Overpricing…

[117]

19 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

On the topic of "fresh produce" .... MOST out of season "fresh produce" comes from gas controlled cold rooms where the ripening was "slowed" for a few months ... it may look and taste fresh, but it has left the farm MONTHS ago !!!  NOTHING wrong with it, just an observation that what we "see" is often not the complete picture.

The apples that will hit the shelves next season will be around 18 months old already - there was an over supply from the cape a short while ago. So instead of tossing them to the juicer they went into long term storage

[Robbie Stewart]

8 hours ago, ouzo said:

I find our local checkers supply chain has a break in its cold chain somewhere. Very often we will buy something (like margarine or ice cream) where once you've opened it you can see somewhere along the line it has melted and then re-frozen.

That happens sadly. But that is down to human intervention, or rather the lack thereof. The "system" is solid. The weak link is the human that has to make it work, as with anything in life.

Have you ever gone to a supermarket and found the store is well stocked, with great prices and an awesome vibe, yet you get to the till and the cashier is a class-A cow? How did you feel as you left that store?

I see this way to often and this is symptomatic of bad management from the top down.  Checkers are corporate stores, so the store managers sometimes are bad apples and that store is not immune to faults in the route to market. But that being said, it also happens that the cold chain is impacted by Load Shedding just like the rest of the country. So if a store loses back-up power capacity the cold chain will suffer. That also happens sadly. Shoprite is on a major drive to resolve that, but that will realistically take years to rectify.

[The Ouzo]

2 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

That happens sadly. But that is down to human intervention, or rather the lack thereof. The "system" is solid. The weak link is the human that has to make it work, as with anything in life.

Have you ever gone to a supermarket and found the store is well stocked, with great prices and an awesome vibe, yet you get to the till and the cashier is a class-A cow? How did you feel as you left that store?

I see this way to often and this is symptomatic of bad management from the top down.  Checkers are corporate stores, so the store managers sometimes are bad apples and that store is not immune to faults in the route to market. But that being said, it also happens that the cold chain is impacted by Load Shedding just like the rest of the country. So if a store loses back-up power capacity the cold chain will suffer. That also happens sadly. Shoprite is on a major drive to resolve that, but that will realistically take years to rectify.

yeah as with any business its only as good as the people.

There is one particular Spar that is very convenient for both home and work, but I refuse to step foot in there as the manager/owner has no clue on how to run a quality store. 

 

As for people, even good vibey customer facing staff eventually turn sour if the people above are full of crap.

[ChrisF]

5 minutes ago, Robbie Stewart said:

That happens sadly. But that is down to human intervention, or rather the lack thereof. The "system" is solid. The weak link is the human that has to make it work, as with anything in life.

Have you ever gone to a supermarket and found the store is well stocked, with great prices and an awesome vibe, yet you get to the till and the cashier is a class-A cow? How did you feel as you left that store?

I see this way to often and this is symptomatic of bad management from the top down.  Checkers are corporate stores, so the store managers sometimes are bad apples and that store is not immune to faults in the route to market. But that being said, it also happens that the cold chain is impacted by Load Shedding just like the rest of the country. So if a store loses back-up power capacity the cold chain will suffer. That also happens sadly. Shoprite is on a major drive to resolve that, but that will realistically take years to rectify.

 

Jip, Shoprite installed a LOT of PV to ensure their cooling systems dont shut down while the generators start up during loadshedding.

 

During night time loadshedding technical teams are on site to ensure everything switches over seamlessly ....

 

Costing "them" (US) a load of money to manage loadshedding ....

[Robbie Stewart]

6 minutes ago, ouzo said:

yeah as with any business its only as good as the people.

There is one particular Spar that is very convenient for both home and work, but I refuse to step foot in there as the manager/owner has no clue on how to run a quality store. 

 

As for people, even good vibey customer facing staff eventually turn sour if the people above are full of crap.

Spar is a mix of corporate and Franchise if I recall correctly, so this could very well be a owner operated store where the experience is lacking. I see it often enough that stores that look all bright and sparkly are in fact struggling to make money. You should preferably want to turn the stock over twice before paying your vendors, and that way you make money. Also, no point in holding 70'000 different lines if you only realistically move the top 15'000 variants per month. The rest becomes dead money that never flips and hits your bottom line hard. Rather clean up your offering by trimming the fat to only holding the top contributors and that way you will turn your stock over more frequently and make more money.

I know of one store owner (not Spar) who was visited by the Brand CEO for the group, who has vast knowledge in service departments in particular, and he said to the store owner at the time if he changes some practices in the butchery, deli, fast food and bakery he would increase his nett profit by about 2 - 3 % month on month. That is alot of money. The owner's response was "my wife drives a nice car, my kid goes to a good school. How much money should I make?"

