I've just had a mail from Protel here in NZ to the effect that both Sony and Panasonic are to sharply increase the prices of their professional gear.

Apparently Sony are to increase next month, Panna from the first of January or when current stocks have been sold.

It seems that the NZ$/ Yen rate changes may lead to price increases of anything up to 25%!

If any of you in NZ have been contemplating that BIG BUY camera or gear, I suggest you go do it NOW!


CS

Sounds like a sales pitch using FUD to me...

If you have been watching the exchange rate lately, you know that it is coming. I would expect the prices of most imports will go up soon in Canada too.

It would be the perfect thing to do, looking at the new offerings from RED and those price points *sarcasm*

These things are *usually* less about exchange rate and more about supply and demand. With the state of the worldwide economies right now, I'd think it was more likely that prices will fall, because fewer people are willing to buy.

I suppose we'll see soon enough. One thing is for sure: those who panic and over-react to all economic/financial news are the ones who get hurt most. Don't let anyone rush you into anything, including buying something because you think the price might go up.

I got the email too..

Now i've got till the end of the month to decide if i should pick up an ex1 before they cost around $12,000 nz.. ouch..

I got a similar mail from a UK dealer as well, though it was billed as "save 20% on Pro Sony gear*" or something like that. The asterisk was all-important! They were pretty up front (in big letters) about the price hike being from Sony and being due to the weakness of Sterling against the Yen.

Is it true? B*****d if I know. I don't have £30,000 lying round either, so I think I might ride this one out!

With a recession probably looming world-wide, it is not a smart move to increase prices.

Another reason could be that these dealers (plus the importers) sit on a pile of stock they have to get rid of and their banks want to see some cash coming in. So IMHO it is as always a matter for offer and demand that fixes the price.

As simple as that.

...(in big letters) about the price hike being from Sony and being due to the weakness of Sterling against the Yen.
Come on, what a nonsense from the dealer's part. These big multinational companies fix a list price under the assumption if a certain exchange rate. And their estimation is pretty conservative. So this alone offers a *squeeze* of uo to 20%. As long as the rate is higher, they earn a lot of money only from the exchange business. Should the exchange rate fall below that point, they have fallback positions like their own foreign currency accounts, exchange rate insurances and so forth.
This list price relates to a certain dealer purchase price. There is a lot of flexibilty in that price too, rest assured. Fixing a list price most often ends with the question "we need that much money to build the camera plus our overheads, profit and so forth. How much can we charge each step of the sales line AND where do we want to position the product for the customer pricewise"?

Each tear a marketing guy sheds is not worth the paper handkerchief he pretends to use to wipe it off. With billions of profits each quarter, a rise of 20% in sales price translated into a LOT of money arriving at the manufacturing site.
Stop lamenting, sell the products we want at a reasonable price. If necessary give less deduction. But stop that nonsense to make customers believe you'd have to increase prices at such hight proportions. As long as I buy a mobile phone and get an iPod free on top, there' something wrong in that system.

Sorry, had to rant. P.

I guess next, Sony will be asking US congress for a bail-out.

I just got one of these emails yesterday, from a New York area dealer, but the claim was an increase of between two and seven percent. This pushes up the cost of the EX1, for example, only a few hundred US dollars, and at their prices still lands short of seven grand.

I would have thought that increase was unpleasant, but from the sound of things in New Zealand we haven't got much to complain about over here. Hope you guys are able to snap up what you need before the hammer drops!

A price INCREASE in a "down market"... that'll work.

Sure fluctuations in currency exchange rates affect the manufacturer, and it's been a volatile environment any way you slice it (25% isn't out of line with some of the "structural changes" in the world economy...), but in the end, RAISING prices into a slumping economy is not going to fly... with gas prices locally dropping .10 a DAY lately, the writing is on the wall - adjust prices to meet the consumer, or sit on your "stock"...

As the year end gets closer, I'd expect retailers to be cut-throat with whatever it takes to get inventory to move. Right now the economy seems to be in a near dead stall... and for ANY retail/wholesale/manufacturer to keep the doors open, SALES have to go through the channel, PERIOD.

Stuff sitting on the shelf doesn't cut it, and selling it off in bankruptcy is a far less satisfactory end than cutting your prices until the customer just can't help but BUY!

