I think that places should all charge their own prices.
To some degree, yes, but you do also have to understand that a distributor also has a duty to make sure that a brand name is not devalued by a store price cutting radically all the time. By allowing this, it affects the perceived value: the prices people expect to pay, both new and second hand. After all, if store X sells a product regularly at say, 33% discount, then no-one will want to buy from store Y or Z, so why should store Y and Z stock it? This hurts the brand in the long run.
Also, how would you feel about the brand if you bought a product at say R10K and then later found that another store now sells the same product at R6K, so if you wanted to sell it again, it now has only a second hand value of R4.5K?
Having said that, if a dealer has "dead" stock sitting around, not selling, it can quickly and easily add up to millions of Rands of money that could be put into buying stock that does sell. So the occasional "sale" is in order to clear out this stock is fine, they won't be buying the same products again and the distributor will not likely carry more of the same product anyway. But it's a once-off thing, not an ongoing high discount situation. There are also the special circumstances where a dealer approaches a distributor and says "I want to buy a 100 of ProductX, give me a good price." They get a good price so they can then sell Product X at a lower price and still make a profit. Once again this is fine as it will be an occasional thing.
Renesongs wrote
I am a bit of a Bothners basher, largely because there was a time that they were the Telkom of the music world, no competition, high prices, and piss-poor service.
The perception of Bothners having high prices was due to two reasons: Firstly, they did not discount when they sold on credit - they were self financing until a few years ago (no-one would give pro musicians credit, and Paul Bothner himself felt that regular customers should have the option), so all the costs and risks of finance were falling on the company. I speak from experience when I say it was also common to be able to call up and say you were having a bad month and they would let your payments slid for a month or so - a very old fashioned and people oriented way of doing things. These days a third-party is doing the finance, so you can get the discounted price and still get credit - but the downside is credit is harder to get if you are a pro without a "regular job".
Secondly, Bothner's was a "pro" store that you basically had to work up a relationship with to get better prices. They wouldn't quote the discounted price automatically unless they knew you well and had a strict discount structure, depending on who you were. They still refuse to compete with dealers who give anybody and everybody the same high discount price - price wars help no-one in the long run, as you end up with the situation you have in the computer world, where the margins are so narrow, a dealer has to move lots of units to make a living, and also means they have to concentrate on a narrow range of a few products. Do you want them to become a sales oriented entity like Guitar Center in the U.S., with a high turnaround of know-nothing staff, more interested in "moving units" than finding out what you need and selling you it? Sadly, it's probably going to have to go that way.
I also wynge at their web master from time time to PUT THE PRICES ON THE SITE
I know you do. ? And I forward your emails to the interested parties. I believe it has to go that way and have been pushing for it for years. But you can see the problems they face - it essentially means hey have to homogenise the prices to the same for everyone, and they also know that if they post a certain price, certain dealers are going to make a point of undercutting them.
Wouldn't be nice to play a game of "name & shame" on the dealers who cried foul over a little 1 day loss-leader.
I have my suspicions, but was not given specifics, so won't comment.
Quite honestly, I'm very tired of all the crap involved.
