Topaz magazine hikes!

Kimia

Cosmopoliton magazine - on the cover it's £2 sterling, euro price €4.75!!!!!!!!

How can they justify this?:eek:

version1

magazines in ireland have VAT @13.5%,a distribution charge and a fixed currency rate..
cheak this thread, the 4th post breaks it down...;)
http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055728173

mcaul

Kimia wrote: »

Cosmopoliton magazine - on the cover it's £2 sterling, euro price €4.75!!!!!!!!

How can they justify this?:eek:

Maybe, just MAYBE its an error! - We all make errors even retailers who have to price up 200 odd magazines every month!

My guess is that Cosmo has a special offer price of £2 and the store has ust put the regular price on it.

How about mentioning it to the store - surely that will get the quickest and best results.

A £2 cover price should be worked out as follows.

£2 x fixed rate of exchange (fixed every 6 months by easons) (1.18)
= €2.36
Add 10% distribution charge = €2.60
Add 13.5% vat = approx. €2.92

Similar formula is worked on all magazines.

My guess is Cosmo is normally about £3.30? - If so then that's where the error lies.

Mylow

mcaul wrote: »

Maybe, just MAYBE its an error! - We all make errors even retailers who have to price up 200 odd magazines every month!

My guess is that Cosmo has a special offer price of £2 and the store has ust put the regular price on it.

How about mentioning it to the store - surely that will get the quickest and best results.

A £2 cover price should be worked out as follows.

£2 x fixed rate of exchange (fixed every 6 months by easons) (1.18)
= €2.36
Add 10% distribution charge = €2.60
Add 13.5% vat = approx. €2.92

Similar formula is worked on all magazines.

My guess is Cosmo is normally about £3.30? - If so then that's where the error lies.

No VAT on magazines in UK

Guy:Incognito

Kimia wrote: »

How can they justify this?:eek:

They dont have to justify it. They can sell it for €50 if they want.

Kimia

Stekelly wrote: »

They dont have to justify it. They can sell it for €50 if they want.

Thanks for your obvious answer, I'm sorry my question was SO ridiculously stupid that you felt you had to point that out. Please don't clutter this thread with nonsense that everyone already knows.

I see how it's worked out, so it should have been about €3. Fair play to them if they get anyone to buy at that price. :rolleyes:

mcaul

Kimia wrote: »

Thanks for your obvious answer, I'm sorry my question was SO ridiculously stupid that you felt you had to point that out. Please don't clutter this thread with nonsense that everyone already knows.

I see how it's worked out, so it should have been about €3. Fair play to them if they get anyone to buy at that price. :rolleyes:

Has to be an error by the person pricing the magazine - Topaz in Athy has it for €2.96

mood

Apparently Toplaz are Shell. They had to rebrand because of the bad press they are getting. I wouldn't buy anything from them.

Cabaal

Kimia wrote: »

Thanks for your obvious answer, I'm sorry my question was SO ridiculously stupid that you felt you had to point that out. Please don't clutter this thread with nonsense that everyone already knows.

If you already knew that a shop can charge whatever price they wanted then why did you ask people how they can justify it?

mood wrote: »

Apparently Toplaz are Shell. They had to rebrand because of the bad press they are getting. I wouldn't buy anything from them.

Care to backup such outlandish claims with actual facts?

mood

I said 'apparently' meaning I have heard. Seems to be true.

http://www.topazenergy.ie/en/about/who-we-are/

http://www.indymedia.ie/article/92454

Kimia

Cabaal, what I meant was - as a consumer - what's in it for me? This is a question that is asked time and time again by consumers and it's the job of the retailers who are trying to sell us products & services to show us the benefits of buying from them as opposed to up north or in a shop down the road for example.

The reason I asked 'how can they justify this' is to see why a retailer would feel he is in a good position to try and sell a product that one can buy much cheaper in his competitor's store. I was seeing if he had a reason for being overpriced (in comparison to other shops) and if he had any other product 'benefits' to justify the high price. How can he 'justify' his price in comparison to his competitors.

Also I am absolutely sick of the way everyone says 'oh well you knew the price, don't buy it if you think it's overpriced'. Why bother with this forum then? I actually like the fact that this forum exists to show where they may be unreasonable prices and I don't want to waste my time making a purchase decision in a store that everyone else says (with examples) are overpriced.

