Ok, so I love a good spreadsheet! I run my garden business from one, I also have a spreadsheet for machine maintenance and repair, which lists common part numbers and repair manuals. For detailing, I have a MEGA spreadsheet set up with every single product I have or have used in the past, which includes chemicals, towels, pads and tools. It also contains a data base of Postimage links to provide quick photo responses to questions. Yes, I'm a nerd.
So with that, I created the following comparison of Koch Chemie Pricing.
Please Note - I do not work for Waxit. I am also not having a go at the various retailers who were selling Koch Chemie prior to Waxit taking over distribution of the brand. Those retailers were pricing the products as directed by the importer.
From what I have come across, the previous
distributor was out of their depth and was setting prices well beyond a fair markup to account for the Germany to Australia shipping costs. I think the following shows how much fat was built into these prices, especially the in demand/popular products.
I've highlighted the ones I think stand out the most in yellow. The biggest price differences are for the bulk 5- and 10-liter sizes, which is clearly to bring the brand back to the professional market.
Also, some products are new or in new sizes. These products had been left off the table for the Australian market for up to 18 months now. I'm told there are more to come as well.
They way this brand was handled in Australia was criminally bad. In its native German market, the KCx brand is aimed at professional users. However, as the brand came to notoriety outside of the European market via the Rag Company and other influential US detailers, it's become more and more in demand. But with how the previous
distributor priced the products, it took the brand away from the professional user, which is counterproductive.
The pro-sumer market tolerated the price premiums to an extent, but quite often various products would be out of stock for months instead of being replenished in a timely manner. So even if you could justify the price, you couldn't always get them when wanted or needed.
I do hope this move by Waxit allows both the pro and hobbyist market to be served properly going forward.