Price of LCD Tvs- cheaper in Australia??? wtf??

[sniper968]

Hi,

I noticed something a little strange. The price of LCD TVs are much cheaper in Australia than Singapore. Why's that???

Example- Harvery Norman Singapore is selling the Samsung Sa40F 71bx for $5550- 6000 but in Australia, my mate just bought his for $4000 (AUD$3100)- that's a diff of over $1500!!!

Wtf are LCD TVs here in Spore so bloody expensive? Can someone enlighten me?

[ksl]

Hi,

I noticed something a little strange. The price of LCD TVs are much cheaper in Australia than Singapore. Why's that???

Example- Harvery Norman Singapore is selling the Samsung Sa40F 71bx for $5550- 6000 but in Australia, my mate just bought his for $4000 (AUD$3100)- that's a diff of over $1500!!!

Wtf are LCD TVs here in Spore so bloody expensive? Can someone enlighten me?

Because there are that many dickheads on big fat expat packages, that don't mind paying it. It's probably to do with economies of scale and that Singapore also imports. price fixing also goes on.

Although I will bet you are not actually comparing the exact same model. you are comparing the 40" size, is it LCD or Plasma. I'll bet your mate in Australia bought the old model, and that it is not made from the newest generation of production lines.

There are many reasons, I have a brochure here with me of a Samsung 42" only 1,699 sing$ which again is probably old stock.

[sniper968]

No they are the same thing.

Check this out for comparison for the Samsung F types- SA40 F 71BX (1920x1026p resolution):

[url]http://www.exeltek.com.au/secure/catalog/product_info.php?products_id=848[url][/url]

http://www.dtvforum.info/index.php?showtopic=44664

You can buy it at select stores at JBHifi and Harvey Norman in Australia for about AUD$3300 - AUD$3400. (S$4000 - $4040)

In Singapore its at S$6000 (AUD$5050) at the places I checked so far.

Now please tell me where I can buy one here for a S$4000.

[lost_canuck]

The thing about tv prices are, what they are advertising is limited stock, so they can offer it cheaper, when you arrive, they have non left in stock. And as ksl said, it was probably old stock.

I have worked in graphic design and in the UK I worked on a brochure for a TV Company, and funnily enough within 6 months, the prices of some TV's dropped dramatically, while the price of others went up substantially. I know because we recreated off an old brochure.

Anyway there are quite a few factors,
a) Currency strength and the country in which the tv is being made/imported from
b) Dealers location, size, buying power to pass on to the customer (Singapore has a smaller population, so bulk buying is probably lower than the company is australia (ie. how many can they actually shift to only 4 million pop as compared to however many are in Australia.
c) import duties
d) I have also found that in Singapore it is more acceptable to 'offer' a lower price than say it was in Canada or the UK. There we assume the price is the price, where here they are willing to haggle.

and the other thing is we bought an older model of samsung 27" for $1049 at one shop, but they were originally asking $1300, and the same model at a different shop they offered us $1,234.

Anyway, prices are totally subjective and different in each market. Think of this, we bought a leather ottoman from IKEA in Singapore of $249 (sing), which at the time I thought ooo expensive, but in Canada they pay $599 Canadian. So.. it all kinda evens out in the end *l* But also be sure the tv you are buying will work in both countries.

[sniper968]

Thanks Canuck, I hear you.

Its just that - in the past- the price difference favored singapore instead by huge margins.

Now, perhaps in part due to globalization, its cheaper to buy the stuff in Melbourne than it is in Spore.

As you said, maybe its cos people here in Spore have less use for big LCD tvs.

I noticed that purchasing original computer games are cheaper here in Spore than Melb. Guess due to the demand and piracy competition issues.

Cheers from another colonial!

[lost_canuck]

No worries, hope it was helpful, and lcd are just taking off big time, of course now with HD tv becoming really big, old models will be getting cheaper and cheaper.

Had a friend in the UK who bought a 32" LCD for £1100, which at the time seemed a great deal, umm 6 months later they were on offer for £900.
Gotta love the technology market It's like a computer, if you want it, buy it at a price you can live with, and then never look at another advertisement again for them for a couple of years to stave off the bitterness. *l*

[Bremen]

It also has to do with market segmentation. In the US and Australia, for example, LCD TVs are common. They're a regular commodity, the only thing special are the super-huge ones.

In Singapore, they're still seen as an unnecessary luxury, mostly bought by expats with big paychecks or their tai-tai "girlfriends".

[ksl]

An example also of how Singapore haggle, the Sanyo Xacti 6mp on the Sanyo website I think its 600$, Sim Lim in many shops 900$ although and some of the salesmen showed me reciepts of sales of over 1100$ for the same camera.

And I can buy the same one here for 500$, So in comparison, I would say they take advantage of the tourists, and expats, that are not aware of the pricing policies., They don't actually cheat, but will throw in all kinds of extras, to justify the high price.

I think you probably can find the LCD for the same price as in Australia, but not in Harvey Norman or any well known brand retailer, you could try locating a wholesaler or distributor here in Singapore. Which is not difficult at all.

This link is a Singapore brand name, and the LCD's are all Samsung, the head office is mainland China, but they are also assembled in Spain, maybe you could ring them and ask if they have that model number.

http://www.hpc.com.sg/products.html