To all the retailers out there - fair enough - you can sell something at whatever price you want (cue cries of 'I have to make a living etc'). But the reality of the situation is that you have LOTS of competitors and if you're in a market with everything is based on competitive pricing, get with the program and either start competing or bow out. Don't go on about your overheads yadda yadda yadda, because consumers don't care. They have their own overheads and your own particular situation means absolutely nothing to them. You are not in a market where personal or emotional selling exists so leave out the cries of 'what about my costs', because it's irrelevant.

mcaul

mood wrote: »

Apparently Toplaz are Shell. They had to rebrand because of the bad press they are getting. I wouldn't buy anything from them.

Topaz are in independent Irish owned company.

They were set up to purchase the shell business in republic & northern Ireland when shell decided to pull out of Ireland.

In 2006 they purchased the Statoil network of garages & supply agreements.

Then in order to create a single brand for all the garages under their control, they rebranded both shell & statoil garages as Topaz.

All directors are Irish and there is no connection with either statoil or shell.

http://www.rte.ie/business/2006/0621/topaz.html

gerrycollins

Kimia wrote: »

Cabaal, what I meant was - as a consumer - what's in it for me? This is a question that is asked time and time again by consumers and it's the job of the retailers who are trying to sell us products & services to show us the benefits of buying from them as opposed to up north or in a shop down the road for example.

The reason I asked 'how can they justify this' is to see why a retailer would feel he is in a good position to try and sell a product that one can buy much cheaper in his competitor's store. I was seeing if he had a reason for being overpriced (in comparison to other shops) and if he had any other product 'benefits' to justify the high price. How can he 'justify' his price in comparison to his competitors.

Also I am absolutely sick of the way everyone says 'oh well you knew the price, don't buy it if you think it's overpriced'. Why bother with this forum then? I actually like the fact that this forum exists to show where they may be unreasonable prices and I don't want to waste my time making a purchase decision in a store that everyone else says (with examples) are overpriced.

To all the retailers out there - fair enough - you can sell something at whatever price you want (cue cries of 'I have to make a living etc'). But the reality of the situation is that you have LOTS of competitors and if you're in a market with everything is based on competitive pricing, get with the program and either start competing or bow out. Don't go on about your overheads yadda yadda yadda, because consumers don't care. They have their own overheads and your own particular situation means absolutely nothing to them. You are not in a market where personal or emotional selling exists so leave out the cries of 'what about my costs', because it's irrelevant.

first of all I think the pricing of the magazine was in error.I could go into how but its too long but it very possible that it happened so I dont think there is anything to justify.

However in general response at the end of the day as a retailer we have to at least break even so at some point it will come that we cannot reduce prices any further as it will minimise the chance of at least breaking even anything less we might as well close up.

One such example that would get up my nose is a thread somewhere here,cannot find for reference, where with recent freeze on pipes and such certain shop upped their price of water, thats profiteering to the highest. I sell the same water for €1.50 they were charging €2.99.

now thats a blatant rip off/profiteering if ever there was one and does the rest of us no service however its no reflection that we are all doing it.Many of my prices match the prices in the Tesco and Dunnes and I'm only a small shop.

Kimia

gerrycollins wrote: »

first of all I think the pricing of the magazine was in error.I could go into how but its too long but it very possible that it happened so I dont think there is anything to justify.

However in general response at the end of the day as a retailer we have to at least break even so at some point it will come that we cannot reduce prices any further as it will minimise the chance of at least breaking even anything less we might as well close up.

One such example that would get up my nose is a thread somewhere here,cannot find for reference, where with recent freeze on pipes and such certain shop upped their price of water, thats profiteering to the highest. I sell the same water for €1.50 they were charging €2.99.

now thats a blatant rip off/profiteering if ever there was one and does the rest of us no service however its no reflection that we are all doing it.Many of my prices match the prices in the Tesco and Dunnes and I'm only a small shop.

All I'm saying is don't be surprised and horrified that a customer will actually shop around and query why your prices are higher than another shops, thus asking you to justify why you are charging more than somewhere else.

Yea I see that it must have been a mistake.

I suppose retailers need to make a decision whether or not having a small shop is a viable business opportunity rather than moaning about having higher overheads etc. I don't envy anyone in retail but stop thinking that customers will give a sh*t whether Tesco or Dunnes is taking your market share.

rubadub

Kimia wrote: »

The reason I asked 'how can they justify this' is to see why a retailer would feel he is in a good position to try and sell a product that one can buy much cheaper in his competitor's store. I was seeing if he had a reason for being overpriced (in comparison to other shops) and if he had any other product 'benefits' to justify the high price. How can he 'justify' his price in comparison to his competitors..

The term "justify" really irks me a lot. They do not have to justify anything, it sort of infers you are putting them on trial or something, and they are doing something wrong or underhanded or borderline illegal.

