Golf Club Price Increase

rallo

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Some of us were chatting about this in another thread, so I thought it would be interesting to bring the topic to the forum.

Let's say a manufacturer increases their price on a new line over a previous model. As a consumer, what would justify this move for you? (ie, visible tech, adjustability, performance, etc.)
 
Cost benefit of price increase vs. performance improvement.
 
Some of us were chatting about this in another thread, so I thought it would be interesting to bring the topic to the forum.

Let's say a manufacturer increases their price on a new line over a previous model. As a consumer, what would justify this move for you? (ie, visible tech, adjustability, performance, etc.)

I'm not sure. I'd like to say that I want to see a massive performance increase but it's just not realistic most of the time.

If my desire for new and shiny is strong enough and a new product strikes my fancy, a small price increase probably wouldn't deter me even with no advancement. I guess I'm a sucker?
 
I said the same in the other thread. If it performs and I can afford it, I will buy it. The affordability part is thin because a 10-20% increase in price is nowhere close to a deal breaker. I’ll pay top dollar for top performance. Then again I’m not one to buy every new release and in my experience, the performance gains are significant.
 
Cost benefit of price increase vs. performance improvement.

About the same way I feel. Visible tech really doesn't do much for me neither does adjustability. I normally don't play around with different settings.
 
Maybe I am strange, but I assume every release is likely going to be higher in price. Not a huge jump, but a 5-10% increase every year to 18 months seems pretty reasonable.

I would like to say a significant performance increase is necessary, but that is a lie as I like new equipment and I cannot lie. You others hackers can deny, but when a club walks in with an itty bitty face and that round thing in your place you get sprung.






Well that escalated quickly....
 
It is a matter of several things,
1. Do I really need new sticks
2. Do I really want new sticks
3. If it is a significant performance increase.
The simple answer for me is if it checks some boxes the price doesn't matter all that much. The other thing is I generally trade in older stuff to bring the price down anyway so that negates the higher price of new equipment.
 
I would always buy the older model. I don't ever see a big enough increase in performance from one release to another to justify the pricing. I wait until the new line comes out and buy the prior year model as cheap as I can get.
 
I buy all my clubs on eBay, so it would really depend on what kind of deal I could get. I am not one of those people to buy a $400-$500 driver that will be worth ~$200 in 10 months.
 
Probably not. I have to see a pretty immense increase in performance to even think about making a change....and extra cost would certainly negatively impact my decision.
 
as a business owner who recently increased rates across the board after a 10-year freeze i'll say this: they have every right to increase prices.

employees want raises.
utility companies adjust rates (never down, always up).
insurance rates adjust (never down, always up).
property taxes adjust (never down, always up).

in my service-based industry, there is NO COST that has gone down. not one.

the only thing i don't know about in a product-based industry is how competition drives down the cost of the physical components. i have to think not much.

and inflation-adjusted, i'm pretty sure clubs are still a lot cheaper than they should be relative to other consumer goods that are produced annually.
 
Maybe I am strange, but I assume every release is likely going to be higher in price. Not a huge jump, but a 5-10% increase every year to 18 months seems pretty reasonable.

I would like to say a significant performance increase is necessary, but that is a lie as I like new equipment and I cannot lie. You others hackers can deny, but when a club walks in with an itty bitty face and that round thing in your place you get sprung.






Well that escalated quickly....

Baby Got (Cavity) Back
 
I'm not hung up on new technology or necessarily a believer high tech clubs will improve my scores. My 9 year old driving irons and my 4 year old Callaway 2Deep which I use off the tee more than my driver are evidence of that. 41% of my strokes are with a putter, so my focus is improving on the greens.
 
I'm not sure. I'd like to say that I want to see a massive performance increase but it's just not realistic most of the time.

If my desire for new and shiny is strong enough and a new product strikes my fancy, a small price increase probably wouldn't deter me even with no advancement. I guess I'm a sucker?

This is me!!
 
Performance.

Period.
 
Demand will drive price, simple as that. Some examples pointed above are necessities that one cannot avoid, but I understand these are real costs passed onto consumers. However this is a hobby for nearly most of us and were talking about golf equipment. Eventually you will price yourself out or you will have buyers lining up. Its a balance of where to allocate disposable income that is unique to each of us.

Personally, I am content with my equipment at the moment and dont intend on purchasing this season, since I dont believe the advancement in tech will significantly improve my game.
 
I only make updates to my bag every 4-5 years so I have no problem paying more. Just another perk of being wrong-handed...when I find something that a) I like and b) works I tend to hold on to it for a while.
 
If price increase isn't too bad then as long as performance looks feel are at least equal and I want new and shiny then I'll buy. If it's a significant increase ie $100 on a driver then performance has to be significantly better
 
I think that you have to make a price to performance assessment. If you like your gear keep it, if something comes out and it performs better than your current gear, that is where the decision to comes into play. One has to decide if the cost is worth the performance gain.

As far as OEM price increases, with the higher cost of materials (which is in some cases driven up ward by commodity prices such as the price of oil) and inflation being 2-3% annually, I’m surprised that we haven’t seen price increases earlier than this year. As always the market will determine what price point it is willing to bear. I have no issues with OEM raising prices, especially if R&D and Innovation is the primary reason for said increases.

Golf OEMs are like any other businesses, they need to operate at a profit. Their mission is to put out new and exciting gear, to put us the golf consumer, at a decision to part with our money.


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Cost benefit of price increase vs. performance improvement.

I would have to agree with this statement. It would have to be a significant improvement in technology for me to justify paying the increased price.

If I don’t see consistent improvement over a previous model, I can’t justify spending the extra $$


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Don’t see any reason for prices to increase by more than 2% or so per year, about in line with inflation. It wouldn’t bother me if there was ~5% increase every 2 years. Year over year there generally isn’t enough of an increase in performance. Also, while cost of materials may be higher, there are also a lot of materials that are getting cheaper due to manufacturing & technological advances. Regardless of marginal improvements in performance and costs year over year, I don’t see any rational reason for 30% increase over a prior year model.
 
There have been a number of articles written about the impact of PXG’s pricing on the pricing strategy of other OEMs. There is/was a huge gap between PXG and other OEMs prices and some of the OEMs have started increasing their prices to fill the gap, they saw an opportunity since their higher prices don’t seem so outrageous any more. It is simply pricing strategy in the new evolved market dynamics. If PXG hadn’t come along, these OEMs wouldn’t be at some of the prices we see. Latest one is Mizuno GT180 priced at $500 and not many can tell the difference between JPX900 and the new driver.
 
Only two things I can think of: performance or longevity. The latter probably requires some explanation. I don't mean how long the club holds together. I mean how long it will remain a top performer. Could be some patented major advancement that it will take competitors years to match. Some way the club can be reconfigured at a fraction of a new club's price to remain top flight over several years. Something like that.
 
It has to perform better than what it's replacing and even then, there is a limit to what I'll pay for that improvement.
 
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