Average Retail Price....ARP

Something that just occurred to me. When I was first shopping I wanted to find an Izula local to hold and whatnot. I did find one shop that had them in stock, but didn't ask the price. I drove about an hour to get there. They had one pink Izula--$93! It was not even the full kit. I was floored at the price. I told the guy that I didn't expect to pay internet prices, but that was an insane markup. His response, and I quote, "Well, we charge full retail, but you get free lifetime sharpening. You won't get that on the internet." I told him that was a non-issue as I wanted to sharpen my own, and he just said OK. He then showed me a cheaper neck knife in another case. He had no intentions of budging on that price. I did look around, and their Shun kitchen knifes were right on price, but that seems to be the same everywhere.

I then did happen upon another knife shop in the mall. They had one Rat 3 (still the Rat name) with a serrated edge. They wanted $107, which is cheaper than the internet store I was looking at at that time. I would have bought it but I wanted a straight edge.

After typing all this, I don't know if I have a point. :)
 
Wow, such a novel idea . . . A company that actually cares about it's customer base. My hat is off to Mike & Jeff for keeping alive something that was common back in "the day", but is very seldom found in this day & age, something called customer service. Thanks again for adding a new level to my comfort zone.
 
I'm finally so glad to see a company realize that quoting an MSRP in a lot of cases does them more harm than good. In almost all cases none of their products sell for that price and when a customer sees it, it scares them off, when in reality the product sells at a pretty discounted rate. What a great move for the two of you to do this!
 
I guess I don't understand what the difference is.

People who pinch pennies will always scour the interwebs for the best deal. People who pay MSRP will always get screwed by the first store that they stumble across.

I'll keep ordering ESEE knives from my favorite dealer no mater what MSRP or MAP or whatever is...
 
R.A.T. said:
We also have to take into account that international dealers and distributors have to pay a higher pirce for our product since they have customs charges and taxes that we don't have in the States. So, in the end we will look to find a way that it will be beneficial, information-wise, to the consumer no matter where they are.
Click to expand...

MikePerrin said:
It isn't so bad for Canadian dealers. Europe is really bad when it comes to taxes, particularly Eastern Europe. I have heard of Polish customer spending 3 weeks paycheck to buy one of our knives! We need to set this up so that it reflects the different economics of different countries/continents. I think it will probably end up being a different ARP for different Continents.
Click to expand...

This is great news and just goes to show how great ESEE is. I have to say good luck for you guys as you are really tackling a big issue! I hope at the end everyone (from customers to the knife industry) will benefit from this!

Customs can get hectic in certain countries and it is a shame how they can rip people/dealers on costs, then the dealer has no other way then to raise his price (I can understand the dealer has to make a living) and the person is down in the dumps because he just had to pay double the MSRP for a knife.
 
RatDrall said:
I guess I don't understand what the difference is.

People who pinch pennies will always scour the interwebs for the best deal. People who pay MSRP will always get screwed by the first store that they stumble across.

I'll keep ordering ESEE knives from my favorite dealer no mater what MSRP or MAP or whatever is...
Click to expand...

The only purpose of MSRP is to let dealers say how much cheaper than MSRP they're selling it for. MSRP is what has no point, not ARP, because all it does is provide dealers with a way of deceiving customers into thinking they're saving more than they are.

ARP will characterize the marketplace for the customer. When you go googling for prices, you start off with no idea of what a good price is. ARP will provide you with a starting point of what to look for; in that sense, it works in addition to googling for prices, not as a replacement and not as meaningless.

When you find prices via googling, you still have no idea if the prices you find are representative of the market, as Google does not pick up every site or price. Comparing what you find to the ARP will let you know if what you're finding is representative of the market, better than most, or worse than most.

That's my take on it, anyway.
 
I look forward to when this is all complied and finished. I cant count how many sites I visited before I decided which had the cheaper price + shipping. Still dont know if I got it right.
 
Mike,
I like the idea that you sell your knife at cost plus profit to dealers and leave it to free market. I like it even more to hear you say this. This confirms what I already thought was when one of my local dealers told me you set the price and online dealer were dishonestly selling below the price, that local dealer was actually the dishonest one. Needless toi say I did not purchase there. its a shame because that dealer was very knife knowledgable. However, I purchased from the other local and an online dealer.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top