Don't have SALES

Discuss Christopher Ward watches
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Jimleymurmer
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Don't have SALES

Post by Jimleymurmer »

I was reading about Louis Vuitton burning unwanted stock as they believed that any action other than this to dispose of old and unwanted stock such as SALES would only serve to undermine the brand equity. Closer to home when was the last Rolex, Omega, Cartier, Bremont sale? I'm not suggesting that CW is competing with those watches but can you build a 'luxury' brand AND have sales or are these things incompatible. As someone with a £2.5k C900 on order the LAST THING I want is a sale as this only serves to cheapen the brand.
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Amor Vincit Omnia
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Re: Don't have SALES

Post by Amor Vincit Omnia »

I wouldn't worry about the C900 being in the sales any time soon. :lol:
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Jimleymurmer
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Re: Don't have SALES

Post by Jimleymurmer »

Amor Vincit Omnia wrote:I wouldn't worry about the C900 being in the sales any time soon. :lol:
Perhaps not. But my bigger point is do you want to spend a lot on a particular brand to find that brand ( if not the particular product you're buying) being sold of cheap in a sale? Why do LVMH never have sales? As the worlds largest luxury goods company they must have a reason.
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Re: Don't have SALES

Post by lloyd_m »

I think you need to consider why there are sales in the first place. The luxury brands sell through authorised dealers, and these dealers have an interest in getting customers into their shops. One of the ways of doing this is to offer a discount on some, or all of their products at certain times of the year. One of the reasons these so called luxury brands are so expensive is that you are paying for the AD markup, which I have read somewhere is around 40% on watches (although I stand to be corrected). This means that these dealers have some margin for movement to get people through the door. The bigger brands don't like this for the reasons that you mentioned.

CW do not sell through agents so the prices are cheaper to start with. I can see the sense in having sales to shift stock but you make a valid point about maybe cheapening the brand. There is also the issue of customers being aware that prices will be lower at some point, so hold off buying until the sales start.

Pros and cons. It can be a good idea in some cases. I agree that the C900 is unlikely to be discounted, any more than the Jumping Hour would be, even if there were any left for sale. Simple supply and demand I suppose. Personally, I wouldn't have ordered a C700 had it not been discounted, so the short sale worked in this case. CW owners are pretty canny when it comes to value for watches, otherwise they wouldn't be here, so I don't think that this hurts the brand.
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Re: Don't have SALES

Post by CornishDave »

They big guys may not have sales as such, but my sister in law negotiated a £270 discount off an Omega last week, is that not just a sales in disguise?
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Re: Don't have SALES

Post by Viognier »

Agreed.....you can negotiate 10-20% off at most AD's with ease.......be it Omega or others. I watched my boss do it on a recent business trip at an Omega AD.

That said it also depends on the watch ( Rolex Daytona with in house movement and year long wait list will have NO discount....but that is similar to the C900 commentary here). As long as CW does not discount a certain level of watches ( C900 and JH) they will maintain that "luxury" status within CW.

I agree with lloyd_m, sales bring watches into play for me that without a discount are not in consideration. Most forum regulars know when the value equation becomes a great deal and the CW sales or sales corner offerings enable this.


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Re: Don't have SALES

Post by skimrok »

simple

fashion brands have new lines all the time so discount is part of the parcel
or they simply go into end of season sale etc

but i totally disagree on some points what have been made

not all brands and models can be discounted and "WILL" be discounted

i know for a fact AD giving discount on certain models on Rolex watches if and when Rolex find out
the AD next season may have there rights to sell removed, HOWEVER!!
other rolex models are allowed to be discounted with Rolex blessing

Omega is a funny one in the UK because no matter how much you try with some Omega Boutiques
you get nowhere however in the same street or shopping area where another AD ie a chain or small
company you get somewhere with it,

but thinking all watches have a nice certain margains to discount is simply a no go,

also busineses do like repeat customers and look after there customers over the relationship
you choose to have with them..
so when you sometimes see on forums
oh did you get a discount on that watch? and a newbie walks into that shop trying to do the same
a polite NO can happen and i seen it happen with my own eyes in another hobby of mine

end of the day "If You Dont Ask You Dont Get" or if you dont like asking "You Will Never Know"
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Re: Don't have SALES

