Ok so recently ive been hit with loads of emails saying that hardware prices in Pakistan are wayy too high compared to newegg and other international retailers. So i thought that some education is required in order for you guys to understand the whole concept behind the reason of these price differences.
Well first of all i would like to say that anyone who expects or thinks that hardware prices in Pakistan should be the same as international market (specifically newegg), he/she is living in a bubble thats gonna explode very soon. and i suggest that it explodes quick cuz the sooner it does the better it would be for everyone.
Now when someone wants to buy products in Pakistan, the first thing they do is open their browsers and either direct themselves to newegg or google about the reviews of that particular product. Lets take graphic cards as an example. You are interested in purchasing a GTX 570 so you go quickly on newegg and search for it and what do you get.
EVGA GTX 570 - $349.99 = 31500
MSI GTX 570 Twin Frozr - $369.99 = 33210 but since the normal variant is available here so you guess it would be roughly the same price as evga.
Sparkle GTX 570 - $349.99 = 31500
Instantly you are filled with joy and happiness that cards are so cheap in international market but also with a little doubt thinking how much they will cost here. So after this you open up another few tabs on your browser and redirect them to www.galaxy.com.pk, www.astron.com.pk and www.iamextreme.net. You look for prices of GTX 570 in local market keeping your fingers crossed hoping that prices here will match newegg ones. But what do you find.
EVGA GTX 570 - 39000 = $433.33
MSI GTX 570 - 32000 = $355.55 another eye opener since the twin frozr overclocked model on newegg was for 350 so you would expect to pay less for a stock version here.
Sparkle GTX 570 - 31500 (soon to be 32000)= $355.99 you're roughly paying the same amount as newegg but still the extra $7-8 is still not satisfying.
Hence you start emailing the retailers here who deal in these cards saying that you are interested in purchasing GTX 570 but the prices that they offer is higher compared to newegg and what not, but you dont and never try to find out what reason could it be that newegg is so cheap and retailers over here are expensive. Well this is where the education begins.
Newegg was formed in 2001 dealing mainly in graphic cards in the beginning. The founders used to build customized full pcs (something like alienware but without the art) and soon they realized that demand for separate hardware components was increasing compared to fully built systems. Hence newegg was born. The key feature behind their success was to keep a competitve price and top notch customer support. Just in 4 years after it was born, newegg's annual sales were around (this is the important bit) $1.3 BILLION. And since then there has been no one able to compete with them or get in their way. Now what do their sales figures have to do anything with retailers over here who are over pricing. Well newegg's sales figures are the reason why no one can match their prices. I will talk about my own company since i dont know what prices astron and galaxy gets from hardware companies. The price that i get for a GTX 570 card from sparkle, lets say 29000 or $322, Newegg will get the same card from sparkle for around $285 or $290 which is around Rs. 25650. Hence the margin that newegg gets from sparkle is already 4k more than me. And thats why it is able to sell it off for such a cheap price as well. Now why would sparkle charge me more and newegg less? Sales Figures. Sparkle knows Newegg who currently has sales over $2b billion USD would be able to sell their cards off to customers far more quickly and easily than IAMEXTREME in Pakistan. Plus newegg orders atleast (im not joking) 100 cards per model from every manufacturer that it has available on its store. So sparkle knows that newegg can not only pick up a lot of cards from them in one order, but also will be able to sell those cards off much quicker than me. Hence the extra ordinary favour. US has a huuuuuuggeee population thats no brainer and people over there earn more than people here. Dollars value is more compared to Pak rupees, plus over there people are offered a finance facility if they cannot afford a $350 card, they can get it financed and pay the amount in 6 months without any interest. That attracts customers and increases your sales automatically as well.
Now i for one am not trying to convince you guys that galaxy is not ripping you off because they are and trust me, they are ripping you off big time. A card that costs them really cheap, they are making almost 100% profit on some of them (believe me they are). But i do mind when you look at IAMEXTREME.NET the same way as you look at galaxy and other rip offs. I or anyone in Pakistan atleast will never be able to offer products to you at the same price as newegg for the following reasons.
Hope I didnt offend anyone because that wasnt my intention and I hope i clarified the whole reason why newegg can never be matched anywhere in the world specially here in Pakistan. If you guys have any concerns about what i said, please dont hesitate to let me know, ill try my best to answer all of your queries.
Well first of all i would like to say that anyone who expects or thinks that hardware prices in Pakistan should be the same as international market (specifically newegg), he/she is living in a bubble thats gonna explode very soon. and i suggest that it explodes quick cuz the sooner it does the better it would be for everyone.
