Chockstone Forum

      Sponsored By
      ROCK
   HARDWARE

Chockstone Photography

Australian Landscape Prints

Chockstone Forum - For Sale

Buy and Sell Used Climbing Gear Please do not post retail SPAM.

Topic Date User

insane gear prices! 14-May-2010 At 3:58:08 PM climbingfool

Message

When i first moved here from Canada, the prices for gear offended me and i assumed it was due to an aggressive markup at the retail level.

Then i started to import, distribute and manufacture climbing gear to sell wholesale and retail.
(this decision was not to see if i could bring prices down, i simply needed a job) Now i know why the final price to consumers is so high. The cost of doing anything here is a lot more expensive than where I am from, by at least 50% or more, and to keep a business, especially a small one running, you have to make a certain level of profit, or you are just providing a service for free. We tried the north american model for wholesale and retail and it does not work here.

For part of my business, due to costs i had to remove the wholesalers out of the equation to keep the final price to consumers at the same level as what they are currently in Australia for similar products. In theory, this would mean that I have increased my profit by removing a link in the supply chain, and i did, but it is still not enough and I am pretty much losing my shirt.

The cost of living here is high. If the retail system is broken, then it is a symptom of something bigger being broken as well.