I suspect some operations didn't get the memo about the state of things and still think gas will be $5+ a gallon shortly, so they can raise prices too... what goes up...

but to be fair to the manufacturers concerned (and hey, this is just MPO) but this notification was about "Pro" gear, NOT consumer.

"Pro" gear is bought by pro's who can either balance the budget (income versus expenditure) and thus buy, or not, in which case they won't.

As the cost of gear is but a relatively small part of doing business (and a 25% rise in equipment cost an even smaller part) such a rise really won't, in such a small segment of the market, make an awefull lot of difference.

So, that F900 gets bought next financial, not this (for example).

Where it WILL hit hard is the "ProSumer", who cannot and does not have a budget to balance, but hey, how much of this gear do they really buy?

I don't have an F900 in my sights any time this side of hell freezing over.

The company who sent me the mail deal exclusively with top end "Pro" gear, I only ended up on their mailing list 'cos I dropped $7k NZ on a tripod system from them - heck, how many "prosumers" do that?

I stick with my original suggestion - if you have an F900 (insert any other rediculously priced "Pro" gear you can think of here) on yer "to do" list, do it now.


CS

but to be fair to the manufacturers concerned (and hey, this is just MPO) but this notification was about "Pro" gear, NOT consumer.
Based on the posts here, this sales pitch is coming from dealers, not manufacturers. So it seems they have nothing to do with this.

This is pure marketing hype from the dealers, exploiting a tenuous global financial situation for their own benefit.

Well the original email that Chris and I got read like this..


Dear Joe

If you are considering purchasing a Sony or Panasonic product then consider purchasing it this month.

Sony and Panasonic have indicated to us pricing for professional equipment will be increasing soon. We expect prices to increase between 20-25% due to the changes in the NZD / Yen cross-rate.

· Sony prices are increasing on the 1st of December so order this month.

· Panasonic prices will increase come first of January or once current stock is sold.

Don't be disappointed.

Options:

1.Wait and see what the new prices will be at the end of this month. (Too late)

2. Order now and secure at the current pricing before the end of this month. (Good idea?)

If we at ***** can be of any assistance please don't hesitate to call to discuss your options. We can also facilitate finance if desired.

Kind Regards


The dealers name has of course been removed.. Chris, i've broken a rule here i'm sorry, please edit my post.


Now i don't normally buy from this company, so i thought i'd go do some investigating, i went into my dealer i usually buy from and spoke with them about it.. They said yes they had got the original email from the other dealer.. and then went on to say they had also received an email from Sony in regards to the same thing. They didnt say anything about panasonic.. and the way they spoke about the sony email almost sounded like they had made it up on the spot to back up the original email.. This was a week ago however and i cant remember the conversation word for word.

This is pure marketing hype from the dealers, exploiting a tenuous global financial situation for their own benefit.

I buy a lot from the dealer mentioned and they're a reputable outfit. They're very upfront with their pricing information and where it's coming from.

For what it's worth, I think you'll be proved incorrect and Sony / Panasonic WILL indeed raise prices significantly in New Zealand (and I think the same will be true for our neighbours in Australia) because they CAN. I see you're in the US, where manufacturers likely have to tread a bit more carefully given the enormous market.

Prices for pro gear here are generally 10-20% higher than in the States after currency conversion due to the low volumes etc etc. But we have seen a dramatic (around 25%) drop in the value of our currency in the past few months (I believe Australia has seen a similar drop) without any change in pricing, such that for the sake of example, an EX1 now costs equivalent to US$5500 in New Zealand.

I hope I'm proven wrong and current pricing endures, but actually it's common practice in small markets like ours for manufacturers to bounce pricing around to keep sync with the exchange rate.

Sony hikes prices as yen value soars - Business News, Business - The Independent (http://www.independent.co.uk/news/business/news/sony-hikes-prices-as-yen-value-soars-1030133.html)


CS

Glad i bought an EX1 yesterday.

Having just made a sale to Oz, I can say I checked exchange rates and was shocked to see the AUD drop against the USD almost 5% over a couple of days. The FOREX markets have apparently gone a bit haywire (maybe the oil speculators have moved to FOREX?).

