13% price hike in Norway

[Hookeye]

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I'm just back from FotoVideo in Oslo, buying a second battery for the M8 and checking the status on an order for some additional Leica M lenses. The shop assistant told me Leica (does he mean the Norw. distributor?) now has raised the price by 13%. Obviously, they are taking advantage of strong demand and a tight supply side. Fortunately, my orders will not be affected, but it upsets me nevertheless..

[Guest Olof]

I'm just back from FotoVideo in Oslo, buying a second battery for the M8 and checking the status on an order for some additional Leica M lenses. The shop assistant told me Leica (does he mean the Norw. distributor?) now has raised the price by 13%. Obviously, they are taking advantage of strong demand and a tight supply side. Fortunately, my orders will not be affected, but it upsets me nevertheless..

 

This is how the markets work. Also Norway increases his oil price if there is a strong demand

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[Hookeye]

Well, Olof; I will be the one who laughs the day I can swap a bucket of oil for your Noctilux;)

[marknorton]

Has there been a change in the NKr-Euro exchange rate recently?

 

I'll be keeping an eye on what Classic Camera in London do; that's the only thing they do in a rush, raise their prices at the slightest opportunity.

[Hookeye]

True, the EUR has appreciated 1.5% against the NOK during July, but that is hardly enough to justify a 13% price hike..

[lmr]

Yep... Since July 1st there is a price hike on all/most new Leica product WW.

 

Nocti now costs about $5400+ USD new.

M8 with all the issues that were not fixed went up $100 USD to $4890 USD.

 

Old Stock should have old price.

 

Leica are getting really proud of their product.

[Guest Olof]

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Yep... Since July 1st there is a price hike on all/most new Leica product WW.

 

Nocti now costs about $5400+ USD new.

M8 with all the issues that were not fixed went up $100 USD to $4890 USD.

 

Old Stock should have old price.

 

Leica are getting really proud of their product.

 

Dont forget that Leica made a minus all over the last years. So if we also want Leica products in a few years too, we had to accept that they now try to earn money. The right price for a product is always the price a customer is willing to accept. So if the customers are willing to pay 5500,- $ for a Nocti. Its the right price....

[ptomsu]

I'm just back from FotoVideo in Oslo, buying a second battery for the M8 and checking the status on an order for some additional Leica M lenses. The shop assistant told me Leica (does he mean the Norw. distributor?) now has raised the price by 13%. Obviously, they are taking advantage of strong demand and a tight supply side. Fortunately, my orders will not be affected, but it upsets me nevertheless..

 

Why are you upset?

 

If you want to be able to buy Leica products in the future, you have to pay their prices, otherwise they will not survive.

 

So my recommendation - either leave this (Leica) or stay and pay!

[Bill W]

I for one hope they survive and I truly believe they will. I just wish they could produce my Noctilux a little quicker..................

[Hookeye]

Peter,

I do want Leica to survive too. But I was not aware it is a question of survival, here. Don't you think that Leica ran their spreadsheets and estimated what they needed to charge for the M8 and lenses before they launched it last year? And now, that demand apparently is beyond what they had planned for - then they should be in a good situation, shouldn't they? So I doubt they do it out of need. A 13% price raise is quite dramatic. But, of course, if they do it for the purpose of curbing demand, I suppose they will succeed. At least, speaking for myself, my keen-ness to invest has now cooled considerably!

 

So, let me change my wording, I am not upset, just disappointed. And I believe it is a good thing that somebody raises a word of protest .

[martinb]

Dont forget that Leica made a minus all over the last years. So if we also want Leica products in a few years too, we had to accept that they now try to earn money. The right price for a product is always the price a customer is willing to accept. So if the customers are willing to pay 5500,- $ for a Nocti. Its the right price....

 

It's not like Leica was cheap before you know. Prices are just getting more absurd each year. I think the M8 price is pretty ok, but increasing the prices on some of their already extremely expensive lenses isn't what I want. Customers got to have the right to have a say about their prices.