Now when someone wants to buy products in Pakistan, the first thing they do is open their browsers and either direct themselves to newegg or google about the reviews of that particular product. Lets take graphic cards as an example. You are interested in purchasing a GTX 570 so you go quickly on newegg and search for it and what do you get.
EVGA GTX 570 - $349.99 = 31500
MSI GTX 570 Twin Frozr - $369.99 = 33210 but since the normal variant is available here so you guess it would be roughly the same price as evga.
Sparkle GTX 570 - $349.99 = 31500
Instantly you are filled with joy and happiness that cards are so cheap in international market but also with a little doubt thinking how much they will cost here. So after this you open up another few tabs on your browser and redirect them to www.galaxy.com.pk, www.astron.com.pk and www.iamextreme.net. You look for prices of GTX 570 in local market keeping your fingers crossed hoping that prices here will match newegg ones. But what do you find.
EVGA GTX 570 - 39000 = $433.33
MSI GTX 570 - 32000 = $355.55 another eye opener since the twin frozr overclocked model on newegg was for 350 so you would expect to pay less for a stock version here.
Sparkle GTX 570 - 31500 (soon to be 32000)= $355.99 you're roughly paying the same amount as newegg but still the extra $7-8 is still not satisfying.
Hence you start emailing the retailers here who deal in these cards saying that you are interested in purchasing GTX 570 but the prices that they offer is higher compared to newegg and what not, but you dont and never try to find out what reason could it be that newegg is so cheap and retailers over here are expensive. Well this is where the education begins.
Newegg was formed in 2001 dealing mainly in graphic cards in the beginning. The founders used to build customized full pcs (something like alienware but without the art) and soon they realized that demand for separate hardware components was increasing compared to fully built systems. Hence newegg was born. The key feature behind their success was to keep a competitve price and top notch customer support. Just in 4 years after it was born, newegg's annual sales were around (this is the important bit) $1.3 BILLION. And since then there has been no one able to compete with them or get in their way. Now what do their sales figures have to do anything with retailers over here who are over pricing. Well newegg's sales figures are the reason why no one can match their prices. I will talk about my own company since i dont know what prices astron and galaxy gets from hardware companies. The price that i get for a GTX 570 card from sparkle, lets say 29000 or $322, Newegg will get the same card from sparkle for around $285 or $290 which is around Rs. 25650. Hence the margin that newegg gets from sparkle is already 4k more than me. And thats why it is able to sell it off for such a cheap price as well. Now why would sparkle charge me more and newegg less? Sales Figures. Sparkle knows Newegg who currently has sales over $2b billion USD would be able to sell their cards off to customers far more quickly and easily than IAMEXTREME in Pakistan. Plus newegg orders atleast (im not joking) 100 cards per model from every manufacturer that it has available on its store. So sparkle knows that newegg can not only pick up a lot of cards from them in one order, but also will be able to sell those cards off much quicker than me. Hence the extra ordinary favour. US has a huuuuuuggeee population thats no brainer and people over there earn more than people here. Dollars value is more compared to Pak rupees, plus over there people are offered a finance facility if they cannot afford a $350 card, they can get it financed and pay the amount in 6 months without any interest. That attracts customers and increases your sales automatically as well.
Now i for one am not trying to convince you guys that galaxy is not ripping you off because they are and trust me, they are ripping you off big time. A card that costs them really cheap, they are making almost 100% profit on some of them (believe me they are). But i do mind when you look at IAMEXTREME.NET the same way as you look at galaxy and other rip offs. I or anyone in Pakistan atleast will never be able to offer products to you at the same price as newegg for the following reasons.
- Newegg sales are in billions where as my sales arent.
- Newegg is based in a country where people have a much stronger spending power compared to Pakistan where these kind of things are considered as a luxury.
- US import laws and customs although might be corrupt, but im pretty sure they wont be as corrupt as they are in Pakistan where Duty on Computers is 0% but you are still charged around 3-5% on them. Where customs officers are so illetirate that they dont know PC's have coolers as well so they regard them as a household cooling product rather than a computer cooling product (this has happened with me once).
- And finally, the ever increasing Dollar to Pak Ratio. (i just found out that dollar is Rs. 90 now)
Hope I didnt offend anyone because that wasnt my intention and I hope i clarified the whole reason why newegg can never be matched anywhere in the world specially here in Pakistan. If you guys have any concerns about what i said, please dont hesitate to let me know, ill try my best to answer all of your queries.