Pricing in the New Year

[andrewdosborne]

Adam, swings and roundabouts with the fx, when it drops in value only appropriate to offset with price increase.

On the other side of the coin worth ramping up marketing efforts in the US as cheaper for them!

Also an idea is to offer additional services and products during the check out process, ie offer bone nuts, fret jobs, Dingotone etc.

On stocking non standard kits this is a tricky one, maybe special order as previously suggested. It's a fine balancing act between holding slow moving stock and tyeing up cash vs availability and diversity of offerings.

Seems PBG is the market leader with others following so worth leveraging on this! Customers are generally happy to pay a premium for exceptional customer service and support.

[bargeloobs]

I reckon you should keep all the prices the same, bar the BC-1, BG-46, GD-1, IC-1, KH-1, SH-1 and the WL-1 which you should actually increase to $500 per kit, because if people actually think these guitars are cool then they should be made to pay....lots.
Ahhh, of course I'm just teasing, at the end of the day Ads it comes down to what's best for the business, and if that means bumping up prices across the board to compensate for a declining dollar, keeping your stocks in good supply and retaining your customer base it's just something that has to be done, plain and simple.
I know (as does everyone else on here) the quality of these guitar kits, and truth be known, I'll never buy a big name guitar brand again... ever. Fact is, you don't need to.

[ihasmario]

I'll never buy a big name guitar brand again... ever. Fact is, you don't need to.

Here, here!

[stan]

In choice vs Price - I pick choice
In price increase vs PBG suffer - I pick price increase

I love the idea of paying for graded tops/caps

I love the idea of bare bones kits, sans hardware (this would also increase PBG spares stocks, which could be sold separately)

[kells80aus]

Simple economic management. Supply & Demand. You do hold the high ground in that you supply the widest range at a resonable price.
As in all businesses, at the end of the day you need to generate a gross profit. If your costs exceed your income you are doomed. you must increase your prices.
But at the same time you need to continue to generate sales. What generates your sales is your diversity. you may well have to trim one or two items from the lineup, but I would certainly not cut any further than 1 or 2 items. You may find that there are items on the list that have very low sales and if you need to cut anything it would have to be those, perhaps moving them to a special orders set up where you only order them when some one puts in an order. In order for that to work you would need the buyer to put down a deposit of 30-50 percent. If the buyer is really interested they should be happy to do that. You know that when I have put in special orders I have stummped up 100% of the cost, My personal view on special orders is that you want it you pay for it up front.
I would also go through the kits and look at the types of variations. If there are kits that vary only in hardware then maybe you consolidate them into one item with the variation offered as options. ie a tune-o-matic verses a flaoting bridge, then the floating bridge becomes an optional extra.
To me this is no problem as 9 times out of 10 I swap out the original hardware for different hardware I either have or have bought.
Maybe that's part of the answere you buy in the kits without hardware, and get hardware packs separately and offer a few varieties.. or pick and purchase hardware.

Whatever your choice is Adz, I'll still be here buying kits from you as they are good kits.

Cheers PK

[adam]

Thanks for all the great feedback guys, plenty of excellent ideas to mull over the Christmas period. We'll see how this January shipment lands before we look at any changes in price. One positive is that this will be our first full container load of kits, so we should save a ton on freight and port charges per kit. That will at least partially offset the poor dollar.


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[Rob L]

PitBull is the only place I've been able to find a rick copy so far that seems to be high quality. I'd gladly pay more for it if I have to.

[dave.king1]

Always an interesting conundrum.

I found Pitbull on youtube when looking for ideas on what finish to do on a Tele kit that I got from another supplier and since then have purchased PBH-4 and STA-1 kits, all three of these kits have either received aftermarket pups and bridges or will do because the STA isn't here yet but will be getting some very nice Seymour Duncans that I have sitting on the shelf.

The STA is a birthday present, my kids asked me what I wanted and I said money because I was going to try and hunt down a CV Squier Strat when OS in March but decided to go the kit route again so that I didn't waste time searching for something that may not even be in stock over there.

Bottom line is that with each of these kits I have exactly what I wanted at a more than fair price and have the pleasure of playing something that I made myself which has been set up physically and sonically to suit my taste.

In the case of the STA it is on special so for $150 + finish and the pups I already own so I will have something that would have cost over $500 if I could find that Squier CV. ( which still would have got the SD pups )

Next cab off the rank will be a GR-1SF which is an absolute bargain even if I do splash out on a set of TV Jones pups when compared to a genuine Falcon.

The market is what it is and ultimately it will dictate a price which hopefully will allow PBG to remain solvent to support our addiction.

Happy New Year all.

[Tim]

I don't mind paying extra . Your service is great ,your product is great. Roll on more Bass kits

[keloooe]

After a long time away I think it's time for my input.
Personally I don't want PBG to go down the drain. The quality of kits compared to the prices is really high, the Strat so far hasn't failed me.
If I were to change it up, I'd make certain kits that have a lot of variations (mainly LP, ST and TL styles) in a smaller range but have the others still available as a custom order.
As for price, an increase doesn't bother me. The quality of the products, the service and the community that surrounds it will still be around and wont change, all we have to do is dig a little deeper into our pockets.