Hoe sê hulle nou weer? "Hoe bou 'n mens 'n nasie met so iemand" . . .

In my experience, the okes with the bad attitude have already started to slide and are frustrated at the space they find themselves in. The store where the owner / manager is on the floor smiling, and knowing and greeting his customers, makes money.

[Robbie Stewart]

14 minutes ago, ChrisF said:

 

Jip, Shoprite installed a LOT of PV to ensure their cooling systems dont shut down while the generators start up during loadshedding.

 

During night time loadshedding technical teams are on site to ensure everything switches over seamlessly ....

 

Costing "them" (US) a load of money to manage loadshedding ....

I must say the Shoprite operation is something to behold. They are the among top retailers in Africa for a reason. The way they operate is on another level. 

[Iwan Kemp]

6 hours ago, Showtime said:

I also have a Cypher and would buy the same again but I think for a big brand the Specialized price is fair. With the  brand comes the expectation that the R&D and experience ensures that the geometry and basics will be spot on. This has been my experience with Specialized bikes, that they feel sorted.

The downside with a big brand for me is economies of scale. If they can save some money on components it scales into big margins quickly whereas Titan can give you that full XT groupset without a huge difference to the company bottom line.

It's the other way around. By FAR

[Sid the Sloth]

8 hours ago, bleedToWin said:

My man, Woolies brand oats are by far the best. Large flake size, good integrity, and no powder in the packet. It's also often the cheapest of all brands and shops. Jungle oats is okay, but it's a far cry from Woolies and if you're going to do overnight oats then don't waste your time with Checkers or PnP house brand.

CAB Foods, 105 bucks for 5kg. Lasts me 2 months. Quality

[Showtime]

4 minutes ago, Iwan Kemp said:

It's the other way around. By FAR

I'm quite sure you are right. Just would like to know why it's the other way around?

I figured with much higher volumes there drive to maximize the margin on every bike would be higher. Titan prefers to offer more value to the customer instead which is why I bought one.

[ChrisF]

1 hour ago, Robbie Stewart said:

Spar is a mix of corporate and Franchise if I recall correctly, so this could very well be a owner operated store where the experience is lacking. I see it often enough that stores that look all bright and sparkly are in fact struggling to make money. You should preferably want to turn the stock over twice before paying your vendors, and that way you make money. Also, no point in holding 70'000 different lines if you only realistically move the top 15'000 variants per month. The rest becomes dead money that never flips and hits your bottom line hard. Rather clean up your offering by trimming the fat to only holding the top contributors and that way you will turn your stock over more frequently and make more money.

I know of one store owner (not Spar) who was visited by the Brand CEO for the group, who has vast knowledge in service departments in particular, and he said to the store owner at the time if he changes some practices in the butchery, deli, fast food and bakery he would increase his nett profit by about 2 - 3 % month on month. That is alot of money. The owner's response was "my wife drives a nice car, my kid goes to a good school. How much money should I make?"

Hoe sê hulle nou weer? "Hoe bou 'n mens 'n nasie met so iemand" . . .

In my experience, the okes with the bad attitude have already started to slide and are frustrated at the space they find themselves in. The store where the owner / manager is on the floor smiling, and knowing and greeting his customers, makes money.

 

Seeing a couple of Spar stores that are now "owner managed" by the second generation ....

 

Stark reminder why 7/11 did not survive the "second generation" .....

[Iwan Kemp]

3 minutes ago, Showtime said:

I'm quite sure you are right. Just would like to know why it's the other way around?

I figured with much higher volumes there drive to maximize the margin on every bike would be higher. Titan prefers to offer more value to the customer instead which is why I bought one.

Buying power.

I don't know exact figures so note that these are plucked form the air.

Specialized, Trek and Giant are by far the biggest manufacturers of bikes as we know it, ride, and discuss here. Their buying power is MASSIVE as they have a) volume and b) range. So they're buying lots of everything. From entry to top end, in all cycling genres.

When they go to SRAM and buy thousands and thousands and thousand of groupsets (each!), they pay less than the brands buying a thousand. They will also get priority in the supply chain, will get first word on new developments (quite often develop it with component brands) and have racing teams sponsored by component manufacturers - both for dev and marketing reach.

Simply put, they pay SIGNIFICANTLY less for every part on their bike than smaller brands. 

To add to the cost for smaller brands...
R&D quite often transfers. Not always 100%, but once an engineer learns a trick it's much easier to adapt than to work it out from scratch. So carbon tech transfers between bikes. Shock tech and research transfers between bikes. When you have a bike in each category on the face of the earth, the tech transfer scales at a ridiculous level. Smaller brands have to learn the lessons the hard way and usually on one or two models each in MTB and road. Smaller brands do not always have their in-house carbon / mold / manufacturing experts. Yes, they can design bikes in-house, but those then need to get tested somewhere else. All of this costs money, and usually comes with a long queue. 

