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Is it possible for a high end manufacturer to overprice their goods?

Having just read the interesting and hyperbole laden review by RH of the new Rockport Orion speakers in the latest issue of The Absolute Sound, one thing struck me..

is it possible in the high end for a manufacturer to overprice their product ( doesn’t have to be a speaker, but this example comes to mind)? I ask this, as the Orion is priced at $133k! Yes,a price that would probably make 99% of hobbyists squirm. Yet, the speaker now joins a number of competitors that are in the $100k realm. 
To that, this particular speaker stands just 50.3” tall and is just 14.3” wide…with one 13” woofer, one 7” midrange and a 1.25” beryllium dome ( which these days is nothing special at all…and could potentially lead to the nasties of beryllium bite).

The question is…given this speakers design and parts, which may or may not be SOTA, is it possible that this is just another overpriced product that will not sell, or is it like others, correctly priced for its target market? Thoughts…

128x128daveyf

Showing 2 responses by overthemoon

overthemoon
402 posts
 

Overpricing can occurs at every price point.

There are multiple ways to price products and when pricing 'premium' products in a portfolio with a "good/better/best" stratification some manufacturers look to recoup R&D costs as soon as possible.

The true value of something is better measured by actual sales.  Products where there's no sales indicate the market doesn't believe its worth it. I also believe most of the folks in this forum have limited discretionary income and some folks concentrate that on 1 or 2 hobbies and others may have spread the funds over more activites. 

overthemoon
402 posts
 

Pricing strategy is interesting for luxury products.

  • Porsche's profits are driven by the Macon and Cayenne and they were ridiculed for creating 'me to products'
  • Bentley had internal fights on going to market with the Continental GT and it's the most profitable car in the VW group

 

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