking into a mark-up on the price of
Long overdue, even without the excuse of oil price. > shop on the outskirts of Akihabara, claimed there would be a 10-20% increase > in HGUC and MG kit prices beginning around May. Oil prices were cited as the 10%'s nothing. Oil price has what? Tripled in 2 years? Retail price had swing much more just from increased shipping cost and depreciated US$ (but Yens had also been artificially depreciated just like RMB, so the effect had been smaller). > also be marked up as it was reissued. As with the official news, it was said > there were details yet to be settled. I hope that it will not result in reduced demand. I've long advocated that Bandai should increase the price of hobby products, to be more in line with toys and collectibles. I think Bandai shouldn't just increase prices to cover increased cost, but to push up their profit margin for new products (not reissues). Without higher profit margins, hobby customers will have no hope to close the tech and quality gap between toys/collectibles and hobby. (in case it's not clear, I think gunpla has long fallen behind toys in novelty, tech and value) > This could also explain why they are being cautious with their MG kit > releases I think this argument is weak. All gunpla is affected by oil cost in direct proportion to the retail price. MG kits of the same MS cost about 50% more than ungraded 1/100 kits. That ratio is not going to be changed by the 10-20% hike. -- Dr. Core -------------------------------------------------- The Gundam Mailing List MK-II [email protected] Archives: http://www.gundam.com/gml Help: Email [EMAIL PROTECTED] with this in the BODY: help list