Post by Citizen V »

While on the subject of luxury brand appearance, I think CW's marketing can detract from that as well. I imagine they have to market this way since they only do online sales, but to some (TZ-UKers) it cheapens the brand. From what I read there, they dislike seeing CW ads on youtube and in 'sunday express magazines'.
While I personally haven't encountered any CW marketing like that over in the US or online, I can see how it may negatively affect one's image of the brand. The Xetum ad on watchuseek has turned me off from the brand since it's so in your face and I accidentally click it a lot when trying to go to my notifications. It will occasionally follow you to other websites too, courtesy of Google Ads. It actually prompted me to get the AdBlock add-on for Firefox so I no longer have to see it :silent: .
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Re: Don't have SALES

Post by rcherryuk »

They all have sales, they just don't call them sales, that's why there's so any outlet villages, Rolex and Omega always underproduced so if they get a real stinker they just offer it as an exclusive offer to certain ADs, some discount them to you and I, some just keep the extra margin as a 'bonus'.

CWL are much smaller and need to keep moving stock, so sometimes it's better to cover your costs and sell it, or in the worst case, lose a little and hope to make it back on the next one!
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Jimleymurmer
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Re: Don't have SALES

Post by Jimleymurmer »

CornishDave wrote:They big guys may not have sales as such, but my sister in law negotiated a £270 discount off an Omega last week, is that not just a sales in disguise?
Fair point and you could do the same thing with pretty much any watch brand. BUT...never obviously and the feeling is the discounts are only available to the 'initiated' preserving a degree of mystique. HOWEVER...get your sister-in-law to try the same thing with an LV bag. And that's my point. The TOP luxury brand (and LVMH must be just that) NEVER discounts openly OR behind closed doors
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Re: Don't have SALES

Post by Neil62 »

Jimleymurmer wrote:The TOP luxury brand (and LVMH must be just that) NEVER discounts openly OR behind closed doors
Really? A Zenith AD recently gave me 25% off a new El Primero. And Zenith is owned by none other than LVMH!!!
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agong
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Re: Don't have SALES

Post by agong »

The reason CW can't burn old stocks but to sell them on discount is that CW do not mark up 1000% the cost price of the watch. If they burn all old stock, they would be making huge losses. I guess it is a different philosophy CW is undertaking. I respect that and appreciate that as well. CW gives us quality swiss made watches at very affordable prices.
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Re: Don't have SALES

Post by Aifo »

Jimleymurmer, I partially agree with your feeling towards CW's never-ending promotional sales. Yes, it is not, at least on the face of it, the smartest/ acceptable approach to build a "TOP" luxury brand, also, one of CW's closest competitor (I believe), Steinhart, do not offer sales as often, or at all.

However, may I remind you, if CW has taken an alternative approach in it's marketing, I very much doubted your incoming C900 would not be burning a much bigger hole in your pocket. Also, The Jumping Hour was enlisted as one of the finalists for the 00/24 European Watch of the Year 2012 Awards for the Sub € 3.000 category, along side Bremont your mentioned. A real credit to the CW team and I doubted a "cheapen" brand would have receive such nomination.

My real point is, maybe we don't know best and let's give Chris and his team the benefit of doubt, and I wish your C900 will get all the notices and admiration it deserves based on the quality and workmanship!
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Re: Don't have SALES

Post by Bozkurt »

15 % discount can motivate new members to buy the new brand .
And mostly that's it .
Can't afford the new model or just affraid in choice - buy from the old stocks with discount.
Wery rare fan of the product and producer will wait for the 6 months or a year for the chance to get on example Iphone with 40 pounds discount :D
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Re: Don't have SALES

Post by Tyke »

Small companies like CWL simply can't afford to trash product, they have too much money invested to do that. Sales are good for shifting slow movers & run out models & judging by the second hand market such as ebay, the prices of old models that were heavily discounted are on a healthy rise at the moment. I suspect some companies like LV build in a destruction margins to their prices to allow them to do this, so effectively everyone who buys their stuff is paying (even more) over the odds which would really hack me off more than the thought they might discount stuff.
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