Item pricing

[DanEC33]

Hi all,

I have seen my costs go up dramatically on items such as mugs and t-shirts add to that the increasing cost of postage – I have had no choice but to up my prices. Today, as I was looking to buy some more stock for the Xmas rush, hopefully there is one, I noticed prices have increased yet gain not by a lot but up nonetheless.

I have only been running my sublimation business for 4 years so don’t have a huge amount of experience. What I would like to know is will prices trend back down or is this the new normal? My guess is that some of you will have experience with the 2008 down turn and will have an idea how this goes?

[webtrekker]

I don't think anyone can predict what will happen from now on. The whole world is in utter chaos. The only saving grace, if you can call it that, is that everyone is in the same boat so to speak and all will have to increase prices if that's what the markets dictate. These are strange times indeed.

[UK Printed Mugs]

In reality I cannot see prices going down. Because suppliers are making profit. The pound against the dollar is stronger than it was a few months ago and shipping container prices are apparently back to nearly normal levels (pre-covid) yet prices are still going up. So if people, like us, are still buying then why should suppliers reduce prices as they are making more money. The only suggestion is to start looking to buy direct from manufacturers but this is a long term solution when you get big enough.

[pw66]

Prices are unlikely to go down. If anything they stayed too cheap too long so suppliers are going to milk the market for a while.
A Fruit of the Loom Valueweight went up from £1.33 to £1.39 between 2008 and 2016. A few days later (due to the £ falling post brexit) it jumped to £1.69 and due to other factors it has since risen to about £2.30+.
The market is bearing the price so I can't see the suppliers dropping the price.

[froggy]

China wants US dollars and are giving the bigger players some great discounts on stock. Demand globally in general has fallen as consumer demand falls. Shipping costs are dropping as the volume of goods coming out of China falls. IMO the bigger importers are enjoying some healthy mark ups but on the negative side operating costs have risen considerably. Its christmas trading period so demand for blanks is strong, who knows what will happen when next year arrives, but all the forecasts seem to indicate its going to be tough. If you cant increase turnover and your over heads are rising then you have to increase prices to stay in business.
Its just my opinion, if I was that smart I would be giving advice on the telly :)