Since 2015, gap intelligence’s MFP-Copier Dealer Cost Report has provided manufacturers with wholesale costs for US dealer channel MFPs/SFPs. This report provides competitive wholesale pricing for hardware, options, and consumables as well as dealer program details and hardware Pivot Table data to create dealer transfer price trends. Due to the success of this report and our eagerness to provide more valuable reports to our clients, gap intelligence has since expanded this service, launching MFP-Copier Dealer Cost Reports into six new countries including the EMEA (United Kingdom, France, Germany, and Italy), Australia, and Canada (with Mexico coming in a few months).
Expanding into new regions has provided us with a new challenge and opportunity to learn how channel costs are structured in different countries, how dealer-to-manufacturer relationships vary, and how additional front-end and back-end discounts fluctuate by country and brand. As we continue to build our dealer network within each country, our knowledge of each market grows and the data within the reports becomes even more valuable.
This August, gap intelligence will refresh Dealer Cost Reports for three EMEA countries on the heels of the first half 2018 US and UK refreshes that took place in May. The updated Germany, France, and Italy DCRs will include the latest pricing and newly available products that launched since Q1 2018. As a sneak peek to this refresh, this blog provides a pricing analysis for select models from the upcoming Italy Dealer Cost Report.
This comparison looks at five anonymized 35/36ppm A3 Color MFPs from five brands. All five models have similar specifications such as MFP Functions, HDD capacity, Max Memory, and duplex ADF capabilities:
Comparing to the Q1 2018 data, the average price of A3 color workgroup 35-36PPM MFPs had very little price change. Average List Prices for these five brands' similarly positioned MFPs decreased 5% since Q1 2018, while Standard Dealer Cost only decreased by 1%.
In the Q3 2018 Italy DCR, these products sell with a List Price (MSRP) range from 6,254€ to 8,395€ and Standard Dealer Costs ranging from 3,565€ to 5,003€. The discounts off List Price to Standard Dealer Cost range from 40% to 50%.
Although all models are offered with wholesale costs that are 40% to 50% below List Price, actual costs to the dealers can vary by nearly 1,500€. When compared to the segment average of all five products, three of the brands offer MFP pricing 5%-16% below the average, while two brands offer MFPs 9%-18% above the average.
Summary
The price analysis between these five active A3 color workgroup MFPs shows that Brand 1 offers the most competitive Standard Dealer Cost of the five brands at 3,565€ with other brands offering 3,972€-5,003€. However when looking at discount off List Price, Brand 3 offers the most competitive discount at 50% compared to the other brands which range from 40%-45%. When compared to the average of the five MFPs (4,231€), Brand 1 MFP pricing was 16% below the average, while Brand 5 offered 18% above the average. Specifications for these MFPs suggest that the Brand 1 MFP had a lower HDD capacity range (160-250GB) and a lower DADF Capacity (100-150) compared to the other brands which may justify the lower offered price. The Brand 5 MFP specification differences included being the newest model of the five and had a higher DADF capacity (220-300) than some of the other brands’ MFPs, which may have resulted in a higher set price. Overall the five MFPs did not show significant changes from the previous refresh in early 2018; however there was a slight decrease in the List Prices and Standard Dealer Costs.
The data reflected in this blog will be available in the Italy Dealer Cost Report set to launch in late August 2018. Brands and product names can be revealed by request with purchase of the Italy DCR.
For more than 15 years, gap intelligence has served manufacturers and sellers by providing world-class services monitoring, reporting, and analyzing the 4P’s: prices, promotions, placements, and products. Email us at info@gapintelligence.com or call us at 619-574-1100 to learn more.
