US / UK pricing?

orpheus2006 · Post by **orpheus2006** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 4:48 pm

I did a quick x-check comparing Motif prices in the US and Europe, and here the rate is:
1$ = 0.95€ which also does not match the official 0.75€, but much better than 1.1€.

@ 0.95€, we should see pre-order prices around 3400€-3450€ for a Kronos 88, and my hope is that the prices will drop below 3000€ for the Kronos 88 in 2012.

vEddY · Post by **vEddY** » Fri Jan 14, 2011 10:10 pm

ozy wrote: 4000 euros "pre-order special" is effin' steep,

For once, you and I can agree on something without a single comment

Pricing seems "ok" in USD, but in Europe it seems as though price for the 88-key model will be around 4kEUR, which is too much.

orpheus2006 · Post by **orpheus2006** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 8:50 am

I cannot really reconstruct this huge price difference.
So I tried to find some resaons:

1 - Due to the high demand in the US, the US is serverd first. The real Europe sales starts not before 2012.
2 - The Kronos will be sold a 100-thousands times in the US vs a few hundreds in Europe. That justifies the high pricing in Europe.
3 - Europe market is dominated by other genius synth manufacturers such as Access, Doepfer, Waldorf and many more. Korg doesn't see a fair chance to mix up that market.
4 - European customers pay any price because they want one.
5 - European customers don't realize the price difference at all.
6 - European customers are nagger. They deserve some punishment.
7 - European Korg distributors believe most of the above mentioned resaons are facts.

Did I miss one?

EvilDragon · Post by **EvilDragon** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 10:49 am

All your assumptions are incorrect. The difference in price has several real reasons:

1. Currency conversion sucks.
2. VAT sucks.
3. Transportation costs suck.
4. Music retailers suck.

orpheus2006 · Post by **orpheus2006** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 12:03 pm

EvilDragon wrote:All your assumptions are incorrect. The difference in price has several real reasons:

1. Currency conversion sucks.
2. VAT sucks.
3. Transportation costs suck.
4. Music retailers suck.

Come on, the situation isn't much different in the US except for your last point. They are also ordering it from Japan and have to deal with points 1-3 above.

Ok, sales tax is a bit different, though. But that doesn't justify such a high difference in price.

Main reason: Korg USA and European Distributors follow a different go-to-market approach. It's Lombard Street to a China orange.

Edit: BTW my list are not assumptions, it's a list of irrational reasons.

ldascanio · Post by **ldascanio** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 6:20 pm

mrteclas wrote:I'm Argentinian, and we use Peso.
The exchange rate here is:

1 Dollar = 0.24 Pesos

It sucks.

Kronos 61 / 73 / 88 in Argentina will be 3710 USD / 4231 USD / 4440 USD (www.importmusic.com.ar)

Rgds.

orpheus2006 · Post by **orpheus2006** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 10:51 pm

ldascanio wrote:
mrteclas wrote:I'm Argentinian, and we use Peso.
The exchange rate here is:

1 Dollar = 0.24 Pesos

It sucks.
Kronos 61 / 73 / 88 in Argentina will be 3710 USD / 4231 USD / 4440 USD (www.importmusic.com.ar)

Rgds.

That's not too bad. That would equal 2780 EUR / 3170 EUR / 3330 EUR. I would preorder one right away at these prices, but unfortunately these are not the European prices.

First price indications for Europe are over 5000 USD for the Kronos 88. But let's wait for the official retail prices. At least I have some hope now. Thanks for your posting.

mrteclas · Post by **mrteclas** » Sat Jan 15, 2011 11:06 pm

It's not that bad, if you earn your salary in dollars. I get it in Pesos, about $1240 Pesos a month.
So, $3700 Dollars = $14800 Pesos / $1240 Pesos = Saving for more than a year.

There it sucks

orpheus2006 · Post by **orpheus2006** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 12:13 am

That sucks (a big one), indeed.

At least you could afford a M50 which is also a nice sounding and versatile instrument (if I interpret your signature correctly)?! Remember: it's not the instrument that makes the music, it's you. You can achieve better results with your M50 than others could with a Kronos.
Cheer up, mate!

robinkle · Post by **robinkle** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 12:28 am

mikemolloyuk wrote:Just seen this

61: $2999
73: $3499
88: $3799

Where did you see this? :S

orpheus2006 · Post by **orpheus2006** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 12:43 am

robinkle, these are US prices. Just ignore it if you don't want to frustrate yourself. And let's hope for acceptable retail prices in Europe.

mrteclas · Post by **mrteclas** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 3:24 am

At least you could afford a M50 which is also a nice sounding and versatile instrument (if I interpret your signature correctly)?! Remember: it's not the instrument that makes the music, it's you. You can achieve better results with your M50 than others could with a Kronos.
Cheer up, mate!

Yes I can, and I'm really happy with it. Still, 9 months to finish paying for it. But it's worth it

Goldcrest · Post by **Goldcrest** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 10:42 am

In regards to the price of the KRONOS in the UK - this is why I did not buy an OASYS:-

In the UK, the price of the OASYS appeared to be fixed at a high amount across ALL retailers from the start. It did not drop in price by a single GB pound during its entire product life.

Correct me if I am wrong, but there were never any special offers for a new OASYS from any UK retailer at any point in the products life.

Just to rub it in - you could look around the internet to see other places where the OASYS was cheaper or was on special offer.

As someone who is never an early adopter, I waited and waited for a deal or offer on the OASYS - but it never came.

In the end, they updated the M3 and bundled it with other options - and I bought this. (and am very happy with it).

The fact that there were offers on the M3 - and not on the OASYS led me to believe it was not the retailers that were fixing prices - but probably Korg itself).

The high price and the apparent price fixing and the fact that other places in the world could sell the OASYS cheaper - and presumably still make a profit were THE ONLY reasons I did not buy an OASYS.

This is a global marketplace now. The world can see the price of anything across the world - to see if they are getting a good deal. In these early days of the Kronos lets hope that Korg learn from the OASYS - and have a fair GLOBAL price for the Kronos from the start - and also allow retailers to discount. (Lets hope the prices quoted in the link above to that Glasgow store are just an aberration).

I am really hoping to purchase a shiny (matt?) new Kronos - at a fair price - in about a years time.

MartinHines · Post by **MartinHines** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 12:38 pm

The U.S. is a bigger market for nearly all electronic products than Europe. This also holds true for keyboards (with the exception of arranger keyboards).

robinkle · Post by **robinkle** » Sun Jan 16, 2011 12:45 pm

orpheus2006 wrote:robinkle, these are US prices. Just ignore it if you don't want to frustrate yourself. And let's hope for acceptable retail prices in Europe.

Relax, I just wonder where he got the info.