Just like the good ole days.
Posted on 10/18/2022 11:33:40 AM PDT by Eleutheria5
Supermarket chain Supersal has refused to raise prices in accordance with manufacturer specifications. Manufacturer Tera has threatened to end the supply of any products not under governmental...
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Price controls. Nuts.
Fact of life here, unfortunately. I know there are price controls on milk. Other things, too, but don’t know the details.
No idea here. But maybe part of an old story about on line shopping at wholesale prices for a select group?
Supersal will end up broke.
Just like the good ole days.
I would guess that the supplier is concerned about that one store undercutting all its other customers. It will cause the other customers to get disruptive. But, that’s why we live in a capitalist society and this is one way to fight inflation. If the retailer can survive with lower margin the other retailers would have to figure out how to do the same - or some other means to retain shoppers.
Now technically, here in the USA, we have the First Sale Doctrine which basically says if you buy it, you have the right to resell it at any price you want. To get around that, manufacturers tend to use a variety of mechanisms for example rotating the “sale price” between different resellers ever 4-6 weeks, or, putting a middle man in between who can enforce MSRP pricing without implicating the manufacturer. Really the only way a manufacturer can enforce pricing is if they do all the retailing, or, if they put the goods out on consignment (which few retailers do since they want to pass the risk of reselling it on to their customers).
Well, I’m with the retailer. This seems like a monopolistic squeeze play to me.
If its Tera Foods then it is an Italian food distributor here 8n Los Angeles. Looks like a lot is sold under Terra del Sole label. Their website lists their products
I don’t know either company, so I don’t know what they supply to the retailer(s). I don’t know if they are monopolistic - as long as they get their price the only reason they would care what the retailer sells it for is because the manufacturer’s other customers are complaining and threatening to switch suppliers.
But stuff like this is bound to happen especially in this economic environment. Manufacturer input costs are higher, labor prices higher, rents higher, energy costs higher. Frankly I’m amazed supermarkets can stay in business paying retail rent and tons on lighting and refrigeration. Anyway if the retailer can slice the margins that’s what makes a market. Times like these are when big changes can come; when everyone up and down the chain (and new comers/disrupters) are angling for changes and a share of the market.
On the other hand, the retailer could be monopolistic. If they have enough free cash on hand to undercut everyone else they could be trying to buy customers with loss leader pricing. That is why Costco, and often Wal-Mart, here in the US almost always have different size packages than the regular retailers. You get a larger size but you pay more for it, but the customer’s cost per unit-use is lower.
Thanks to both of you. This is what I love about freep. There’s always someone with relevant information or informed reasoning on any topic.
This might be why mom and pop gas stations can’t shave anything off the price. Their supplier won’t tolerate it, and further up the chain, they probably can’t.
Brandon, who never had a real job in his life, cannot grasp that in his tiny brain.
This would seem to be a good thing.
I knew of two food companies in Mexico. If a company lowered their prices too much, the two competitors would get together and cut them off for a couple months.
Presumably this is the same as Shufersal?
Probably they will just ration products, or just not have them available. That’s the alternative to market-level pricing.
Same. They do have some stores in the US, too. Big chain.
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