Marine electronics prices

[JK 28]

These guys have popped up recently & the prices seem good. Not sure about the delivery times but they have an extensive range in their catalog.

 

http://www.100marine.co.nz/

[Guest]

They are parallel importers. My understanding is they get their equipment from a large discount chain from overseas.

We offer a couple of the brands they are importing. Their pricing is generally a little under or the same as what we do with our fully warrantied product.

 

Give them their due - they are spending an aweful lot on marketing at present.

[Guest]

They are marketing to the whole of NZ though, not just Auckland.

Their prices will be significantly less than walking into a boatshop in somewhere like New Plymouth.

[wheels 543]

Not the cheapest in all products though. And although they list a large range of names, not all the names are covered in actual product.

[Rental 1]

Macka dude, im not skiting about 500% margins for pete’s sake. As is said before, you cant compare apples and pumpkins, 500% on a $20 shirt is $100, a 20% margin on a $500,000 yacht is $100,000. Which would you prefer, the 500% or the 20% margin? Well it all depends doesn’t it?

 

As TL points out:

 

Marign.... smargin

You cannot bank margin, it is the contribution to the bank account that matters.

[wheels 543]

It's a growing problem and is going to get worse. I have a mate looking at a Lowrance Structurescan and HDS sounder right at the mo. He is window shopping all over the world right at the moment to see what is the best deal he can come up with. The official NZ distributor obviously needs to make something and the retailers need to make something and several have given some good discounts. But even with the best discounts, they are close, but not as cheap as the parrallel importer. And then there are the deals in the US which would mean that the thing could be landed here cheaper again. Although in this particular case, it is not that much of a saving and I have suggested that he makes a very careful decision if a saving of a hundred bucks or so is worth it in regards to having NZ backup for such a complex set of equipment. Still, the saving is there to be made and can not be scoffed at. The NZ distributor certainly has a good deal with the US supplier to be able to Distribute the product as close to overseas product, which is unlike many others that don't get that support.

My main concern is this stupid business of trying to raise the Pay equity between NZ and Oz. It's got to come from somewhere and will only make margins smaller and support less and eventually margins just have to rise, which then means people will shop from the bigger world market and NZ distributors will disappear.

[Guest]

Agree there Wheels. The whole 'traditional' supply line is fading away and with that it is both decreasing yet also increasing costs hence prices.

 

Chatting to someone the other, knot in the marine game but I think the same sort of thing would apply, who sells a lowish volume product. He gets beaten up a bit on price buy cheaper offshore websites, most of which are only on-line business's with no bricks and mortar, so now he's starting to sell less which means he's struggling to get the volume discount from the manufacturer. When that discount collapses he has no option to lift the NZ price. He reckons if it continues he'll just stop selling that/those items and everyone in NZ will have no option but to buy from offshore. He said that is getting closer each day.

 

Mind you his workshop/repairs income is growing in proportion to the sales he's losing as he charges no holes bared full whack to install/fix all the gear knot sold from NZ. Apparently that is becoming quite lucrative. Some custys bitch but only have 2 options, pay him full whack or ship the gear back to where they brought it for tweaking/fixing or whatever.

 

Maybe that's the 'service economy' the Govt wants. Sell nothing and just charge moonbeams to install or fix. With the trend these days to make things last for a set amount of time the freight companies and 'used to be NZ distributors' could stand to do bloody well without the hassle, drama and big costs involved with stocking gear. Shame the custy's will have to buggerise around or pay more but that's the joys of a free economy I suppose.

[Dagwood 57]

Heard of someone who purchased a plotter overseas. All went well until he got it here and installed it only to discover that the manufacturer had "geofenced it". It was manufactured for the domestic USA market and outside of this region various features were reduced and warnings flashed on the screen. Only difference between it and the locally sold product was a small sticker on the box.

 

No option but to send it back and scrap it out for a refund.

 

What would happen if this was sold to a USA customer who then went cruising was never really answered.

[tuffyluffy 76]

Ive bought a fair bit from 100%.co.nz and their pricing and service has been brilliant.

[Kestrahl 6]

I went and got pricing to replace the batterys in my EPIRB the other week.. $350. After pulling the batterys out and doing some googling found I can buy both batterys for $40 USD, sure you have to solder them in but anyone who did electronics at school

[Guest]

Kestrahl.

If it was a GME you did that for you missed out on a service pack upgrade. Keep an eye out and test reasonable regularly.

 

Jono

[Guest]

Here's one from this morning.

 

Just sold a dude in the US 6 anchor winches. The NZ RRP$1250.00 against the US RRP US$1110.00. Even with our high dollar we were still a significant saving. Could almost be 1/2 the US price if the dollar dropped back to 0.60 odd.

 

It appears it can work both ways. Weird really.

[Steve Pope 243]

Were the winches a NZ brand ???

[Guest]

Strangely enuff No they weren't Steve. Italian made.

 

And a s a FYI, last week working with a dude who purchased a winch in the US at a sharp price. Now we have got it sorted and changed it to suit the chains used everywhere except the US, he found he could have brought the exact same one here that does fit our chains already for $200 less than his 'sharp priced' one cost him, even saved more if he'd purchased one of the sharply priced 'anchor system' packages floating around currently

 

Had a very similar thing with a dude who went shopping in Aussie for a winch via Trade Me earlier in the year. By the time he landed it here it cost a couple of hundy more than buying the identical one in NZ. Doh, what do you mean I have to pay GST, Duty, Customs clearance..... Bugger.

[gonzo 0]

This is an interesting read from the point of view of the NZ Distributor for one of the major electronics brands...

 

The volume based business in the U.S. and Europe is plainly massive compared to what is sold in NZ annually and with volume comes buying power, significant economies of scale and the ability to operate at greatly reduced margins by comparison to what is required to sustain all the overheads that come with the supply, support, distribution and back up etc etc etc of the brand(s) in this market.

 

Some of the margins suggested in previous posts as being the norm for NZ electronics distributors are way off the mark. The fault lies squarely with the manufacturers and their lack of a consistent, international pricing policy. There are massive inconsistencies in the regional pricing set round the World by ALL the manufacturers which is further exacerbated by there being multiple currencies in use within their own distribution networks.

 

It all adds up to a major pricing disadvantage for the local distributor who is still expected to support the brand on all levels, regardless of whether they were in the supply chain or not.

 

Don't get me wrong - I think I speak for all of the local authorised distributors when I say we are fortunate to represent the various electronics powerhouses and yes, we make a living out of it - we're all in business after all.

 

As for 100% Marine and their parallel importation, fair play to the guy for taking advantage of this inconsistent pricing from the manufacturers.

 

However, having witnessed and corrected first hand a significant number of system designs that were put together by that organisation, (saving the owner's significant amounts of money by doing so) I think there is a lot to be said for doing business with companies who offer more product knowledge, pre/post sales support and the full back up of locally warehoused parts, service centres and nationwide dealers.

 

I can't speak for all the NZ Distributors here, but you will not pay a cent more buying electronics from us ahead of 100% Marine. Given that and the superior support offered by a local distributor why would you not purchase from them.

 

I'm obviously biased, but them's the facts - to me its a no brainer...