On 11-Mar-07, at 10:55 , Daniel Jackson wrote:
Can't Canadian manufacturers make 4 L paint for the US market? Is
there a rule against it?
Yes, they could attempt to sell 4 L paint to the US market, even if
they marketed it as being 1.05 gallons,
but they'd create several obstacles (imaginary or real) for themselves.
US retailers may not be willing to adjust their shelving to maximize
the number of cans
they can store and display. If they have to raise every shelf 1.75
cm in order to fit a taller
4 L can, or if the can is not taller, but instead wider, they might
not be able to store as many
individual cans.
There's also the issue of price comparison, although I do acknowledge
that people usually
purchase paint based on either quality, and not price. Still, you
wouldn't be able to
price compare the two, because they'd be of different sizes.
Maybe if they did, US consumers would see they are getting more and
buy the 4 L size over the 3.78 L size.
Or maybe the manufacturers would be afraid that they'd have to charge
lower prices
in order to compete with the smaller, yet standard US container.
This would force the US manufactures to up-size to 4 L too, no?
It appears to have done the opposite. Keep in mind, that that US
market is ten times
the size of the Canadian market. Canadian manufacturers who sell in
both countries
often have the majority of their revenues from US sources, and they
often sell
most of their products to the US, so they produce for the standardized
size in the US market.
