Simes Posted February 18, 2016 Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 It seems to me that the only reason for prices to go down on average is us? My prices are consistently above average in most areas and I intend to keep it that way. Rarely ever get any complaints on price and our turnover is increasing almost every year, especially last year. I reckon price sensitivity is often in our own minds not that of the customer. I wonder if we undervalue our own businesses. Especially given the huge investment we have to make in machines, cloners etc. Somebody once said to me that when you price a product not only do you have to price in your costs but don't forget to price in future investment and then a good living on top. Opinions? Are customers really that price sensitive? I think they value service and convenience over price every day of the week. Autotechnix 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormwelt Posted February 18, 2016 Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 I agree with Simes. As a trade I think we do undervalue our skills. I have a price increase every year without fail. Some customers will always complain but they are a minority. I must admit I am above average in most of my shoe prices and only offer 'best' quality materials. I put best in quotation marks because from previous threads I know we all have different opinions on what is best. If we all bumped our prices up the customer would have no choice but to pay. We are all experienced and skilled workers who deserve to be recognised as such!! Sorry. Will put soap box back in cupboard immediately. By the by. What do any of you charge for a full rewelt? It wasn't on the survey. I charge £120.00. To cheap or about right? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
grahamparker Posted February 18, 2016 Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 Simes, you make some good valid points but if someone opens another shop within a couple of hundred yards of you and starts cutting keys at half your prices then trust me you will start to lower your prices to compete otherwise you will sink rather quickly. If the other guy is doing yale keys for £1.50 and your charging £4.00 word soon spreads and customer loyalty will disapear a lot quicker than you ever imagine. Price is everything and i have had customers walk out to save 50p by driving half a mile to somewhere else (yes it costs them more in fuel but i have seen it happen over the last few years). My pricing is now a lot less rigid than it was before and we are still doing well, but you never know whats around the corner. kobblers and k4mrc 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Flash Posted February 18, 2016 Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 Convenience, Price, Service. Think of which barber you use, which pup you go to, where you buy your petrol. Most people are to busy to search around to save a few pence (although some will walk a mile for a penny) That's why the prime sight in a town will pay off. Most people won't be ripped off more than once (although some don't realise they are being ripped off) Service is low on the list (most people just want a key that works and they want it NOW) kobblers 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simes Posted February 18, 2016 Report Share Posted February 18, 2016 I take your point Graham, there are some exceptions. If you were to start to cut keys at £1.50 you might as well pack up and go home! We do get the occasional customer complain about price. We let them go and drive 2 miles into the center of town and pay for parking so they can save 50p on a key. lol People are crazy, but you can't win them all. We had competition with half price car keys just down the road. We kept our price the same, which meant we were about 35% dearer. We also started accepting business they refused to do. We're still in business, probably cut more car keys than anyone else locally and most of it is referral business. Our turnover has continued to grow. They have put their prices back up (now as high or higher than ours). I'm glad that we stuck it out. During that time we had people quoted £25 by our competitor coming and asking us to do them cheaper. We sent them away to the competitor. Quite a few came back because they couldn't do them in the end. All of that said, I think every situation is different and can see where you may have a problem. But at £1.50 I can't see that they can stay in business. Obviously can't be their main/only service or product. x minit uk 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
k4mrc Posted February 19, 2016 Report Share Posted February 19, 2016 I haven't had time to drill down the numbers Martin but one thing I did notice was the price of transponder keys falling yes that is true, could that be because Timpson are more aggressive on there prices? I take your point Graham, there are some exceptions. If you were to start to cut keys at £1.50 you might as well pack up and go home! We do get the occasional customer complain about price. We let them go and drive 2 miles into the center of town and pay for parking so they can save 50p on a key. lol People are crazy, but you can't win them all. We had competition with half price car keys just down the road. We kept our price the same, which meant we were about 35% dearer. We also started accepting business they refused to do. We're still in business, probably cut more car keys than anyone else locally and most of it is referral business. Our turnover has continued to grow. They have put their prices back up (now as high or higher than ours). I'm glad that we stuck it out. During that time we had people quoted £25 by our competitor coming and asking us to do them cheaper. We sent them away to the competitor. Quite a few came back because they couldn't do them in the end. All of that said, I think every situation is different and can see where you may have a problem. But at £1.50 I can't see that they can stay in business. Obviously can't be their main/only