Rather than "How can they justify this?" I would prefer a question like "How do you think they arrived at this price?" or "why do you think they are charging so much?", if people sat back and thought for a minute 80% of these threads would not exist.

Kimia wrote: »

it's the job of the retailers who are trying to sell us products & services to show us the benefits of buying from them as opposed to up north or in a shop down the road for example

It is certainly not their job! It is there perogative if they want to explain, they have stated the price, they are not on trial and do NOT have to answer to you, if you do not like it then speak with your feet. It is up to YOU to weigh up the benefits from buying from them rather than elsewhere. I buy frozen fish in lidl rather than tesco, it is cheaper and better quality, I have never once though of asking tesco reasons why I should buy from them.

All these threads and questions simple quite rhetorical, you are like a lawyer asking questions you already know the answer to, you know perfectly well that nothing they say will satisfy you. They charge what the market will bear and what they think will make them the best profit, they are not charities, and not idiots.

Kimia wrote: »

Also I am absolutely sick of the way everyone says 'oh well you knew the price, don't buy it if you think it's overpriced'. Why bother with this forum then?

I am sick of the ignorance, feigned or otherwise of the most basic of business practices, i.e. maximising profits, in my very first day in commerce in secondary school this was explained as the fundamental goal of a business, I knew it long before then/

I have only seen a handful of legitimate ripoffs worth warning people about.

I want to be warned about REAL ripoffs, somebody telling me a marbar is €2 in the local spar is of no use to me, somebody telling me the cheap 2L of coke in the local shop is actually flat and tastes manky since it is from mongolia and has labels covering it is fair warning. If you discovered the cosmo mag was in french when you got home then it would be fair warning.

Kimia

Of course it's their job to sell to us! Why do you think that they have MASSIVE marketing budgets and advertising and PR, sponsorship, etc!! It's all because they want us to buy from them!

They are ALWAYS on trial - in the retail industry there is fierce competition and if they want to emerge as a market leader the only way they will do this is to retain or recruit the most amount of customers.

Now more than ever there is a HUGE amount of 'ratings' going on within the retail and service industries. Online has made pricing more transparent and if someone wants to tell so and so that Tesco or Spar or whoever is charging 10% more than Dunnes, that's his perogative and basically that customer is engaging in word of mouth advertising for Dunnes, and bad PR for Tesco/Spar.

People are not only voting with their feet these days, they are also voting with their keyboard and forums like this are a good way to judge who is offering the best value to consumers.

For a retailer to be as passive as you have described is signing their own bankruptcy declaration. It's a different economy to the one you studied in school - everything is about perceived value and if you sit back and wait for the business to come to you you will fail.

And yes I can say justify - they are selling to me! If they want my money, show me why - why will I shop in Tesco rather than Dunnes? Why will I shop in M&S rather than Lidl? The reason: Perceived benefits and when I make my internal decision on where to shop, the brand/store that I feel has justified their pricing or shown me the value - I will shop there.

rubadub

Kimia wrote: »

Of course it's their job to sell to us! Why do you think that they have MASSIVE marketing budgets and advertising and PR, sponsorship, etc!! It's all because they want us to buy from them!

Some do marketing, it's there choice. If you read my post I said it is their perogative to do so. All of your wording, "justify", "its their job", sound like they are somehow legally obliged to sell stuff at a fixed margin or something, and to "be fairly priced", and that they should be up in court pleading their case for their high prices. To me the phrase "its their job" implied they are obliged to do it. There are NO such price restrictions in place, am I for one am glad for it. Have a read of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Free_market

Kimia wrote: »

They are ALWAYS on trial!

Not in any legal sense, and from your wording it sounds like you think they should. They are being considered and "on trial" with customers who speak with their feet, it is up to YOU to be judge & jury and decide something is too expensive and simply not buy it.

forums like this are a good way to judge who is offering the best value to consumers.

Yes, forums like bargain alerts are very good for considering where is good value, this rip-off forum rarely exposes any real ripoffs, it has sadly become the "anti-bargain alert forum", or the "expensive alert forum", if somebody posted in bargain alerts that crates of heineken are €20 in dunnes, and somebody said, "watch out, they are €80 in a petrol station near me", people would be saying "well d'uh, who in their right mind would pay that, do you think I'm an eejit, WTF wants to know where the most expensive place to get it is."

For a retailer to be as passive as you have described is signing their own bankruptcy declaration. It's a different economy to the one you studied in school - everything is about perceived value and if you sit back and wait for the business to come to you you will fail.

