281–290 of 338 posts
Articles like these make me appreciate my business degree, because this list is the basics of any business. 30% COGS, high shipping costs, outsourced manufacturing, big box focusing on low end market, etc is all very normal for almost any industry.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Nowwhere in the GP comment is the word “outraged”. That’s your word. So, what, you wanted to be aghast or something and misrepresented the tone of the original comment with a selective quote and addition of the word “outrage”? Shit HN says. Sheesh. (This comment was a copy of the one above before it was edited)
> Shit HN says. Sheesh Indeed. I read the article, then I read these three comments. The first one reiterates points that the article made but seemingly doesn’t recognize the article made them. The second does recognize that but with a combative tone. The third is just combative. Y’all can carry on as usual but none of that conflict was actually warranted.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Ancient history, but the way Apple skirted around FCC regulations for the Apple II while Atari got bogged down in expensive remediations for their 400/800 systems that added to the BOM is an interesting business study.
Fascinating and didn't know about this, thanks! This goes into the Apple/Atari/FCC story a bit (search for FCC): https://www.fastcompany.com/90432140/how-atari-took-on-apple...
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Definitely agree. People who rail against this don't understand economics much further than my mom sold yard bird eggs for less than the corner store --corner stores are opportunist capitalists with no heart who take advantage of people. If they had to sustain a business I'm afraid they could not. Every wannabe post-capital economist should try to run a restaurant (profitably).
Corner stores also have their own expenses to deal with. They rarely have the same access to suppliers as grocery stores, nor do they have the access to the same prices for their goods. They may be paying the same for labour, but they are typically dealing with much lower volumes. I don't have a clue on how the cost of their leases compares, but it is going to affect the price consumers pay. If it really was as simpl…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Amazon has never paid any dividends. I don't think anything more needs to be said.
What is that supposed to prove? Btw, Amazon has done stock buybacks. Which are economically equivalent to dividends, but get different tax treatment.
1. Not paying dividends is communistic. Few people would accuse Jeff Bezos of being a communist.
2. Bad things will happen if no dividends are paid. No, nothing bad has happened to Amazon because they didn't pay dividends. Another example is Apple that didn't pay any dividends between 1995 and 2012.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So when I buy an OLED TV, does the store procure it for half the price from the distributor? Generally yes. can the distributor force them to keep prices up not to upset the other resellers? Retailers upsetting other retailers is called channel conflict and is often solved with minimum advertised price policies. High-end companies like Apple and Sony often have this policy which is why you see the same price everywhe…
Also, the margin in Apple products for retailers is quite, quite low. I'd say 10% or less. That's why lots of "Apple authorized resellers" have either closed or expanded their business to accessories and services in the last 10 years.
I guess I'm the worst type of customer for audio retailers. I recently switched from buying $50-$100 gaming headphones to $5 wired earbuds with a built in microphone. They are still working perfectly after months, and I got a spare for another $5. The reason I decided to try that is because the wires in my headphones always get partially broken after a few months and so I end up with only one channel. And the cheap B…
Jesus. "After months".
I have been using my Sennheiser HD600 for 5 years now. They don't even seem to show any sign of age. Should anything ever break, they're modular and the individual parts can be bought separately anyway. But what's most important is that they sound really, really good. To me and to a very comfortable majority of audio equipment reviewers. Subjectively (ears) _and_ in objective measurements (i.e. accurate FR, low distortion on a pro head-shaped measurement stand). And there's no shortage of these, for a set that was released in the late 90s and has been popular audio equipment in the hobbyist/pro markets since. To top it off: They're even extremely comfortable to wear.
And the worst part: Is, it is, by now, near impossible to do even cursory research on what headphones are good and not hear about them.
It remains a mystery to me, to this day, why it isn't the case that everybody owns a pair already. Particularly, as they're not even expensive. They cost only a little more than the average gaming headset everybody seems to own. Instead... utter crap sounding, ear-exploding "cordless" trash from "popular brands" do sell well, alongside awful-sounding, fickle, gaming headsets.
Consumers are this easily misled by marketing, and seem incapable of doing even the most basic research.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The wires are usually the first thing to go out for me too. Have you considered buying a pair of headphones with detachable cable?
Didn't know that existed, thanks for the idea. Will see if I get tired of the cheapos. They sound great to me though.
They also have a few accessories like a detachable cable with a mic on an arm, which I used for a while until I got a desktop mic. The carry case that came with the cans is also very nice.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
In your restaurant experiment, are we allowed to use robots to make and sell food to the customer? Or will they walk out?
Do you mean will the robots walk out? It is good to know the failure modes of your AI. Also the cost to develop, deploy, and maintain your robots. BTW, most fast food does use robots as far as possible; these are highly automated processes. The robot might not look like you'd expect, but that aint a problem with the robot.
> The cost of building a consumer audio product is generally no more than 30% of retail. 30% COGS (cost of goods sold) is virtually a maximum for items sold at mainstream retailers. There’s nothing wrong with this. These are standard ratios, not some dirty secret. The cost of goods sold is only a fraction of the costs that go into getting products all the way into the customers’ hands and supporting them (customer su…
They said none of this is a secret in the 3rd paragraph of the article.