service or product. We had one walk out today, stiletto heels are 1-99 up the road, and the customer issued absolute 'digust' that I wanted 4-99! (which is cheap enough) but, business is business and we are all fighting for it. It is all about how much competition we all have, I know of one who has none and charges 6-50 or more for a cylinder key - 7-00 stiletto's and always states that he would not drop his prices, but if a half decent independent opened nearby he would change hie tune (as all would) grahamparker 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Posted February 20, 2016 Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 We had one walk out today, stiletto heels are 1-99 up the road, and the customer issued absolute 'digust' that I wanted 4-99! (which is cheap enough) but, business is business and we are all fighting for it. It is all about how much competition we all have, I know of one who has none and charges 6-50 or more for a cylinder key - 7-00 stiletto's and always states that he would not drop his prices, but if a half decent independent opened nearby he would change hie tune (as all would) £1.99!!!! I charge £8.20, finally putting them up after 3 years from £7.95. Unless I was doing hundreds of pairs a day I couldn't be arsed to work for that money!! BUSY FOOLS...as the forum favourite quote goes! keithm 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Simes Posted February 20, 2016 Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 £1.99!!!! I charge £8.20, finally putting them up after 3 years from £7.95. Unless I was doing hundreds of pairs a day I couldn't be arsed to work for that money!! BUSY FOOLS...as the forum favourite quote goes! Yep! £7.95 here. We have 4 shoe repairs within a two mile radius. I expect that if I had someone doing them for £1.99 on the doorstep, then that would be problem. Frankly, I would give up shoe repairs rather than lose money at £1.99 per pair!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Muppet Posted February 20, 2016 Report Share Posted February 20, 2016 I've got competition but still get £9 without too much bother Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike at Vauxhall Posted February 27, 2016 Report Share Posted February 27, 2016 I charge aggresively. Generally no problems. I regularly do "price checks" with " competition " , they are outside the station, quite close but may as well be on the moon to most of my customers. Customers love convenience. I also survey my charges now and again. I expect about 9 put of 10 to happily accept my charges, Iif it's much less than that I would consider reducing them. Increased my chargefor chronograph fashion watches (fossil, m kors, dkny, etc) from £10 to £14, without a murmur. ( most places seem to be charging upto £20 for them) £6.50 for standard stilettos, £9 for dual density stillettos ( customers normally go for these.) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
x minit uk Posted February 27, 2016 Report Share Posted February 27, 2016 I agree with Simes. As a trade I think we do undervalue our skills. I have a price increase every year without fail. Some customers will always complain but they are a minority. I must admit I am above average in most of my shoe prices and only offer 'best' quality materials. I put best in quotation marks because from previous threads I know we all have different opinions on what is best. If we all bumped our prices up the customer would have no choice but to pay. We are all experienced and skilled workers who deserve to be recognised as such!! Sorry. Will put soap box back in cupboard immediately. By the by. What do any of you charge for a full rewelt? It wasn't on the survey. I charge £120.00. To cheap or about right? I charge £125 for a full Rewelt, I am however, thinking of putting the price up. Stormwelt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormwelt Posted February 28, 2016 Report Share Posted February 28, 2016 Ok will put my price up for rewelt so.. Dual density stillettos? Tell me more please Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike at Vauxhall Posted February 28, 2016 Report Share Posted February 28, 2016 Will post a picture tomorrow. Like a standard top, but a bit thicker and made up of two layers. I always show the customer a beige /tan on, as this shows the layers better. A few pence more, but can sell for a few pounds more, feed back from customers is very good. Get from tcolledge. People choose them about 70% of the time. Downside is only on a 120 pin. Stormwelt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormwelt Posted February 28, 2016 Report Share Posted February 28, 2016 Cool thanks cowers! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike at Vauxhall Posted February 29, 2016 Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 From left to right. Standard.....dual density from leatherand grindery.....dual density from colledge. Obviously black is available but beige/tan show it better. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Stormwelt Posted February 29, 2016 Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 Are they made by Architak? I had some of those but had real trouble closing the gap between tube and bottom of top piece. They appeared to have a rim underneath that stop them from closing. They sent me some from Italy a few years ago but never took them up for above reason. Thanks for the pics.. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike at Vauxhall Posted February 29, 2016 Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 They are spanish. Never had a problem fitting them. Did six reheels today, all the customers (4) chose them . Stormwelt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Count Muppet Posted February 29, 2016 Report Share Posted February 29, 2016 We had some a few years back which were "minit" branded. They left a gap too if you didn't scour the pin a little first Stormwelt 1 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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