There are many newsagents & convenience stores in my area that I have never seen advertising or marketing, PR, sponsorship etc, all in business for decades.

And yes I can say justify - they are selling to me! If they want my money, show me why

Again this is just more rhetoric, make your own mind up, or do you really think there is something they can say that will make you pay over the odds? do you want some sob story or something? If they show you their margins are less than online stores are you going to turn around and buy from them, declaring the online shop the "ripoff" for making more profit.

Many shops know they cannot compete with online stores, its no secret, seems you just want to rub their faces in it. Businesses are closing they cannot compete, do you not think they would drop prices and stay in business if they could?

This is why shops will not squander time & staff explaining price differences, most peoples minds are already made up, can you honestly think of anything they could say that would make you change your mind? If they do then you really should have known that fact yourself. e.g. if a shop informs you it might cost you €40 in petrol to travel and save €30.

gerrycollins

Kimia wrote: »

All I'm saying is don't be surprised and horrified that a customer will actually shop around and query why your prices are higher than another shops, thus asking you to justify why you are charging more than somewhere else.

Yea I see that it must have been a mistake.

I suppose retailers need to make a decision whether or not having a small shop is a viable business opportunity rather than moaning about having higher overheads etc. I don't envy anyone in retail but stop thinking that customers will give a sh*t whether Tesco or Dunnes is taking your market share.

Define a small shop, i know places a third the size of mine doing 10 times the turnover but thats for another day.

in your question to justify a price Ill give you a sample of what we are up against.

powdered baby food is a vat free product so it straight down the line. Some time ago in the north it was on the shelf at the equivalent €8.50, down here I was buying it in at €9 so straight away no comparision.

locally tesco/dunnes are offering one of the baby powders at €7ish(footfall driver), we suscessfully got a reduction from the supplier but still we can only sell it at €9 and thats with sweet fa profit.If i sell it at €7ish i lose.

Another time a irish base retailer went via their northern ireland outlet to buy for their southern stores, when the company saw the size of the order and noted it was nearly a years supply for the northern stores they refused to order claiming that (obviously) it was destined for the south and they could not honour the order.

while im not trying to justify anything im trying to show that the whole priceing issue is not as straght forward as you may think.

I do agree that consumers are voting with their feet (and so they should) in large numbers and are sucked in with the PR,marketing.sometimes they are like sheep sometimes with only a few seeing the real value ie long term pricing/jobs and future for the country.

tesco regained lost share market recently with their promotion promising border prices when in fact it was only a 4 week promotion everything is back to it normal/near normal price. However they have managed to maintain what they regained.

Kimia

You seem to misunderstand me Rubadub. I know that they can charge whatever they want and I don't mean to sound like I'm a lawyer or whatever. All I'm saying is that we live in a retail saturated market where there are huge price wars and competition and for consumers there is a huge amount of choice. For certain stores/brands to emerge not even as market leaders, but just players in this saturated market, they need to pull customers to them, not rely on passing trade or repeat business without any kind of retention or recruitment strategy.

I say very much it is the job of the retailer to persue me as a customer. I don't know why you think it should be the other way around? Most companies (if not all in some way) use marketing and marketing communications strategy to recruit and retain customers. Fair enough if you know of some smaller places not advertising - maybe they are in business for decades but are they experiencing growth at the moment? Is their business plan to remain stable (some would call it stagnant) in the face of rising competition? Is that good business practice?

At the end of the day we are in a horrifically difficult time for retailers, that much is clear. But to assume that we should have the mindset that 'the prices are there - take them or leave them' - this horrifies me and I think that any retailer with this attitude will fail, simple as.

And of course I personally don't want a sob story from retailers begging me to buy from them - I spoke out against this in my previous post. What I want to know is, as a consumer, WHAT'S IN IT FOR ME? It's the most basic basic question all consumers ask themselves and if you are in business and want to make a profit, you need to understand this and provide an answer / benefits to this question in order to pull customers to your brand/product/store.

And I would be of the view that it's not 'squandering' if you try and change people's minds about buying with you versus another store. Imagine if every big business did this - my god, advertising would not exist. This is what I'm trying to say over and over to you - you have to be agressive and try and seduce customers in this day and age, not passively wait around and assume that you can't change their minds. YOU CAN of course - why do you think Dunnes/ Tesco/ Supervalu etc are all spending an absolute fortune on advertising in the past year - they are constantly gaining new customers, then losing then, then gaining them etc. Imagine if one of them said - ah sure most people's minds are made up>????