***********
Big brands can easily offer better value for money. Smaller brands offering value for money cuts deep. 

 

[MTBRIDER1234]

9 hours ago, esCape-ist said:

Based on the opinions here, I'm amazed woolworths is doing so well financially. Yes, they are taking a knock the past few years from Checkers who upped their game dramatically, and now PnP doing the same. But they still posting solid earnings.

So since the general consensus is Woolies is expensive and only for the wealthy, there must be a lot of really wealthy people in the middle class suburbs.

Reality is, like mentioned above, woolworths doesn't offer an entry level or budget price option. They only cover the middle of the market, and do that really well, and then have a range of premium products that are actually really good quality, but you need to pay a premium for them.

If you actually do a proper price comparison, an compare the same type of products between checkers, pnp and woolworths, everything costs about the same, give or take 5-10% either way. But you can't compare the cheapest pnp no name brand baked beans, with a can imported borlotti beans from woolworths. That silly.

Meat used to be a lot more expensive at woolworths, but now days the price is pretty much the same between checkers/pnp/woolies, but the quality of woolworths and checkers is way above pnp.

Woolworths chicken is expensive, but you get what you pay for. Much much lower saline content than the others, which means almost no shrinkage when you cook it. The free range chicken at woolworths also tastes a damn side better than others, and whether it's on brand strength alone, I trust the rBST and growth hormone free sticker on the woolies chicken, because it tastes so much more “natural”. Same can be said about the eggs. The woolworths free range eggs are a much deeper yellow, and a lot closer to that of my own free range eggs from my garden variety chickens at home.

 

Bread/milk/cheese/rusks/coffee/tea/eggs/cereal etc there is almost nothing between the stores on price. Granted you compare the same products. Milk might be a exception, but the woolworths milk is a step above, with faircape from pnp or checkers being the closest comparison, but then the price is close again.

 

But to get back to the point, love them or hate them, specialised delivers a good product at a market related price, in every sector of the market. Yes, s-works is insanely expensive, but at the comp, elite and pro levels, their bikes often provide better value compared to similar offerings from competitors. If you want to hate on a brand for “overpricing” I think Santa Cruz and Yeti are better targets - granted they do not offer any entry level options, you still pay a hefty sticker price for the badge there, specifically on their “entry level” stuff.

I am sorry but in my opinion, if you buy a s-works or a santa cruz or a yeti, you are buying it to show off. I can tell you firsthand that a PYGA mobu frame is better than any of the three brands I just mentioned. It has the highest quality carbon you will probably ever find on a bicycle.

Also for 100K you can get a very, very well specced PYGA slakline, or a poverty spec enduro. Your choice. Anyone that has ridden a PYGA can testify for how amazing they are, and you are supporting a rad local brand. They don't have nearly the buying power of spez, yet they offer much better value and seem to be doing just fine.

I guess what I am trying to say is that if you buy any of the 'big three' when it comes to high end bikes, you are getting ripped off. No question whatsoever. Unless you are a dentist, then I question why you would choose the bike that offers a lot less bang for buck.

[Steady Spin]

1 hour ago, MTBRIDER1234 said:

I am sorry but in my opinion, if you buy a s-works or a santa cruz or a yeti, you are buying it to show off.

Glad I don’t have a mainstream brand 😅 

[OVERDRIVE]

4 hours ago, Robbie Stewart said:

I must say the Shoprite operation is something to behold. They are the among top retailers in Africa for a reason. The way they operate is on another level. 

Shoprite: Africa's biggest supermarket considers pulling out of Nigeria - BBC News

South Africa’s Shoprite Is Pulling out of Uganda and Madagascar (lifestyleug.com)

Malawians react to reports that Shoprite is pulling out of Malawi - Malawi Nyasa Times - News from Malawi about Malawi

[mazambaan]

Straying a little we, my family and a friend had a whine about paw paws on sale currently at Spar and PnP. The PnP ones were from Moz.  You buy them slightly green but they never ripen, just rot and inedible (for us). Last lot went to the monkeys

[Duane_Bosch]

15 hours ago, Robbie Stewart said:

Have you ever gone to a supermarket and found the store is well stocked, with great prices and an awesome vibe, yet you get to the till and the cashier is a class-A cow? How did you feel as you left that store?
 

I live in Hout Bay. There are 4 supermarkets here. All of the major 4 are represented. The PNP staff are SO DISGUSTINGLY RUDE that I simply will not go into the store. If I have to go to a PNP I'll go over the hill to Constantia. I don't expect to be treated like royalty but they literally behave as if you are ruining their day by having the temerity to come into the store.

 

I haven't been in there for probably 5 years now.