Reason they didn't do well earlier wasn't because they were to cheap. It was because they jumped on the digital train too late and couldn't live of analogue cameras only.

[ptomsu]

Peter,

I do want Leica to survive too. But I was not aware it is a question of survival, here. Don't you think that Leica ran their spreadsheets and estimated what they needed to charge for the M8 and lenses before they launched it last year? And now, that demand apparently is beyond what they had planned for - then they should be in a good situation, shouldn't they? So I doubt they do it out of need. A 13% price raise is quite dramatic. But, of course, if they do it for the purpose of curbing demand, I suppose they will succeed. At least, speaking for myself, my keen-ness to invest has now cooled considerably!

 

So, let me change my wording, I am not upset, just disappointed. And I believe it is a good thing that somebody raises a word of protest .

 

Well it is really up to you - if you either are disappointed, upset, or stop further buying.

 

But the whole thing is about market requirements and demand and I would play this the same way: now there is clear demand try to get out as much as possible from this situation, because they have to fill their account in order to pay all desperately needed innovations for the R and the M futures.

[ptomsu]

It's not like Leica was cheap before you know. Prices are just getting more absurd each year. I think the M8 price is pretty ok, but increasing the prices on some of their already extremely expensive lenses isn't what I want. Customers got to have the right to have a say about their prices.

Reason they didn't do well earlier wasn't because they were to cheap. It was because they jumped on the digital train too late and couldn't live of analogue cameras only.

 

Are you really as naive as thinking that you as a customer would be able to have a say about someones prices?

 

The only say you have is NOT BUY, and if all are doing tthis the pendulum would swing to the cheap side again.

 

It is the art of asking just as much as the customers are going to pay, and the leave it like that and earn as much money as possible.

[ho_co]

My feeling is that Leica is as concerned about price as we are. They need to make a certain margin on each product in order to stay in business, and I don't think they recalculate on the basis of supply and demand. In the US, or cost increases seem generally to follow the strength of the dollar.

 

As John said, the US had a general price hike the beginning of this month. Look at the recent price increase of the Noctilux, and at the discontinuation of the TE 28-35-50. I don't think that Leica didn't want to take either of those actions.

 

Probably the same day they publish a new price list, one of their suppliers notifies them of a price increase.

 

In the US, the drug companies argue that they have to 1) advertise on TV to increase demand for prescription drugs; and 2) charge customers hundreds to thousands of times their actual cost; in order to generate the cash they need for future drugs--which of course will in turn be advertised etc.

 

I don't buy their arguments, but I guess I can accept Leica's prices on the basis that they don't advertise, and they do make such good stuff!

 

Excuse me, I need to go take a pill.

 

--HC

[sdai]

In the US, or cost increases seem generally to follow the strength of the dollar.

 

These are incomparable, Howard ... as Leica's price ONLY goes up and NEVER went down - now that's what I call hard currency. Now all central banks, governments of the world should reserve Leica lenses instead of gold, precious metal, oil and green backs.

[carstenw]

One of the more interesting things Stephen K. Lee said in the LFI interview was that Leica was buying up some of the smaller companies which they used to outsource work to. This means that there is no longer two companies trying to make a profit from the same item. I don't know whether Leica will be lowering prices, or whether this just stabilises the company, but the implication is that Stephen K. Lee is very aware of the high prices.

[jaapv]

It's not like Leica was cheap before you know. Prices are just getting more absurd each year. I think the M8 price is pretty ok, but increasing the prices on some of their already extremely expensive lenses isn't what I want. Customers got to have the right to have a say about their prices.

Reason they didn't do well earlier wasn't because they were to cheap. It was because they jumped on the digital train too late and couldn't live of analogue cameras only.

 

 

If you think it is too expensive - don't buy. If it were a pair of trousers you would react this way. It is a consumer product - so market mechanisms apply...