Low volume, capital tied up, forex red tape, no competition... it all adds up to a royal screwing. And to some extent it creates a vicious circle - in this instance Fluke loses sales as a result which reduces volumes (and the need to mark-up) even further.
It used to be like this with computers. I bought my first laptop on a trip to the USA and the saving covered the trip. Doesn't apply anymore though. Competition and volume took care of the gap.
Same with sound equipment -we probably all owe Hifi Corporation a big thanks for knocking that lot right.
But it's not just a problem in SA. I saw a great CRM plug-in for Quickbooks while at a convention in the USA and the price seemed reasonable. The only problem was USA works with GST and we work with VAT, so I would have to buy a UK (VAT friendly) version. It's 3 times the price of the USA (GST) version.
Economics rule and sometimes that opens up these price differentials for perfectly legitimate reasons. But it also means if someone gets too greedy on their mark-ups it opens the gap for more efficient operators.
To some extent that's why the PIIGS are in so much sh*t and China's star is on the rise. If we keep undermining market efficiency we'll probably head the same way eventually.
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