Why don't Indian HiFi websites have PRICES???

ajinkya

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Oct 27, 2007
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I've been looking at various dealer websites to collect prices for a new HT. Except for a very few (ProFx is one), it seems dealers in India DO NOT like showing prices or what components they stock! Most websites only have names of the brands they offer but when you click on the link, it takes you to the Singapore or UK site of the company.
UK and US dealers always seem to offer both current stock and latest prices (Richer Sounds, wheyhifi, STO...). Why can't Indian dealers do the same? Most of us are net-savvy and I suspect most of us build our system based on current prices and components. It would save us and the dealers so much time if there was a well-informed website. That way, a customer could plan out potential systems beforehand, then call up the dealer and have an audition with only the setup he/she wants.

I am completely at a loss to know why Indian dealers cannot show prices. And why can't they put just a little more effort into a well-designed, up-to-date website to showcase their business? Don't they realise that they may lose potential customers this way? Am I missing something in the way the Indian audio market operates?

Mridul and others, your comments would be very welcome. Sorry if this sounds like a rant (well...it is) but I'm really frustrated by the lack of transparency during my audio searches. To balance my rant, I mention that when one does ask for prices (via email), the dealers are very prompt and courteous with their responses and price list (Designer Audio comes to mind).

Thanks,
Jinx.
 
Hi,

While agreeing with you on the lack of the prices in the sites, I have to point out few things !

1.The price is fixed by the distributors and sometimes the dealer themselves (based on various things like Input cost,transportation,etc etc),So its not same for all hence its not possible to publish a same MRP or selling price in the main Distributors or companies website

2.Taxation in India is not Uniform,Some states and cites have additional taxes and some doesn't !! for Ex. Mumbai has Octroi and Bangalore doesn't,so Obviously the price differs !

3.The classification of the product also some times plays Important role while publishing the prices !! for Ex a product such a 5.1 HITB may be classified as Computer accessories and attracts 4% VAT in some states and the very is under Consumer Electronics in other cities attracting 12.5% VAT (Now also not to mention the states that has not joined the VAT bandwagon) !!

4.The prices mentioned sometimes can be very misleading !! meaning it can be very very high and if one goes with that in mind and starts to bargain or buy without it he may end-up paying more !! so instead if you ask the price over the phone or email and try to finalise,you may end-up paying much less !!

5.Putting a MRP on the product and publishing them opening is problem for this reason also (may be the most important), The products sold officially in India has to confer to Indian standards and also comes under Weights and Measurements Acts,So is entitled to scrutiny by the said department !! so if one has to put an MRP on a product,they have to get the approval of this department ! so in addition to tax department,other departments are also involved !

So all these above points are the some of the reasons for not mentioning the MRP or Suggested or selling prices of the products openly ! now some bigwigs and afford to under go all the above and hence put the prices openly!! while most of them cannot they will not !!

One more important Issue is the distributors,most of the times in India the distributors change for the products often making it difficult to put the prices ! as each distributors has his/her own pricing policy !!

Well these are what I think few reasons for the aforementioned problem ! Offcourse I may be wrong on some points as Am not a dealer or distributor myself !! but since having tonnes of friends in the industry and having seen the Industry from quite some time,this is my take on the issue !

Well I don't even want to touch the issue of an updated site interms of atleast the products and such ! coz its here is no use (not mean not relevent,but waste of time) as our dealers are not tech savvy as we are (well most of them) and some of them also find the need less of lack of it to set-up a updated site at an additional cost !!

While I also like you and countless others want to find the prices of all the products that we want ! its not practical in more then one way to do so !!

So all we can do is to wish and try to educate or encourage dealers to publish the prices with an updated product list !!!

Hope all my above comments are taken in the right spirit !!

NOW I DON'T WANT SOME BRAINIAC TO POINT OUT THAT ONE POINT IS NOT TRUE OR WHATEVER !! LIKE ALWAYS THIS BASED ON MAJORITY AND WILL BE ONLY RELATED TO IT !!

Regards.
 
Hi SG,
Thanks for the detailed reply to my query. I appreciate your thoughts on this.
However, for each of the points you mention, a similar situation exists abroad also. In the US, for eg., each state has a different sales tax, which is imposed once you checkout from the site. Similarly, shipping cost differs as well. The websites still display the base cost of the item. In India, Sumaria.co.in does show all prices of its components. So does ProFx.

Regarding the fact that you can bargain with dealers, that can be done even if they put the MSRP (Maximum Price) of the item. They can always sell it to us for less than the MSRP after haggling, I'm not complaining :). Even if (for reasons still not clear to me) the dealers can't put MSRP, they can at least put an Estimated price, so the customer knows what the range of the product might be. Right now, we get zero information from such websites.

I also don't think our dealers are not tech-savvy. I've seen posts from quite a few dealers here and all of them were sound advice. I think it is just an issue of not feeling the need to make the website the primary contact with the user and doing everything the way it was done in the 90's (by phone).
Unless dealers change this approach, I again emphasize that they will start losing customers to others who are more visible on the Internet.
 
1.The price is fixed by the distributors and sometimes the dealer themselves (based on various things like Input cost,transportation,etc etc),So its not same for all hence its not possible to publish a same MRP or selling price in the main Distributors or companies website
The dealers atleast can list the prices on their site. Agreed that all cannot offer the same prices, but it would bring out a healthy competition with dealers trying to give good prices.


2.Taxation in India is not Uniform,Some states and cites have additional taxes and some doesn't !! for Ex. Mumbai has Octroi and Bangalore doesn't,so Obviously the price differs !
I don't agree. There is no country wide sales tax in USA and each state has it own tax rate. If they can why not us ?


3.The classification of the product also some times plays Important role while publishing the prices !! for Ex a product such a 5.1 HITB may be classified as Computer accessories and attracts 4% VAT in some states and the very is under Consumer Electronics in other cities attracting 12.5% VAT (Now also not to mention the states that has not joined the VAT bandwagon) !!
I don't see how this would be a problem. Sites in USA just have the prices (Exclusive of taxes). The taxes are calculated based on the purchaser's state.
 
I am with Ajinkya on this...I think the reason is that at least some of these dealers are looking to make an extra buck from the uninitiated and I've seen this happen.....once you communicate that you are familiar with the components and prices, the "best prices" and "discounts" start to appear.....this is not everyone.....this is just some people.....on the other hand you have people like Grand Cinema in Chennai......their prices are as good as the best prices for the stuff in their country of origin (the UK)....I don't know how they do it.....
 
Hi, I also agree to the point that the prices should be mentioned at the site. Many of us will agree that taxation problems are almost similar in most of the countries but information are updated on regular basis. In India dealers have different idea , they don't want to make things clear to the general public but want to take advantage of the confusion !! Getting back to NETSAVY........ all they need is one basic comp and one staff who can work on net..........is that tooooooomuch to ask for:)
Request all the dealers to pls do the needful :)
Regards
RB9
 
Well as pointed out .. some dealers try to take first time buyers for a ride , some i know actually manage to make a sale at higher levels that MRP/catalogue rates.

Well frankly volumes in India need to rise for competition to come into place. Market economics will automatically takeover. Without that the few players that are there will just continue to do whatever they please.
 
Once an MRP is established, selling any equipment above that price is a strict NO NO and is not permitted by law.



Well as pointed out .. some dealers try to take first time buyers for a ride , some i know actually manage to make a sale at higher levels that MRP/catalogue rates.

Well frankly volumes in India need to rise for competition to come into place. Market economics will automatically takeover. Without that the few players that are there will just continue to do whatever they please.
 
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