Is it possible for a high end manufacturer to overprice their goods?
Having just read the interesting and hyperbole laden review by RH of the new Rockport Orion speakers in the latest issue of The Absolute Sound, one thing struck me..
is it possible in the high end for a manufacturer to overprice their product ( doesn’t have to be a speaker, but this example comes to mind)? I ask this, as the Orion is priced at $133k! Yes,a price that would probably make 99% of hobbyists squirm. Yet, the speaker now joins a number of competitors that are in the $100k realm.
To that, this particular speaker stands just 50.3” tall and is just 14.3” wide…with one 13” woofer, one 7” midrange and a 1.25” beryllium dome ( which these days is nothing special at all…and could potentially lead to the nasties of beryllium bite).
The question is…given this speakers design and parts, which may or may not be SOTA, is it possible that this is just another overpriced product that will not sell, or is it like others, correctly priced for its target market? Thoughts…
Surprisingly Sonus Faber pricing favors the mid-range, the more you pay the exponentially more value you get. There are two strategies: make the profit on the lower end vs the top end. Of course, with the sound, everyone's priorities are different, for me the best (perceived) value is the no overhead boutique brands |
One of the common themes of this thread are posts that state that high end is 'over priced'. While we may believe that, perhaps it is not over priced and is in fact priced at a point that the various vendors know their goods will sell. Since the old adage that something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it is usually 100% correct; maybe the folks who are saying most (all) high end is overpriced-- are in fact incorrect? |
@daveyf This discussion may as well branch out into economics, art, politics and philosophy. I mean some artist sold a banana taped to a wall for a $120k. Is it overpriced? No because it's art... Yeah the adage "something is only worth what someone is willing to pay for it" is always 100% correct until you talk about utilities or medecine... Fortunately, we're talking about non-essential consumer goods here. So you could even argue that everything is under-priced and underrated considering labor costs. Only the high-end is priced 'correctly'. At the end of the day you vote with your wallet. The 'overpriced' question is not something for individuals to answer. It's more relevant if you're the seller. Ask the seller, not the buyer. |
in luxury goods, price is one component of the value. The manufacturer is not selling a function, they are selling the brand. Add limited production- reduce the supply for the same demand and price may be increase even more. The best part is: they don't need to sell any. They can keep selling the midrange stuff and claim trickle-down buzzwords and increase its price by 10% |
