robert_ford wrote:
That sounds good, are you a CEO ? In other words a new business model where the cost to value ratio is reduced bringing CW more in line with its competitors.
Business plans have to change. The world economy and in particular the UK and Swiss economies are going through a period of significant change and relative prices are changing.
However I think the core model is still largely the same. Suppliers will inevitably change over time.
In my mind the core parts of the CW business include:
1) saving money by not maintaining an expensive franchise of shops or flagship stores - this is going to be the main factor in keeping the prices low.
2) Not sponsoring major sporting events, film promos etc and relying on word of mouth and aggressive internet advertising
3) Building up repeat customers, especially from non watch collectors - the customer service is fantastic
4) Having some very unique designs. I love my Ad Astra, who else would design something like that?
5) Limited production runs so not everyone has can get a watch and you get some exclusivity ( yes other brands do this too but the run numbers seem to be higher )
6) Taking a huge risk on 5 years worth of support for a sale.
The latter must also affect prices as you cannot know in advance how many returns you will get on a mechanism no matter what the quality. That means after a sale you have to wait 5 years before you know the total profit or loss you will make on that sale. It could be returned 1 day before the time is up and you have to spend money either replacing or repairing it plus the postage which also increase over time. You also have to keep spare parts that you may never need which also pushes prices up. You have to buy them and then warehouse them.
It's your money and your definition of good value but for me it is remarkable that prices haven't gone up even further. Inflation sucks.