Frustrated!!! JdN Antano 1970 price goes up again.

[JDC20]

Lighten up on DE, it is all just speculation that they are the cause of the price increase. JdN did switch to using them as a distributor but that could have been because the old distributor did not think that the price increase would be healthy for the brand and didn't want to have anything to do with it. Just my .

[SeanGAR]

Originally Posted by JDC20

Lighten up on DE, it is all just speculation that they are the cause of the price increase. JdN did switch to using them as a distributor but that could have been because the old distributor did not think that the price increase would be healthy for the brand and didn't want to have anything to do with it. Just my .

A distributor makes money for distributing cigars. It makes little sense that they would stop distributing a brand because they disagree with pricing. It seems far more likely DE reviewed the pricing with JDN and thought there was enough price elasticity to increase prices significantly. Proof one way or another? No .. but it make sense that DE was involved with the price increase.

[JDC20]

Originally Posted by SeanGAR

A distributor makes money for distributing cigars. It makes little sense that they would stop distributing a brand because they disagree with pricing. It seems far more likely DE reviewed the pricing with JDN and thought there was enough price elasticity to increase prices significantly. Proof one way or another? No .. but it make sense that DE was involved with the price increase.

If they thought (the distributor) that a price increase would reduce the amount they sold and net them even money or less money, the distributor would be less inclined to participate in a price increase. If I had to guess, the price increase came from the manufacturer, if the distributor raised the price and they started selling less cigars, the manufacturer would be non to happy and probably start looking for another distributor. In the industry these types of price increases are almost never unilateral, they are put on the distributor or planned by both sides.

[SeanGAR]

Originally Posted by JDC20

In the industry these types of price increases are almost never unilateral, they are put on the distributor or planned by both sides.

Yup ... thats exactly what I said.

[JDC20]

Originally Posted by SeanGAR

Yup ... thats exactly what I said.

I thought you were saying that DE was the reason for the price increase and I was trying to make the point that in the majority of cases in our industry the price increases come from the Manufacturer and not the distributor. Most of the time the distributor will get a percent of the selling price and are not free to raise the price to make a bigger cut on distribution.

[SheepCigars]

Originally Posted by Cigar Man Andy

I thought that some of you might be interested in this. In January, the JdN Antano 1970 Beicoso was $85 a box at CI and Famous. I found a deal through a friend's shop @ $69 per box. In Feb, they went up to $75 at my friends B&M. In July they were up to $80 and then I found that on April 25, 2008, Drew Estates replaced SAG Imports as the American distributor of JdN.

On Monday, I went to my B&M for my regular order and she informed me that the price went up again. This time it went to $98 a box. Let me see 12/07 $5.95 for a single and $69 for a box of 20 Belicoso, and now 10/08 $7.95 s and $98 per box. CI went to to $119.95 and MSRP went to $160.00. In one year $34 a box. That is one and a half times higher. IMO Drew estates price them out of the market.

This pains me because I love the cigar, but???.

I will still buy a few here and there because they are an excellent smoke, but not by the box. And I was buying a box a week.

I apologize for the frustration in this e-mail, but ^!@#$%^&*(

"Drew Estates, lighten up on the GREED"

"You make out better selling 100 boxes and making $30 per box than selling 20 at $60".


Here is a link for the article on the distribution.
http://www.joyadenicaragua.com.ni/pdf/newusdist.pdf

This is another Reason why I have created my site, SAG used to give 10% off to small retailers.

One of my retailers asked if they would get the same deal. Drew Estate said no that this is one of the reasons wy JdN switched to Drew Estates.

Then take a look at the big wholesalers hmmm.. they seem to have JdN at FSP (Factory Selling Price).

Drew Estate still denys they give discounts, they had the balls to say JdN 20% off at the trade show but just forget to tell people they increased the price by about 25%.