Reply To: Softube Console 1 Channel Mk III and Fader Mk III price increases

[peter]

My professional background is marketing and business strategy, and includes launching and running a popular marketing strategy publication. Unfortunately, study after study finds that most of the public doesn’t know what marketing does, and mistakenly thinks it’s merely advertising and promotion (for many small businesses, that is pretty much what people in the position do, but that is not what marketing is). Marketing encompasses product development, distribution and market strategy, pricing, and promotion.  So, I thought, my experience could come in handy for, especially for the American members of this community at this time.

The US is presently imposing tariffs on goods from virtually every country in the world, except for Russia and Belarus. But its tariffs on China are literally the highest tariffs in US history, more than doubling the past highest tariff of 62% in the 1800s, what economists refer to as the “tariff of abominations.” This impacts MOST electronic music gear as well as some acoustic music gear.  Now, what makes navigating all of this very difficult for manufacturers, exporters, importers, savvy consumers is the instability of these tariff decisions by the US. To simplify things, if your product is a guitar tuner that cost $10 wholesale to make in China and it regularly sells for $15 US, it will soon cost $25 US to bring into the US. Of course, that means the US importer/seller is going to be forced to dramatically raise prices. Due to the instability of the US tariff policy, a seller may decide to eat some of the losses until things seem more stable. However, that can easily bankrupt them.

What does this mean to buyers? It means that, while none of us know what the US is going to do next with its very erratic tariff policies, if the announced 145% tariff rate on China is going to happen as promised, now is certainly the best time to buy, before retail prices factor in these new dramatic price increases. If these sellers don’t factor in tariffs this large, it will result in serious harm to their revenue.

Your friend who keeps the beat.