Thread: Half price Lowa boots and others

Probably yeah but I don't have facebook any more. I think a lot of the time emails work as well as social media posts it's a just different medium, if you get criticism from multiple angles you might be more tempted to pay attention.

Did the Lowa NZ page delete the posts as they aren't coming up and looks like a waste of time posting on the UK page as they have no power over this

If the guy goes to the trouble of getting Lowa to stop another companies supply which under cuts his you can bet he'll be deleting negative posts from FB!

just throwing this out there guys as there seems to be some serious venom directed at the Lowa importer here and also their head office - i assume we don't know what contractual arrangements Lowa have with their retailers regarding geographical markets and shipping overseas. these guys might have just been pulled up on guidelines they should have already been adhering to. i don't know and doubt we would ever know, but its not hard to imagine something might be in place. but even if there is no agreement in place then surely it is Lowa's right to dictate their sales channels, prices, methods any way they want to structure it.

this isn't new and it happens with many other brands and companies that you hold in high regard. geographical exclusions / market offices / representatives / importers / arrangements exist right across the board throughout all types of business. i see it every day in my line of business which is not retail goods. it would not be hard to imagine that the NZ importers of Lowa would get a fair smack over the bum if they started selling into Australia - as there would certainly be a Lowa importer over there.

why do we feel it is our right as consumers dictate to them how they run their business model by complaints, boycotts and the like? they own their company and their goods, not us. (i'm playing devil's advocate here as i'm the first one to try to sniff outs a good price here in NZ or overseas and not being critical of any opinions)

the price speaks for itself, if the boots are not deemed to be good enough to warrant the high price tag that we see in NZ then nobody would buy them - but as far as I can tell they sell very well. does this then validate their business model?

Personally I just don't like being raped and pillaged by corporations in general. The boots are good there is no question. Its the exuberant cost one must pay from nz retailers that is the issue. I would've gladly made a purchase locally if they were even remotely close to the cost one can obtain a pair for in another market.. I cannot see how the mark up is justified apart from greed and monopolization. Were talking a difference of $350 on a pair of boots here... You may well be right though @LOC about a contractual agreement but does that contract then give nz retailers the right to exploit us?

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i think part of the unfortunate situation here for us is that we are a market that is capable of paying premiums due to our economic prosperity, partly because we are stuck in a corner of the world and high pricing of imported items is a historical pattern we have lumped for years. the biggest risk to these premiums is probably what is being discussed here with offshore internet purchasing and they will be doing their best to maintain the status quo.
who knows whether it is the NZ retailers or Lowa itself holding the margin. i'd suspect that Lowa probably set the prices higher for this market than they would to the Lowa importer in Somalia for example... also, every supplier will do their best to screw down the middle man (importer) and keep it for themselves - and vice versa depending on who holds the balance of power in the relationship. and from what i understand (via friends who work for other brands) the brand owner will have some say in the final RRP pricing in market
but yep, its a big price difference i agree.

Historically higher prices in NZ were mainly based on profits vs sales volume due to small market size, freight due to geographical location in the world plays a minor part once you split the cost of shipment offer a few hundred sales.
The problem is local owned distributors start off wanting to make max profit margins from the limited available sales growth in NZ so to make it work they need to make more per unit and hence the inflated price compared to a larger market where they can make less per unit to make sustainable profit, however maybe if they reduced the margin per unit and sold them cheaper they might increase their sales volume by 30% and end up with larger overall profit, turnover and better market respect from customers. #greediscontrolling

I messaged Lowa on FB, and provided the link to the thread on the boots issue , If you look at the numbers viewed on the "other site " its well over 7000. Now that's a lot of potential customers...now pissed off potential customers ....at the end of the day its our money and we will spend it where we get the best value ... ! What I messaged lowa ...

