Firebox usa 50% cheaper

hirschnathan · 07-06-07

I was browsing the firebox site and changed currency and noticed all products are much cheaper in the usa.

Example

Usa
Pterosaur In Stock $69.95 (about £35.00)
Digital WiFi Detector In Stock $69.95 (about £35.00)
Sun Jar In Stock $29.95 (about £15.00)

Uk
Pterosaur In Stock £49.95
Digital WiFi Detector In Stock £59.95
Sun Jar In Stock £19.95

How can it be justified?

lowndsy · 07-06-07

I'd be inclined to blame Gordon Brown rather than Firebox. Everthing seems to be cheaper in the US.

hirschnathan · 07-06-07

If you look at most online retailers that have an option of £ or $ take kitbag for example, they just charge the conversion price

nim-b · 07-06-07

Our products aren't priced on the US site by conversion, because we're about to setup our US warehouse, and then all products will be stocked and shipped from the US, just like any other US company. We are setting Firebox US up as a seperate business.

The difference in the prices is down to three things:

- exchange rate differences mean we can afford to charge less in the US
- these are competitive market prices for the US. If you look at a lot of online stores over there, they will be cheaper than their UK counterparts. Its such a big and competitive market we have to charge less in order to compete. That's just market forces for you.
- the prices charged anticipate the lower prices we will be able to get from suppliers once we have a US warehouse. A lot of our products are from the Far East or America, it will be cheaper to get them shipped to the US. Also, generally suppliers are subject to the same market forces and charge retailers less if they are in the US.

As we only ship to US customers from our US site, this shouldn't affect UK affiliates promoting us. If you can foresee any problems, please let me know.

Thanks
Naomi

nim-b · 07-06-07

To back my point up, here are some prices on products from the US store ThinkGeek, that we also sell:

Thinking Putty $10.99 (Firebox US $8.95-$11.95)
Giant Microbes $5.99 (Firebox US $5.95)
Gorillapod $21.99 (Firebox US $24.95)
USB Lava Lamp $9.99 (Firebox US $12.95)

So you can see that if we simply converted from the UK prices, there is no way we could compete. We're trying to setup a good US business, not simply ship stuff from over here.

Thanks
Naomi