PAM price reduction - countrywide
 

Was in the just opened AD in Shanghai Pudong today and talking to the Manager she informed me that there was as of July a price reduction across all models

Don't get too excited though as China has huge sales tax and an increasingly strong currency and all this does is bring it a bit closer to Hong Kong prices (but still significantly higher) in an attempt to stem the flow of cross border purchasing. Rumor has it that unto 80% of all lux goods in mainland China are purchased in HK.

Interesting - I heard a whisper that this was happening in other countries as well...

That would be great!

Nice info...

Have we ever seen a luxury brand impose a price reduction? Not to my knowledge??...

no that would be bad.
Why buy a watch today if MAYBE it will be chepaer tomorow ... a very bad thing

Interesting.........I might have to call my AD to hear about this.......

Anyone know if it applies to the US?

I don't think so ffejk... I was at an AD in Orlando this weekend and the sales person did not mention any sales and or discounts on their PAM selections.

Thanks Akira, just wishful thinking I guess...

so only in Asia?

Anyone know if it would apply to Taiwan. Will be heading out that way in November - maybe a good idea to pick up a PAM :thumbsup:

Art of Time in St. Marteen offered me a PAM 213 for 11k (or 11 something) Didn't know if that was a deal.. I just told him I got a lower price back in the states.. he tried to press me for that amount. Since I was lying through my teeth, I kept my mouth shut hoping he would come down some more. (didn't happen).:bub:

Kevin: is this price reduction only in China?

Folks- Do recall that price reductions were the chatter when S$%& was hitting the fan in the States back in 2008. Others are starting to see the ripples, Europe and Asia included. I'd venture to say that there are macro economics at play here to hedge any price decrease. My $.02....

I would suspect that it is only in China as Panerai are looking it from a strategic viewpoint to build the brand and create sales in-market, China is currntly the worlds no. 2 luxury market and yet still upto 60% of all luxury goods are not purchased in China with the majority of cross border sales being in Hong Kong (validated by Bain research, btw HK and mainland China are often considered seperate markets) which is pretty easy for mainlanders to visit.

The incentive for this is the huge price difference where China has sales tax and HK has none and further been compounded by the Chinese government's decision to let the Chinese yuan appreciate against the USD (to which the HKD is pegged) which will obviously make the HK option even more attractive.

In fact when the manager saw my 312 one of the first things she asked was whether I purchased it in HK.

As mentioned in my previous post though, unless you are looking for a hard to find model (a good example is that you can see SS daytonas in AD windows), don't get too excited as pricing will still be considerably higher than HK, US, UK etc....

Hooe that helps, sorry was in a rush so have no figures relating to the actual price decreases...

have not been to the Panerai outlet in Shanghai for a while now. maybe time to drop by.

Likely limited to China. Likely currency driven. Note that Panerai has twice raised Europe prices during 2010 to reflect the drop in the Euro. Here in Canada, there was a significant price drop when our dollar ran its way back to near par with the US$. Now the retail prices are pretty much the same across North America.

FYI

popped into one of the very few Panerai ADs in Central London to enquire 210 / 183 / 88.

when mentioned about the price reduction - they were like... WTF? so not in the UK.

Definately currency driven.

to sell higher volume to sustain growth. i think they can produce way more qty of models