Great boots but now unaffordable due to LOWA Germany blocking us from buying online through ( MY HUNTSHOP) ... bad move as your competitors such as MEINDL can still be purchased online. Read This LOWA...( inserted link to thread)

@LOC I understand where you are coming from and I have heard that argument before. I, personally, don't agree with it, at the end of the day, in Germany these things sell for 350NZD, Lowa obviously makes a profit on that and is happy to sell it at that price to Germans who lets face enjoy a similar quality of life to us. Here they are double the price most likely because somebody has exclusive arrangement with Lowa. That's what's driving the price up, greed, both Lowa's since they have seen a oppertunity to get a bit more coin out consumers but also whoever the NZ distributor is since he is only selling to H&F. They know that if they only have one person bringing them in then we have to pay whatever price they pay. There is no competition at all. They will have set that price at a level where they are saying, "what is the absolute top dollar we can get from Kiwis who have no other avenue to get them oh X amount" ok well if they want them then that's what they have to pay simply because they live down here even though we make a profit in Europe at half the price. I've come across it with other products as well, the main one where the supplier placed an embargo on anybody shipping to the southern hemisphere because down here the supplier was selling things at 40% higher prices because they claimed it was the only way to support their frankly fucked up business model of having a miniatures wargaming store in the middle of CBD.

I, frankly, think that way of doing business is disgusting and I don't want to support companies that do it. Yes a business has to make a profit but there are more ways to do that than simply treating your customers has a blank cheque.

Sure it's within the NZ distributors rights to start stamping out anybody that threatens his stranglehold on the market but what Lowa and this kiwi cunt need to realise is that just because you can do something doesn't mean you should, there are consequences to actions. In this case, he has prevented maybe what? 50-60 people probably from buying them overseas, what he's also done is impact Lowa's brand and their reputation because even though they may make a good product I don't want to support a company that puts a stranglehold on a market and fleeces kiwi consumers out of every cent they can and they are trying to do that, you only need to see the price difference. Sure set the price at a certain level, that's your right both legally and morally but stamping out any other distributor who tries to undercut you, while legal, is not moral in my books. What's he going to do now demand that everybody who wears a pair of Lowas stepping off a plane at the airport needs to show that they were bought in NZ?

That's just my thought's on the matter though.

Let the record note... This week I bought a pair of LOWA Tibets from a store in Europe via thier website- I paid $258NZD plus shipping options of standard $45nzd or express $63nzd which I didn't mind paying more for, after exchange rates and bank fees I ended up with a $330.76nzd charge on my credit card, I will soon be hunting in LOWA boots and I had never bought a LOWA product before, if it had not been for the ability to buy them for under $350nzd... I never would've bought them, or even looked at them in hunting and fishing because I just have other things to pay for.
My point is this- it's not so much that I saved $368.24... Because I didn't save anything in reality, I just never would have bought them in the first place, but because I could afford them via purchasing them offshore- LOWA Germany gained a new customer, Im probably not alone in that regards, and as such LOWA Germany needs to realize the size of thier customer base here is restricted to only those who can afford to be extorted by the local distributor.

@chchben Exactly. Well said. I'm the same. Either Lowa gets $300 NZD out of me buying them from Germany at the price Germans pay for them or they get nothing out of me if they expect me to buy them in NZ through their distributor. I won't pay, won't even try on or entertain the idea of buying them if they are going to cost me $700 NZD.

It's quite simple do Lowa want 300 NZD or not?

To be fair about pricing, the German full rrp less VAT and after currency conversion has Tibets at around $305nzd, (now remember the German retailer is already making their profit at that price) then add mayber $20 per unit shipping, $20 per unit customs and handling and $50per unit for the NZ distributor, maybe bump in $20 extra markup for the NZ retailer(remembering the start price already included a retail markup) and were at $415.. Add gst on that and it's $477... Here I'm left thinking a NZ rrp of $499 ($200 less than current NZrrp) Although still expensive, would be a fair and reasonable price.. .
Someone's making too much money out of this and LOWA Germany needs to find out who and fix it

It's not just the German retailer making a profit at 305NZD but also Lowa and any middlemen between the retailer and Lowa.

All good points. One thing to note that no one has mentioned regarding the prices is that MEINDL Are THE same. Thier NZ prices are high here and low on that website so they all bloody do it. I just now hate lowa because of the way they have handled it. I'll never buy them again.

@chchben when considering your 'fair price' it's probably worth thinking about the retailer and what profit expectations and overheads a NZ Hunting and Fishing Store has vs a German online retailer has when presenting their prices to the consumer

I'm by no means suggesting it bridges that gap in price but I don't think I've ever walked out of a H&F store feeling like I have got a bargain - even when on sale

you could probably comb through almost all the brands they stock and make similar comparisons

and then call in to every other retailer of any type of imported or premium branded good and come across this issue again and again...


I have two pairs of Meindl Himalyas that cost me 80 quid each when living in London a few years back, peanuts vs here, but everything is cheaper up there.