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Recently, I directed a question to my friend, Pradeep Satyaprakash, a wholesale importer, regarding the pricing of monuments. Pradeep is a major wholesale importer of granite from India. I asked Pradeep, “If I come to you a month from now, are these prices going to still be the same?”
With astute wisdom, Pradeep answered my question by stating:
“These prices fluctuate regularly based on about eight variables that we face: currency fluctuations, quarry pulls, quality, cutting reclamation and efficiency, shipping costs, interest rates in the United States for inventory and interest rates in India for working capital, market demand for certain styles, and finally time in inventory. These factors are plugged into a program to figure sales, discounts, "specials", etc. The prices are only good week to week. If you call me in a month, we can usually honor the price, but sometimes we cannot.”
“Currency fluctuations affect us the most. In the past few months, the Indian rupee has gained strength versus the US dollar by about 8-10%, and that is hurting us, since we have to pay more to buy from our factory in India. We are holding the line and not passing along that to our customers, but we may be forced to in the near future. Of course, all Indian suppliers will be facing this.”
“We also have loss leaders on the weekly specials...especially on the smaller items, so those are especially hard to keep steady. As a rule, we don't price match on our weekly flyers after a month or so. A firm quotation that you independently request is usually valid much longer because they've already taken into consideration those factors mentioned above. But even then, if you purchase those after a few months or a year, I'll have to refigure some of the costs. It still would be within a few percentage points of where we started, usually.”
Good retailer-supplier relationships are to be valued. It is also good to step into the shoes of the other person to understand the pressures that affect the industry. Prices go up, and prices may go down, but they do not do so in a vacuum. Environmental factors have positive and negative influences on both the industry and the ultimate prices that the consumer is asked to pay.
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About Burton Fletcher:
Burton Fletcher, with over 20 years’ business experience, owns USAMonuments.com. He is a nationally published expert, frequently writing on monument building and memorialization. He designs, builds, ships and installs across the United States and Canada. Reach Burton at 229.245.8858 or e-mail to Burton@ValdostaMemorials.com for your memorialization needs.
© Burton
Fletcher 2005 All Rights Reserved.
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