The world economic mess creates uncertainties unlike ANY we've ever seen before. How it will all shake out??? I'd just say fasten your seat belts, it's going to be a bumpy ride.

I suppose it could be just FUD, but major swings in the exchange rate do affect the profits of manufacturers, and while big companies like sony can hold the wholesale price constant for quite awhile, at some point the loss of profit will look bad to an accountant and something needs to be done.

Last year around this time there was the letter that Schoeps was raising their US price of mics and to "get in now". Sure enough, 48 hours after i bought my cmc641 for $1600 the price jumped up to $1900 and has stayed there for almost a year.

Here in NZ we get an extra stinky poke with the economic stick. NZ isnt a big enough market to warrant any kind of stabilization. Lots of the sales are from direct importers, so when the exchange rate tanks, the price goes right up. When it strengthens, the importers are afraid it might tank again and hold things at the same, higher price for waay longer than justified.

Over the course of 3 years the nz dollar moved from buying .5 us$ to buying .82. That should have meant a massive difference in retail price (for a $1,000us item, the price should have dropped from $2,000nz to $1220nz), but for many retailers they were happy to keep the prices as if the exchange rate was still at .5. At one point it was cheaper for me to buy a plane ticket, fly to LA, buy a powerbook and spend a few days at disneyland than it was to buy locally.

I suppose thats the price of living in utopia though. hehe. NZ has about the same population size as the greater Dallas area, but spread out over a whole big beautiful country. Still hurts when you want to buy video gear though. doh.

If you have been watching the exchange rate lately, you know that it is coming. I would expect the prices of most imports will go up soon in Canada too.

Its already gone up here in Vancouver. Talking with my Sony dealer, prices of the Sony products already went up. Sad that they didn't stick to their 'November 27th' date.

I had to push out an order for an EX1 last week as the prices went up 7%. (I got lucky and just squeezed by with the 'old' price).

But unfortunately I was too late for the batteries... the BP-U60 batteries went up 17%!!!!!

Well, I don't know what's happening in other countries, but despite all the FUD, hysteria and panic, Sony Pro Gear prices have never been lower and have fallen dramatically recently. At our favorite trusted dealer, B&H, the Z5 is down to $4100, the Z1 about $3500 after rebate, and the V1 a shocking $2779 after rebate.

Never panic when it comes to this stuff.

Never panic when it comes to this stuff.

If you live in the USA, that is.

Here in Australia most prices on pro gear have gone up about 20%. The HVX202 is now $10,000, up from about $7500 Last month. The Sony Z5P currently can be had for just under $8,500, while it was intorduced at around $7000.
The V1P is around $6700, which is about the same price the Z1 was 2-3 years ago.
I've been checking the prices at Videoguys Australia every now and then, and the prices seem to be climbing higher every week.

I'm glad I'm not currently in the market for any of the pro gear.

Well, I don't know what's happening in other countries...

With respect, that's the crucial point. In several countries, the rises people warned of in November/December (that some at the time cast doubt on as being FUD) are now a reality, across ALL dealerships. Sony/Panasonic et al have raised their prices on pro video around 20% in Australasia - it's a fact. It's important to note, they're not raising their profit margins, they're simply responding to exchange rate fluctuations.

Your example of B&H isn't particularly revealing because the $US hasn't plummeted against the yen the way other currencies have, hence relative stability of prices in the States. I buy a lot of stuff from B&H myself (I have an order arriving on Monday), but unlike you, it costs me 30% more to buy from B&H than it did six months ago.

Points above both well-taken, but my point was only that, based on this thread and many others like it here and elsewhere, plenty of Americans got hit with this sales pitch as well, and it's proven to be just as bogus here as I said it was.

This is a great time to be buying video gear, houses and securities. Panic just makes you poor and other people rich.

Unless one understands the vagaries of FOREX (foreign exchange rates), it's hard to comment thoughtfully.

The financial markets have been in such severe turmoil over the last few months, it's very conceivable that 25% price adjustments depending on the relative value of your base currency are "reasonable". No FUD at all, just a fact of the ups and downs of economies, countries and currencies... which I suppose are nothing BUT fear, uncertainty and doubt right now...