I know this has been raised before but I still would like to get some input here: in a recent sales thread it was mentioned that the importers of a certain brand has claimed that they hold no stock of a certain product but that the new stock will cost much more. The figures mentioned are a whopping 50% raise over the current retail.
Now unless this refers to a newer model, this does not gel. I know there were arguments that shipping and insurance is costly nowadays that SAPO cannot be trusted anymore etc, but overall, the ZAR has not just held its value but actually recovered remarkably against the EUR:
http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=EUR&to=ZAR&view=1Y
Against the USD it was not as good, but still, a fair improvement:
http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=USD&to=ZAR&view=1Y
So even if some expenses like freight has gone up, I would still expect prices to at the very least hold steady due to the ZAR recovery. Retailers like 13Hof are very transparently priced and their landed prices are very well-comparable by taking the overseas MSRP multiplied by the exchange rate. How is it then that other retailers are still merrily doing double-digit increases? Were all their stock from 2010 when the ZAR was R8 to the Euro? Or did they buy their new stock just after Nenegate? Something doesn't add up.
Now unless this refers to a newer model, this does not gel. I know there were arguments that shipping and insurance is costly nowadays that SAPO cannot be trusted anymore etc, but overall, the ZAR has not just held its value but actually recovered remarkably against the EUR:
http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=EUR&to=ZAR&view=1Y
Against the USD it was not as good, but still, a fair improvement:
http://www.xe.com/currencycharts/?from=USD&to=ZAR&view=1Y
So even if some expenses like freight has gone up, I would still expect prices to at the very least hold steady due to the ZAR recovery. Retailers like 13Hof are very transparently priced and their landed prices are very well-comparable by taking the overseas MSRP multiplied by the exchange rate. How is it then that other retailers are still merrily doing double-digit increases? Were all their stock from 2010 when the ZAR was R8 to the Euro? Or did they buy their new stock just after Nenegate? Something doesn't add up.
